The Inklings Variety Hour

Rerun: Till We Have Faces, Part 1

Feeling nostalgic while running through the grading gauntlet, Chris dips back into what was probably the most widely-listened-to episode of the Inklings Variety Hour: the first of many, many, many episodes on Till We Have Faces. 

If you like it and want to hear the rest, just go back to Season 1 and binge away!  It's good stuff.

Next week, once my grades are in, we will be blasting off to Heaven with a new, 3- or 4-part series on C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.

In the meantime, here are the notes for the original Till We Have Faces episode:

Welcome back to The Inklings Variety Hour!  It's a new year, and Ungit has only just hatched out of her egg-house (or something), but already, your intrepid hosts are tackling C.S. Lewis' novel, Till We Have Faces (1956)--widely considered the best novel he ever wrote.  Chris, Anika, and Meagan discuss this retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth as only the Inklings Variety Hour can--with lots of digressions, reading of passages, and laughter.

If you're enjoying this podcast, we're glad to have you along for the ride, and we'd love to know you!  Drop us a line at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  Ratings on the iTunes store would be most welcome also.

Music for this episode includes:

The Hurrian Hymn

The "Our Father" in Aramaic

"Sick Muse" by Metric

USSR LOTR (Khraniteli, 1991)

The Internet, like Sauron, just keeps on giving. 

Kora Burton and Jonathan Geltner join Chris to talk about one of its strangest and most recent Tolkien-related gifts, Khraniteli, a made-for-television production of The Fellowship of the Ring that aired in the final days of the USSR (1991) and was released by a kind soul onto YouTube 30 years later (2021).  

In this characteristically digressive episode, we start with some big thoughts about realism in cinema and fantasy, as well as whether Tolkien's stories can be adapted into non-British (non-English?) contexts. For dessert, we talk about particular moments in the movie itself.  You don't need to have watched this to enjoy all that is said, but it might help to at least watch a condensed highlight reel.

This article in Variety gets mentioned, and it's worth reading, at least compared to all of the other articles that have come out about this (ones that don't feature actual reporting).

I'd love to hear from you if you're enjoying the podcast!  Email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  

Next time: We'll either feature an interview, or begin our Out of the Silent Planet episodes.  It may be two weeks before we get there, as I'm still grading final papers and exams, but I'll try to throw something from the vault your way next week.  Upcoming interviews feature Harry Lee Poe, David C. Downing, Don W. King, and others.  

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!