The finale of the Till We Have Faces series!

Original episode description:

Welcome to the finale of Till We Have Faces on The Inklings Variety Hour!

Author and speaker Andrew Lazo from Pints with Jack joins Chris and Anika for our final discussion of Till We Have Faces.  It was, as always, a delight and an epiphany, Andrew!

Among other things, we discuss:

Many, many thanks to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!

If you'd like to join one of our conversations, odds are, we'd love to have you!  We'd also love to hear from you, so feel free to email us at [email protected].  

Next time: Hold on to your electric torches! Season Two of The Inklings Variety Hour begins with Prince Caspian!

Musician Matt Wheeler joins me to talk about Chapters 7-8 of The Horse and His Boy, specifically Shasta among the tombs (ghouls ahoy), and Aravis' adventures. At the end of the hour, he's kind enough to share an original waltzy song about Aravis, inspired by a COVID toilet paper run. (Seriously, it's a great song--if you listen to nothing else, listen to it.)

Before that, we talk about the following:

For more of Matt's music, click here.

See you in two weeks, when Matt Wheeler will rejoin us to talk about the journey across the desert!

More of our series on Till We Have Faces!

Continuing to cover Till We Have Faces! 

It's Season Five of The Inklings Variety Hour, episode one, and you know what that means! Time to return to the enchanting land of--

--record scratch--

--Calormen?

That's right, Ed Said. We're kicking off this season the right way, with a little trip to an unprepossessing fisherman's hut and the down-on-his-luck literary ancestor of both a refreshing soft drink and Taran the Assistant Pig-keeper. 

I'm only talking 'bout Shasta. Can you dig?

You know who else is talking about Shasta? I mean, besides Bree the talking horse (no not that one) who abducts him? 

Why, it's Jonathan Geltner, renowned author of Absolute Music, and Joseph Weigel, host of Men with Chests and also an author! Together, we discuss the following subjects:

Books we bring up:

Copyrighted Music:

As always, please leave a generous review if you want higher quality or quantity podcasts! This is a labor of love, and I'm currently only able to get something out once every two weeks. See you in two weeks' time, as musician Matt Wheeler joins me to talk (and sing) about his favorite Narnia book. 

Sorry for the late upload, once again! I've been preparing for the new season!

The first episode of Season 5, covering The Horse and His Boy, will be coming out in a few days! See you then, and in the meantime, enjoy some more travels in Glome!

Apologies (again) for the late Saturday upload. Here's Part 7 of our Till We Have Faces series. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the first brand new episode of Season 5. We'll start with The Horse and His Boy on March 4 and update with a new episode every two weeks.

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Original description:

If you like this podcast, please give us a review in iTunes!  Also, we'd love to hear from you!  Email us at [email protected].  

This week, Chris and Anika discuss Chapters 12 and 13 of Till We Have Faces.  Subjects for discussion include:

Special thanks to my brother Jason Pipkin for the incredible '80s-style synth track used at the end!  Apologies if I overuse it, but I really liked it.  Other music sampled includes:

In two weeks, we meet the God of the Mountain!  Talk about numinous and sublime!  

Apologies for the late upload!

A new season of The Inklings Variety Hour is coming on Tuesdays in March, starting with The Horse and His Boy. 

In the meantime, enjoy this old episode, with one of our first guest-stars, Andrew Lazo, talking about his favorite Lewis book, Till We Have Faces!

Original Description:

This week, we're talking with Andrew Lazo, author, speaker, and noted Till We Have Faces  and C.S. Lewis scholar.  You can find additional information about Andrew's projects, current and future, at mythoflove.net.  We would like to thank David Bates at Pints with Jack for connecting us with Andrew!  In this episode, Anika, Chris and Andrew discuss some classical and medieval influences on Till We Have Faces, as well as concepts like mortal shame and the way physical and spiritual attitudes alter perception in Lewis' work.  In some ways, this is also a broader view of Till We Have Faces itself, thanks to Andrew's expertise.  Stay tuned for bonus material at the end, where we hear from Andrew about the circumstances of Lewis' writing of Till We Have Faces.  Enjoy the conversation!  We certainly did.

Some references in this episode:

A Naked Tree, by Joy Davidman  

Becoming Mrs. Lewis

Over the Rhine (band)

Weeping Bay, by Joy Davidman

"After Ten Years," from Of Other Worlds by C.S. Lewis

Pearl, by the Gawain-poet (Tolkien's translation here)  (Original text here)

If you're enjoying The Inklings Variety Hour, drop us a line to tell us so!  You can email us at [email protected].  Also!  Please find us on iTunes and give us a rating if you like us.  Additionally, if you'd ever like to guest star and talk with us about these works (whether you are a scholar or not), we'd love to have you.  If you're listening to this podcast, you are already a kindred spirit, and we would enjoy meeting you.  Just saying.  

A new season of The Inklings Variety Hour is coming your way in March! In the meantime, here's another rerun. Old description:

This week, we are still hiking up the enchanting mountain that is Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, hearts dancing all the while.  And why should they not, as we discuss such topics as:

Recommendations include:

We'd love to hear from you if you're enjoying the podcast!  We'd also love to have you on the show if you'd like to join us sometime (and don't mind reading a few chapters of Till We Have Faces first)!  Our email is [email protected].  

Next time we will have Till We Have Faces scholar Andrew Lazo on to discuss Chapters 10, 11, and 12!  It will be worth the wait!

From the vaults! More of C.S. Lewis' underrated final novel!

Original description:

In which Anika and Chris reveal the fairly shallow reason we had for doing Till We Have Faces this year and accidentally endorse human sacrifice. 

Mostly, we talk about Chapter 7, in which Orual and Psyche say goodbye, and Chapter 8, in which Orual decides to journey to the mountain and recover Psyche's body.  At issue are whether or not selfish love is still love and whether sacrifice (especially human sacrifice) is effective.

Other highlights:

Ash Wednesday Anecdotes

Anika reads Lewis' poem, "As the Ruin Falls"

Till We Have Faces as a text that changes its narrator

Finally, inspired by WandaVision, the hosts ask whether Till We Have Faces would make a good sitcom--and what kind of sitcom it would be?

Have your own thoughts?  Email us at [email protected].  We'd love to hear from you.

Music credits: