The Inklings Variety Hour

The Flower of the Cedar, with Kay Ben-Avraham

Kay Ben-Avraham joins me to talk about her new (and still emerging) book, The Flower of the Cedar, which is about a dryad's journey to find her hearts in the time before human history.

If you would like to find out more, to support Kay, or to help her shape this book, go to https://kaybenavraham.com/.  

Kay is the first of several writers for Signum University Press that I'll be interviewing this summer.  Signum is unusual in that each of their authors has a "author's circle" for whom they write and revise.  Go here to learn more.

Next week, I'll be talking with David C. Downing about Out of the Silent Planet, as well as Verlyn Flieger about her new book, also with Signum UP.  Stay tuned!

If you're enjoying this podcast, please drop me a line to let me know!  Also, do feel free to jump on our new substack to discuss episodes (I am, admittedly, still figuring out how to post new podcasts there, but the old ones are up).  You can find it here.

And, as always, feel free to email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 3

We have a Substack page at inklingsvarietyhour.substack.com. Head there if you have comments to make about this or any episode!  It may be desolate at first (I've not bothered to invite anyone as of this posting) but make a comment and subscribe--it shouldn't be too long before you hear back from someone else who wants to talk about Out of the Silent Planet.

Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts!

And do feel more than free to drop us a line at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

 

Sophie Burkhardt joins the show today to discuss the final third of C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. Among other things, we discuss:

• Why it doesn't snow in Malacandra
• The many ways in which humans are humbled in this book
• Renaissance, Scholastic and...Einsteinian ideas about angels' bodies
• Lewis and Resurrection Bodies
• Three types of humans and three types of Malacandrians
• Were the birds hnau?
• Organization of labor (or if you like, organisation of labour) on Malacandra
• H.G. Wells' The First Men In the Moon and The Door in the Wall
• J.B.S. Haldane's (actually pretty well-informed) critique of the Ransom Trilogy
• Are the Malacandrians living in a communist utopia?
• The inherent absurdity and dignity of all creatures
• Goofy questions include:
  • Are you a sorn, a pfiffltriggi, or a hross? Take our personality quiz and find out! (Not really)
  • Prompt: Rewrite a myth or Bible story, but set it against the backdrop of Lewis' cosmology.

Next Tuesday, I'll be talking to Dr. David C. Downing, who wrote the first seriously scholarly work on Lewis' Ransom Trilogy (which is quite readable).

Thanks to Sophie for joining me!  Please check out her podcast, Beneath the Willow Tree!

In a few days, join us for a bonus episode, where I will interview Kay Ben-Avraham, who has written (and is writing) a book about dryads called The Flower of the Cedar. This is the first of a few interviews I'll be having with authors publishing through Signum University Press.

 

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 2

If you're enjoying this podcast, please rate it on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!

Also, we'd love to hear from you!  Email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

Chris, Sophie, and Logan discuss Chapters 9-14 of Our of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis!

More description to come!

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 1

If you enjoy this podcast, please rate it on iTunes, or wherever in the world you get your podcasts!  Please feel free to drop me a line at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you.

David Bates, Logan Huggins, and Sophia Burkhardt join Chris to talk about Out of the Silent Planet!  This was recorded quite some time ago--shortly after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I wanted to space out my Lewis episodes (so to speak). 

Longer episode description (with links) to come, because I am tired!

Next week: Out of the Silent Planet, Part 2 (of 3).  

Want even more Out of the Silent Planet?  David's podcast, Pints With Jack, is covering the book in detail this year!  Check it out!

This is a Wagner-iffic episode, partly due to the fact that Malacandra is (as Dr. David C. Downing once pointed out) a fairly "Northern" world.  So that's why I'm doing that. 

Also, when this was recorded, Logan Huggins was indeed my producer, but he has since had to jump ship--so if anything (sound effects, music) is sloppy, that is wholly my fault!

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!