The Inklings Variety Hour

Rerun: Is Narnia a Fairy Story? (2020)

Editing and releasing a podcast once a week is difficult. Editing a releasing a podcast once a week while grading end-of-term papers is...more difficult. 

So...enjoy this 2020 vintage from the vaults, where Chris, Anika, and Meagan weigh in on the (now-semi-)perennial question: Is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe a "Fairy Story" (as defined by Tolkien)?  Their answer...will shock you.

Probably.

I don't really remember what it was, if I'm being honest.

Anyway, enjoy this rough cut of Season 1 wackiness, and stay tuned--we've got lots of new interviews and episodes coming your way...it's just a matter of me finding time to edit them!

The next non-aged episode will be on The Soviet Lord of the Rings, Khraniteli.  Be afraid.  And maybe mildly impressed?

Feel free to email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.

 

Adapting Tolkien

Jonathan Geltner and Eric Geddes join Chris to talk about their favorite adaptations of Tolkien's Legendarium in this fairly self-indulgent and digressive conversation.  Join us!

More description to come!  Sorry to publish this late!

Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) Tolkien adaptation?  Email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com and tell us about it.

Next time: A full episode on the "Soviet Lord of the Rings"!

The Inkwell Chronicles

J.D. Peabody has written a middle-grade novel that features the Inklings!

We're accordingly interviewing him on The Inklings Variety Hour!

Our conversation is about his book, The Inkwell Chronicles: The Ink of Elspet, which you can buy here.

And here is the secret, "invisible" page that shows how the details in his plot are connected to real people in places in England.

Among other things, J.D. and I talk about:

• the premise for his story (magical Ink that is the source of all creativity)
• the historical basis of his story
• turning a few of the Inklings into characters (Jack, Dot, and Ronald)
• invisible pigeons whom J.M. Barrie definitely didn't write about
• Everett (J.D.'s main character) as anti-Potter
• J.D.'s own creative journey...and path to getting his book published
• the correct pronunciation of Rouen
• J.D.'s influences
• creativity as inherently good

Thanks again to J.D. for joining me!

If you liked this show, or others, or if you have ideas, please write us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com to say hi.

Next week, Eric Geddes and Jonathan Geltner rejoin me as we begin talking about the wacky world of Tolkien adaptations!

Charles Williams Q&A

Once again--there were problems with the original file. This should be corrected now. Please delete and redownload, and thank you for your patience!

This week, the Inklings Variety Hour (that is, Chris) talks to Dr. Sørina Higgins about the life and thought of "the Oddest Inkling," Charles Williams. 

Among other things, we discuss:

• Taliessin Through Logres
• Williams' upbringing and education
• World War I
• Coinherence and Exchange
• Williams and Love
• Williams and Tolkien
• Williams and Gynecomorphical Geography
• Williams and Magic
• Sørina's book of stories at Signum University Press

The reading at the top is slightly glitchy due to Zoom issues--I tried to edit it to make it sound as smooth as possible. Hope you enjoy the episode.  And check out all of Sørina's awesome projects--listed at "The Oddest Inkling." Also, check out her podcast, promoting unity and dialogue within the church: 1619 and 1776.

As always, if you like what you're hearing, please reach out to us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com and let us know! We'd love to meet you. Please also leave us a review.

Next time, join us for some middle-grade fiction that features The Inklings (or "Jack," "Ronald," and "Dot," anyway) as characters!  It's time for The Inkwell Chronicles with author J.D. Peabody!

 

Absolute Music, with Jonathan Geltner

The second of a two-part conversation with author Jonathan Geltner--about his highly-acclaimed debut novel, Absolute Music--a literary novel about fantasy and faith, among other things. 

Among other things, we discuss:

• Mythologizing or reenchanting Cincinnati and Pittsburgh
• The Inklings, of course
• Music
• Art, order, and chaos
• D&D Campaigns in the Middle of a Realist Novel
• Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings
• If the Inklings were a D&D Party...

If you'd like a copy of Absolute Music, go here.

If you'd like to see Jonathan Geltner's author page at Slant, go here.

If you'd like to follow his Substack, go here.

Finally, please do email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com and leave us a review on iTunes.

Next week: Back to the actual Inklings!  Sorina Higgins rejoins us for a Charles Williams Q&A!

Many thanks to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!  Listeners, this is the last episode I have that Logan has edited, and I'd like to thank him for all of his hard, excellent, unpaid work on this podcast! 

The Neverending Story

If this automatically downloaded and says it is 1 hour 30 minutes long, it is the wrong version of the episode. Delete the episode and redownload.

Sorry for the inconvenience! (Or, if you're a hardcore fan, you're welcome for the exclusive, behind-the-scenes raw podcast.)

Initially, an unedited version of this episode was uploaded.  The newer version is a lot more fun to listen to. 

Inklings Variety Hour welcomes author Jonathan Geltner to the show to discuss The Neverending Story!  

Yes, The Neverending Story is a 1979 children's novel by Michael Ende, who was never an Inkling, and it was made famous by the 1984 movie which Ende disavowed.  We get it.

But we really, really love synth.

In all seriousness, Inklings fans should read this underrated book, as it has much to say about the virtues and perils of imagination and other worlds.  

Among other things discussed: 

• The Catholic Imagination Conference
• 1980s Fantasy Films
• The Second Half of The Neverending Story and the dangers of fantasy
• The evolution of the term "fantasy"
• Carl Conrad Coreander and Chesterton's/Dickens' "MOOR EEFFOC"
• Possible military implications of Falkor coming to Vancouver
• Fantasy as part of reality, rather than an escape from it
• "Fantastica: It just sounds better in German"
• Geography and Landscape in Fantasy

Tomorrow, we will post a bonus episode discussing Jonathan's own highly acclaimed debut novel, Absolute Music.  Both conversations are part of a larger discussion about fairy stories, fantasy, and imagination.  

This episode masterfully produced by Logan Huggins.  There are a few more sonic treasures like this sprinkled throughout the season--enjoy them!  Chris continues to try to grapple with the basics of editing for future episodes--but that, as they say, is another story, and will be told another time.

Dawn Treader, Part 2

Episode description to come!  It's late!

 

(Sorry about some of the audio quality!  I'm learning!--Chris)

Dawn Treader, part 1

As Season Three of the Inklings Variety Hour begins, worlds collide! 

David Bates, of Pints with Jack fame, is hoisted aboard our primitive, deckchairless podcast, as we set sail for sweeter waters!

Why, you can almost feel the sea air! Bracing!

Also joining up with us, we have Eric Geddes from the snowy wastes of Phoenix--whom you might remember from our Christmas episode!

Enjoy part 1 of our two-part coverage of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Among other topics, we discuss:

• Whether (and why) this is where Narnia really takes shape
• That amazing first line--and Harold and Alberta's special underwear
• How to repel germs and insects--Lewis brothers style!
• Voyage of the Dawn Treader as satire-turned-adventure tale
• The Miseducation of Eustace Clarence Scrubb
• The genre and structure of this satire-turned-adventure tale-turned-immram
• The superiority of the low-budget BBC adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Eustace's diary and grade-grubbing
• Slavery, moral fads, "progress" in an egg, bureaucracies, and "efficient" committees--versus pomp and ceremony
• Eustace as Edmund dialed up to 11
• The endragoning of Eustace and fiends in human shape
• Sir Gowther
• How we would create a Star Trek-style adaptation of Voyage of the Dawn Treader...in space (er, Heaven).  Eat your heart out, Gene Roddenberry and Michael Ward!

Next week: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, part 2!

Special thanks to Logan Huggins for amazing work editing/producing this episode!  Enjoy it while you can, folks--he won't be able to edit the next episode, which means Chris will try his hand!

If you like The Inklings Variety Hour, please leave us a good review on iTunes or elsewhere!  Also, please do write in--a big thank you to those who have!  We'd love to meet you!  (Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com).  

I'm also always looking for new cohosts or others who would like to contribute to this project, either through editing or social media.  It's been a bit like the ship of Theseus, but if you'd like to hop aboard for a few episodes, I'd love to have you!  

After The Voyage of the Dawn Treader part 2, we'll be talking with J.D. Peabody, the author of the new middle-grade book series, The Inkwell Chronicles--which expands our idea of "the Inklings" and stars "Ronald, Jack, and Dot" as supporting characters.  Feel free to start reading now!

Season 3 Trailer

Season 3 is coming!  Enjoy this hastily-assembled trailer by Chris.

Join us Tuesday for the first of a two-parter on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

And yes, we will be covering The Never Ending Story for an episode this season--even though it's not by any Inklings--because it is a wonderful and often-overlooked book.  We'll also be covering a few very recent novels that have something to do with the Inklings.  It's how we roll here at the Variety Hour.

Excited?  Concerned?  "Delirious with joy"?  Write us and say so: Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Apologies to David of Pints with Jack for our general cheekiness.  Some soundbites are just too good not to use in a trailer.

An Inklings Christmas (”Inklings Variety Hour Christmas Spectacular Extravaganza”)

Enjoy an off-season holiday bonus episode!  Merry Christmas!  Season 3 is coming in February, but in the meantime, please feel free to email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com

For this bonus episode, Chris is joined by Logan, Kora, and Eric to talk about Christmas and the Inklings.

We'll talk a bit about Christmas memories and rituals that involve the Inklings. We'll delve into holiday poetry, fiction, and satire by Williams, Tolkien, and Lewis. And finally, we'll try our hand at creating an Inklings-related Hallmark-style Christmas movie, ending with a trailer put together by none other than Logan Huggins.

Works discussed include:

• "Christmas," by Charles Williams
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
• Smith of Wootton Major, by J.R.R. Tolkien 
• Letters from Father Christmas, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus,” by C.S. Lewis

Topics discussed include: 

• Coming to Inklings Variety Hour Season 3
• What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie?
• Who best embodies the spirit of Christmas in Lord of the Rings?
• Lewis' reverential rejuvenation of flat secular characters (such as Father Christmas); nature of solemnity
• Two (reconcilable? irreconcilable?) aspects of Christmas
• Barbie in the Nutcracker and "Faerie"
• Yuletide in Middle Earth

Thanks as always to Logan Huggins for making me sound a lot less awkward than I would in real life! And for adding the great music! And for maintaining the Youtube Channel!  (Note: At the end of the show, I thank "both Kora and Eric," because Logan had to step off slightly early.)

If you want to find a new way to celebrate Christmas as a season rather than a day-long binge, please check out the site Chris does with his wife, Glencora: www.12tide.com

And as always, please do not hesitate to email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com with ideas for what you'd like to see in Season 3!

Merry Christmas!