The Inklings Variety Hour

Sorry for the late Saturday upload! Another classic in the War in Heaven series.

From the past! Original description:

If you already listened to this, my apologies! 

I think my releasing it the afternoon before Halloween (rather than the week before) meant that it wasn't on many people's radar. 

I'm quite proud of it (and worked hard on it), so I'm re-releasing. I know it's not Halloween anymore, but, hey--it's also not Christmas, and you don't see that deterring most businesses from playing Bing Crosby.

Another classic from the vaults. 

Original description: 

Cryptids in Narnia!

Parody of the excellent Camp Monsters podcast.

Happy Halloween!

[email protected]

Another dip back into the old vaults for the second episode covering War in Heaven. Original shownotes: 

We begin this second part of our series on War in Heaven with the Archdeacon's words to the Holy Graal (yes, that's how it's spelled).  We end as a Georgia thunderstorm knocks out the Internet.  In between, we discuss Chapters 4-8 of Charles Williams' supernatural thriller.

You can find War in Heaven here.  It is pretty inexpensive to buy on Kindle ($0.99 the last I checked).

Other than the usual Lohengrin/Jazz mash-up, the music used is from Uranus, one of the pieces in Gustav Holst's Planets suite.

The poetry excerpt at the end is from "On the Circuit," by W.H. Auden (read by the author).

Stay tuned for Part 3 next week!  

If you're enjoying these episodes and have constructive feedback, we'd love to hear from you!  Our email is [email protected].  Feel free also to leave us a review on iTunes if you want to see more of this sort of thing.

J.D. Peabody joins Chris once again, this time to talk about the third and (for now) final installment of his Inkwell Chronicles series: Operation Bungaree.

Here's the link to the book from JD's page.

We've still got a lot of episodes for Season 4. Thanks for the very kind five-star reviews! At the moment, it's all I can do to juggle my teaching load and editing/releasing twice a month, but please do keep the ratings and reviews coming, and as always, email me at [email protected] with any responses, requests, or ideas.

Next time: The Inklings and Romanticism!

Here's another Saturday rerun. Original shownotes here:

This is the first of a series of conversations on Charles Williams' 1930 novel, War in Heaven, in which the Holy Graal (yes, that's how it's spelled here) is discovered in a tiny church in the English countryside.  Hijinks and shenanigans ensue, along with a heavy dose of black magic, car chases, and ecumenism.  You'll also find out whether the hosts would prefer to read a book called Christianity and the League of Nations or Foxy Flossie's Flirtations. 

We'll be covering the first three chapters of War in Heaven, which you can purchase here if you want to read along.

Most of our conversation this episode will be about Charles Williams' life, interest in the occult, and influence.  A few works mentioned include:

• The Third Inkling, by Grevel Lindop

To read the first letters Lewis and Williams wrote to each other, go here!

Stay tuned for Part 2!  If you're enjoying the podcast, please consider leaving us a review, as it is the best way to ensure the podcast will continue.  Also, feel free to drop us a line at [email protected].  

An old favorite:

This week, we follow up on our discussion of Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" by applying some of his ideas to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We're trying to assess whether (despite Tolkien's low view of it), Lewis' children's tale actually works as a Tolkienian "Fairy Story."  Works mentioned include:

• On Fairy Stories

Chris also promotes the blog he and his wife do--12tide.com--that includes resources to help people celebrate a twelve-day Christmas Season.   

Jonathan Geltner and Søri Higgins join Chris to discuss Arthurian Torso--a collection of Charles Williams' Arthuriana (his poems and a non-fiction book) edited by C.S. Lewis. We'll be discussing and reading a few favorite poems and marveling at what Williams managed to achieve. Stick around for some broad-brush critical history of Arthurian myth in general and speculation as to whether the fantasy genre has killed it. (Way to go, Tolkien!)

You can read Jonathan's stuff at Romance and Apocalypse | Jonathan Geltner | Substack and check out his debut novel here.

You can read more of Søri's stuff here, and here, and some of her books here.

Also, if you want Williams' poetry and the Torso is a bit too pricey, she's edited those too, here.

Many thanks for the kind reviews of the podcast! Please keep them coming!

And as always, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you.