Category Archives: C.S. Lewis

Roland in the Deep

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Nathan

I think I first heard of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso in a blurb about C.S. Lewis comparing J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to it. Well, they do both have a magic ring that makes people invisible, and a monster … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Arthurian Legend, Authors, Book Reviews, British, C.S. Lewis, Characters, Christianity, French, Greek Mythology, Islam, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Poetry, Relationships, Religion, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Video Games, William Shakespeare | Tagged amazons, andromeda, arimaspoi, astolfo, atlante, avalon, basil of caesarea, battle of roncevaux pass, beowulf, chanson de roland, charlemagne, childe roland to the dark tower came, cortana, durendal, elijah, fairies, faleero, falerina, ferragut, giants, griffins, halo, hector, hell, hippogriffs, holga danske, horses, hugh capet of france, huon of bordeaux, jesus, john the apostle, king lear, lethe river, lord of the rings, ludovico ariosto, matteo maria boiardo, merlin, moon, morgan le fay, ogier the dane, orcas, orcs, orlando furioso, orlando innamorato, paladin, penthesileia, pliny the elder, prester john, rinaldo, robert browning, roland, roland the headless thompson gunner, ruggiero, st. denis, st. peter, stephen king, swords, tristan and isolde, virgin mary, warren zevon, water of oblivion, weapons | Leave a comment

Mistletoe the Line

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Nathan

As a kid, I was introduced to the idea of mistletoe being the plant people kiss under at Christmastime. Then, when I was a little older, I started looking into Norse mythology, and found the story about how mistletoe had … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Christmas, Chronicles of Narnia, Etymology, Greek Mythology, Holidays, Language, Magic, Mythology, Names, Norse, Religion, Roman | Tagged aeneas, aeneid, asclepius, baldur, brewer's dictionary of phrase and fable, crucifixion, death, deiphobe, druids, father christmas, frigg, hodur, jesus, loki, mistletoe, odin, persephone, plants, pliny the elder, proserpina, resurrection, santa claus, sir james george frazer, the golden bough, the lion the witch and the wardrobe, underworld, virgil, yule | 1 Comment

The Enchanted Garden of Sedj

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Nathan

The 1994 Oziana has two stories that were written for the Oz Story Circle, run by Fred Meyer. I was a member back then, but it would take twenty more years for something I wrote around that time to appear … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Authors, C.S. Lewis, Characters, Chris Dulabone, Chronicles of Narnia, Dennis Anfuso, Eric Shanower, Fred Otto, Humor, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Marcus Mebes, Monsters, Music, Oz, Oz Authors, Phil Lewin, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged allison mcbain, benjamin fang, bill eubank, billy bumble of oz, buckethead in oz, bumble, cap'n bill, clowns, cory in oz, cowardly lion, dennis anfuso, dorothy and the wizard in oz, dot and tot of merryland, dragons, fred meyer, ghostbusters, ghosts, ghosts in oz, glinda, great book of records, international wizard of oz club, jack pumpkinhead, jane albright, jellia jamb, kimberly doyle, leprechauns in oz, lurline, magic belt, margaret berg, marie candler richardson, mark haas, merryland, nine tiny piglets, notta bit more, oziana, ozma, patchwork girl, professor grunter swyne, puns, robin olderman, scarecrow, simon t. inphinium, squealina swyne, teenty-weent, the cowardly lion of oz, the last battle, the salt sorcerer of oz and other stories, the silver jug, the tin woodman of oz, the winged monkeys of oz, the witch queen of oz, tin woodman, witches, wizard of oz | 1 Comment

Now You’re Speaking My Language

Posted on February 20, 2022 by Nathan

I’ve written before about the Tower of Babel, the weird story from Genesis that explains why people speak so many different languages. Exactly why this needed a mythical explanation isn’t entirely clear. People speak different languages because they developed in different … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Australian, Authors, Aztec, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Chronicles of Narnia, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Judaism, Language, Mythology, Native American, Religion, Semitic, South American | Tagged athena, atlantis: the antediluvian world, bible, brahma, cannibalism, enki, enmerkar, epimetheus, flood, genesis, gigantomachy, hermes, hesiod, hubris, ignatius donnelly, inachus, kronos, nymphs, olympus, ovid, pandora, phoroneus, pride, prometheus, the magician's nephew, titans, tower of babel, tricksters, works and days, wurruri, zeus | Leave a comment

Right City, Wrong World

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Nathan

One interesting aspect to Philip Jose Farmer’s A Barnstormer in Oz is his indication that the human inhabitants of Oz are descended from people who arrived there from our world, mostly Goths but also Celts and Native Americans. This sort … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Cartoons, Characters, Chronicles of Narnia, Donkey Kong, L. Frank Baum, Language, Mario, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Prejudice, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Television, Video Games | Tagged a barnstormer in oz, brooklyn, corumbia, diana ross, dinohattan, gypsies, kiltoon, mario kart tour, mifkets, mount mern, mushroom kingdom, narnia, nes open tournament golf, new donk city, new york city, philip jose farmer, silver island, sir hokus of pokes, super mario odyssey, telmar, the koopas are coming! the koopas are coming!, the wiz, the wonderful wizard of oz, toto of oz, uptown, wizard of oz | Leave a comment

We’re on a Road to Numenor

Posted on July 3, 2021 by Nathan

The Desolations of Devil’s Acre, by Ransom Riggs – The sixth and final (at least for now) book in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series takes place when the resurrected Caul, Miss Peregrine’s evil brother, is using his power to … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, C.S. Lewis, Humor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Magic, Mythology, Punch-Out, Street Fighter, Television, Video Games | Tagged atlantis, beowulf, christopher tolkien, desus nice, evil, god-level knowledge darts, hengist, horsa, middle-earth, miss peregrine's home for peculiar children, morgoth, numenor, ransom riggs, sauron, space trilogy, street fighter ii, the desolation of devil's acre, the lost road, the silmarillion, time travel | 1 Comment

The Sin Cycle

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Nathan

We all know about the Seven Deadly Sins, generally given as pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Is parting your hair in the middle a sin? I used to do that before I was informed that it’s unflattering. … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventism, Babylonian, C.S. Lewis, Cartoons, Catholicism, Chronicles of Narnia, Dragon Quest, Fairy Tales, Fundamentalism, Monsters, Mystery Cults, Mythology, Religion, Television, Video Games | Tagged alice k. turner, astrology, avarith, booga, brothers grimm, disney, dr. paul ekman, dragon quest xi, gilligan's island, gyldygga, mithraism, mithras, mordegon, numerology, seven deadly sins, seven heavenly virtues, sin, sir jasper, smurfs, snow white and the seven dwarfs, the history of hell | Leave a comment

The Offbeat Officials of Oz

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Nathan

The Oz books have a lot of small royal courts with unusually-titled officials. This is something we see much more often in Ruth Plumly Thompson, but L. Frank Baum did have a few examples. In John Dough and the Cherub, … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Characters, Chronicles of Narnia, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Magic Items, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged aladdin, alibabble, baffleburg, bamboula, blufferroo, captain salt in oz, chick the cherub, chief chow chow, chief dipper, chief scarer, chief scorner, chief scrapper, chinda, dwarves, giants, gilbert and sullivan, grampa in oz, grand advizier, grand bozzywoz, grand chew chew, grand counter of the imperial spoons, hah hoh, handy mandy in oz, head booleywag, high coco-lorum, high qui-questioner, hippolorum, imperial persuader, jack pumpkinhead of oz, john dough, john dough and the cherub, kabumpo in oz, kimbaloo, king cheeriobed, king rinkitink, king sizzeroo, lord high humpus, lord high this and that, lord high upper dupper, mogodore, nox the ox, octagon isle, ojo in oz, out keeper, ozma, pat the prime patter, patch, perhaps city, peter brown, pirates in oz, pokes, preservatory, prime moneyster, prime piecer, prime preserve, prime pumper, pumperdink, red jinn, rinkitink in oz, royal scribbler, samandra, sapphire city, sauce box, scare city, sevenanone, silver island, silver mountain, sky island, smerker, snorpus, speedy in oz, sultan of samandra, supposyville, supposyville goes toboganning, swing city, the cowardly lion of oz, the giant horse of oz, the gnome king of oz, the horse and his boy, the lost king of oz, the lost princess of oz, the mikado, the purple prince of oz, the royal book of oz, the yellow knight of oz, thi, tighty, toddledy, town crier, town laugher, umbrella island, unicorners, unicorns, vizier | Leave a comment

Where the Worlds Have No Name

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Nathan

One night last week, I had a fitful sleep with a bunch of weird dreams. I remember one of them had me ranting about how J.R.R. Tolkien was never clear on whether Middle-Earth was his entire imaginary world or just … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Captain N: The Game Master, Cartoons, Chronicles of Narnia, Discworld, Dragon Quest, Dreams, Final Fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Language, Maps, March Laumer, Mario, Mythology, Names, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Television, Terry Pratchett, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged alefgard, Arda, calormen, continent of imagination, dragon quest ii, dragon quest iii, final fantasy iv, final fantasy ix, final fantasy vii, gaia, galaxies, hyrule, jupiter, mars, middle-earth, midgard, moon, mushroom world, narnia, nonestic ocean, planets, professor wogglebug, saturn, sun, super mario bros. 3, the royal book of oz, world tree, yggdrasil | Leave a comment

Ariel View

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Nathan

I’ve looked at quite a bit of fairy lore over the years, but one character I hadn’t really addressed is Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, largely because I hadn’t read it. I recently did so, and I also found out that … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, British, C.S. Lewis, Cartoons, Christianity, Fairy Tales, Futurama, Gender, Greek Mythology, Humor, Jasper Fforde, Judaism, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Nursery Crime, Oz, Plays, Poetry, Religion, Roman, Television, Theosophy, William Shakespeare | Tagged a midsummer night's dream, alexander pope, angels, ariel, belinda, bible, caliban, demons, elementals, fairies, gnomes, hans christian andersen, isaiah, j. l. bell, john milton, king lear, lucifer, mermaids, nomes, oberon, paracelsus, paradise lost, philip j. fry, prospero, rosicrucianism, sycorax, sylphs, the fourth bear, the little mermaid, the rape of the lock, the tempest, titania, umbriel, uranus, uriel, witches | Leave a comment

Category Archives: C.S. Lewis

Roland in the Deep

Mistletoe the Line

The Enchanted Garden of Sedj

Now You’re Speaking My Language

Right City, Wrong World

We’re on a Road to Numenor

The Sin Cycle

The Offbeat Officials of Oz

Where the Worlds Have No Name

Ariel View

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