David C. Downing's Blog, page 2

Creepy fact: The old Germanic tribes associated dwarves with spirits of the dead...

Creepy fact: The old Germanic tribes associated dwarves with spirits of the dead--short, shriveled, and inhabiting the earth, like buried bodies. Many of Tolkien's names for dwarves actually have rather morbid connotations: Dain = corpse; Nain = buried one; Dwalin = one in a death-like trance. We're glad that Tolkien's dwarves are so much more lively than their ancestral namesakes!

The third Hobbit film may not be the last Tolkien film after all. What with The...

The third Hobbit film may not be the last Tolkien film after all. What with The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin, etc.--the Road goes ever on!


Ian McKellen thinks there may be more Tolkien movies on the way
www.avclub.com
It turns out Peter Jackson might want a little more than the roughly 17 hours of your attention he���s already solicited with his two trilogies. (Closer to 20, if you���re counting the extended editions���assuming The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies will be the length Jackson is claiming it will be.

I've gotten lots of compliments the past few years about the artful cover of Loo...

I've gotten lots of compliments the past few years about the artful cover of Looking for the King, designed by John Herreid. This week he sent me a few of his early sketches and layout ideas for the cover. It's interesting to see how much brainstorming and doodling goes into a successful cover design! --David C. Downing

We are pleased to announce that Amazon recently named LOOKING FOR THE KING as on...

We are pleased to announce that Amazon recently named LOOKING FOR THE KING as one of "Amazon Editors' Favorite Books of the Year" for 2014.


Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel
www.amazon.com
It is 1940, and American Tom McCord, a 23-year-old aspiring doctoral candidate, is in England researching the historical evidence for the legendary King Arthur. There he meets perky and intuitive Laura Hartman, a fellow American staying with her aunt in Oxford, and the two of them team up for an ...

The third of the Hobbit film trilogy. Now can they make "Farmer Giles of Ham" in...

The third of the Hobbit film trilogy. Now can they make "Farmer Giles of Ham" into a 3-film epic?


THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
www.thehobbit.com
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES - brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. In theaters December 2014.

Looking for the King author David C. Downing answers questions about the book la...

Looking for the King author David C. Downing answers questions about the book launch next week of a new annotated edition of C. S. Lewis's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. This book was written by Lewis in two weeks while on holiday and is still selling well over eight decades later! Think what a famous book it might have been if he'd taken a whole month to write up first book of fiction!


Upcoming Event: Book Launch of C.S. Lewis���s The Pilgrim���s Regress: Wade Annotated Edition
wadecenterblog.wordpress.com
On Friday, September 19th, at 7:00 in the evening, the Wade Center will welcome Dr. David Downing to its classroom for the book launch of C.S. Lewis���s The Pilgrim���s Regress: Wade Annotated Edition ...

LOOKING FOR THE KING author David C. Downing will be speaking on a new annotated...

LOOKING FOR THE KING author David C. Downing will be speaking on a new annotated edition of C. S. Lewis's THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS on September 19, 7 p. m., at the Wade Center of Wheaton College.

Here's an interview with Jill Flewett, the young lady who was Lewis's inspiratio...

Here's an interview with Jill Flewett, the young lady who was Lewis's inspiration for the character of Lucy in the Narnia Chronicles. (As charming as she sounds, she says all "six" Chronicles were written in one year. Of course, there are seven Chronicles, and they were written over a period of nearly six years.)



Jill Freud, Inspiration for Lucy in 'Narnia,' Reveals C.S. Lewis Memories - Hollywood Reporter
www.hollywoodreporter.com
There are multiple films in the works that will explore the relationship between literary fantasy giants J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, one called Tolkien ...

Sadly, one of Tolkien's favorite trees, the one which appears in several photogr...

Sadly, one of Tolkien's favorite trees, the one which appears in several photographs of him, will have to be cut down. Perhaps now it can go looking for the Ent wives . . .



Farewell, Tolkien's Tree | Oxford Today
www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk
Oxford University's Botanic Garden is planning a send-off for the writer's favourite black pine.

C. S. Lewis's ideal day. If he didn't like getting so much mail, what would he t...

C. S. Lewis's ideal day. If he didn't like getting so much mail, what would he think of email, texting, and tweets? (We think we know the answer to that question.)



C.S. Lewis���s Ideal Daily Routine
www.brainpickings.org
"It is essential of the happy life that a man would have almost no mail." I've had a longtime fascination with the daily routines of nota