The Inklings Variety Hour

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!

The Princess and the Goblin Part 3 (Season 2 Finale)

The previous version of this audio file left out the final seven minutes of the episode.  Those responsible have been sacked.  Hopefully this re-upload will fix all.

Happy Labor Day! 

This episode goes out to all you miners toiling away for the Princess' King-Papa, who is so benevolent that no unions are needed.  Also, to all you goblins--may your heads be as tough as your feet are tender.  Excelsior!

It's taken us more time than we thought it would, but here, as promised, is the final episode covering George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.  Please do leave us a review on iTunes or some other podcast service if you haven't already--this is how other people find out about the podcast.

Logan and Chris sound off on the last third (or so) of George MacDonald's most famous children's book.  Among other things, we discuss what heroism should look like for Christians (following our great-great-grandmother's thread), and what to do when others don't see the same reality as you (hint: don't stamp their feet).  We also come up with inventions that could save us during the next goblin invasion.  It's coming, folks.

There were a few audio problems when Chris read, so a few of the readings from the book are instead from the late, great Andy Minter's fantastic Librivox recording, which--I'm sure I don't need to tell you--is in the public domain.  There were a few technical difficulties, and we didn't have time to re-record the episode, though we've finessed some things, so I think you'll enjoy it.

We have a lot of great stuff coming in Season 3, which we'll kick off with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We have lots of plans, but be sure to let us know what else you'd like to see at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again in a few months!

Between now and then, feel free to check out our Youtube channel, where we currently have episodes (with excellently goofy graphics assembled by Logan Huggins) and will have a few other goodies as we continue to develop it.

Thanks again to Logan for editing/producing this episode!  Chris added the Andy Minter bits, as well as the "Goblin Town" song by Rankin Bass at the end, so if that sounds rough to anyone, it's my fault, not his.

Until next season, see you in Goblin Town.  I'll be the guy spitting rhymes and wearing uncomfortable shoes.

Running Up That Hill (Stranger Th[Inkl]ings Bonus Pop Culture Pod)

Please do rate and share this podcast if you like it--it's the best way to help other people find it.  We'd love to hear from you--email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  

We also have a new Youtube channel, so please do subscribe--we'll be publishing clips and extras there pretty soon.  Thanks to Logan for his work on it!

Chris, Anika, and Meagan, the original Inklings Variety Hour crew, reunite to talk about Season 4 of Stranger Things, Kate Bush and the power of music, parallels between Stranger Things and the Inklings' work, the show's (possibly exaggerated?) portrayal of the "Satanic Panic," John Hughes, popular kids, and eighties movies, nerds and experts, D&D, Harry Potter, Pentecostals, Jack Chick and Charles Williams, and whether Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's most quoted line might not help everyone be a little bit saner.

Thanks to Logan Huggins for producing this episode--and doing it with style and panache!

Thanks also to author David L. Carter, a friend of the show, who was listening to "Running Up That Hill" before it was popular.  

Next week: Stay tuned for the last episode of Season 2, as we finish talking about The Princess and the Goblin.  Seriously--it has been recorded and is coming.

The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: A Conversation with Jason M. Baxter

Breaking News: We have a Youtube channel now.  It has full podcasts and clips, but probably not many videos of us actually recording.  It's worth checking out.

If you enjoy this podcast and want other Inklings fans to find it, please do leave us a review on iTunes or favorite us on Overcast or other podcast services.

We'll wrap up our discussion of The Princess and the Goblin in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, enjoy this interview with medieval scholar Jason M. Baxter about his new book, The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind.

This book, more than any I've read before, helped me see Lewis' work (fiction as well as non-fiction) as one great overarching, coherent project to make the past accessible to the present, not only intellectually, but imaginatively and emotionally.  I highly recommend it.

If you like this book, I also recommend Dr. Baxter's book on Dante, which is a very useful guide.  I've read it a few times.

As always, many thanks to our producer, Logan Huggins, for spinning sonic straw into gold.  If you missed our previous episode on The Princess and the Goblin, do yourself a favor and listen.  We're quite proud of it.

Also as always, if you have questions or want to get in touch with us, email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald, Part 2

Anika Smith and Logan Huggins join Chris to discuss the second part of The Princess and the Goblin.  There are profound spiritual moments, as well as pop culture Easter eggs galore.  Enjoy.  

More detailed description to come!

Also--because Chris is going to a conference in England and Logan is moving house, we will have a brief hiatus for the next two weeks or so.  Do not fear--we will be back with the conclusion of The Princess and the Goblin.  

Thanks as always to Logan for editing the episode!

And please feel free to email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com or to leave a review if you'd like to give us feedback.  We'd love to hear from you.

And what is a Goblin?

Chris has Kora Burton on the show to talk about goblins, and the word "goblin" as it was used leading up to the writing of George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.  What exactly was a goblin, and how was it differentiated (if at all) from other mischievous little creatures (such as elves, pukka, etc.)?  Were George MacDonald and Christina Rossetti responsible for the bad rap goblins have gotten since--in Tolkien and elsewhere?

We reference this book a great deal: British Goblins, by Wirt Sikes.

At the top, I read from Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, which predated The Princess and the Goblin.  

Come back next week for Part II of The Princess and the Goblin, featuring producer Logan Huggins and podcast cofounder Anika Smith!

Thanks as always to Logan for producing this episode!

If you want to weigh in on this episode (or any other), email us at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, Part 1

This is the first episode of our summer coverage of The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald.  While MacDonald was not a member of the Inklings, this novel-length fairy tale was tremendously influential on both Lewis and Tolkien.

Our special guests/hosts this week are (besides Chris) Sophie Burkhardt and Fr. Bill Stanford!

Among other things, we'll discuss:

• George MacDonald's life and influence
• The vaguely political origin of MacDonald's goblins
• How to keep goblins away
• The nature of Irene's great-great Grandmother:
  • Is she like Aslan, or like a saint?
  • Her potential creepiness
  • The scandal of her particularity
  • Biblical parallels
  • Her age (and Bill's excellent theory)
  • Balancing fanciful details with allegory
• Literature and the fulfillment of hopes
• Poetry
• The vaguely political plans of MacDonald's goblins
•  Modern goblins in pop culture

Here are some Librivox readings of The Princess and the Goblin (I can't decide whose is better):

Lizzie Driver's Reading

Andy Minter's Reading

 

Thanks as usual to Logan Huggins for editing this episode!

Here is Sophie's podcast, Beneath the Willow Tree.

As always, if you want to contact us, write to Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

 

Stay tuned next week for a deep-diving digression on the term "goblin," with lots of discussion of etymology and folklore!  It may be our nerdiest episode yet!  And in two weeks, we'll continue making our way through The Princess and the Goblin.

The Inklings On Friendship

I know we promised The Princess and the Goblin last podcast.  It's coming.  It is.

For now, in its place, I talk a little bit about the podcast itself and read (and solicit) some great listener mail.  

Then, I dip into the Old Winyards of the podcast (2018?) and find the original pilot episode, on friendship, starring Anika and Glencora (my wife).  Apologies for the audio quality--but no apologies for the quality of discussion.

Send questions and feedback (as well as offers to cohost!) to Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com, and please do rate us on Apple Podcasts, if you're able.

Thanks, as always, for listening!

The Misquotable C.S. Lewis: An Interview with William O’Flaherty

This week, I interview William O'Flaherty, author of The Misquotable C.S. Lewis and creator of much other C.S. Lewis content, which you can find here: Amazon.com: William O'Flaherty: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

The Essential C.S. Lewis: William O’Flaherty – Essential C.S. Lewis (essentialcslewis.com)

 

Here is William's podcast, All About Jack, as well as his Youtube channel, Knowing and Understanding C.S. Lewis.

 

William and I talk about common misquotations of C.S. Lewis that have appeared on the Internet and speculate about the human tendency to misattribute sayings to important figures.

 

Enjoy, and thanks as usual to Logan Huggins for producing!

 

As always, if you have questions or would like to join us on the show, email us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com

 

Stay tuned--next week, we'll discuss The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald!