Four Legendary Fantasy Authors
By Karlissa J.
For my latest book, To Narnia and Beyond, I’ve been getting to know four incredible Christian authors who wrote fantasy. How many of these authors are you familiar with? How many of their books have you read? And what’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about them? Let me know in the comments!
Most famous for writing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as the nonfiction work Mere Christianity.
Superfans admire him for his final novel, Till We Have Faces, as well as his Cosmic Trilogy (also called the Ransom Trilogy or Space Trilogy).
One of the most interesting things I learned about him…
He loved science fiction – a genre that seems just right for the way his mind worked. He naturally mulled over experimental concepts, some of them a little odd. Like playing with the idea of a universe where there are exactly seven genders…
Most famous for writing The Princess and the Goblin.
Superfans admire him for Phantastes, a novel that C.S. Lewis considered life changing. They may also know his sermons, his fiction novels, his fairytales… MacDonald wrote a lot.
One of the most interesting things I learned about him…
MacDonald was a thoughtful and welcoming man with a big family. In addition to influencing the people who read his writings after he died (such as C.S. Lewis), he entertained multiple now-famous people at his house. A certain man named Charles Dodgeson read to MacDonald’s children an imaginative novel he was working on, and the family encouraged him to get it published. You may know Charles Dodgeson by his pen name, Lewis Carroll; and the book he read to MacDonald’s kids was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Most famous for writing The Lord of the Rings.
Superfans admire him for The Silmarillion – which was published after his death – and for his thoughtful essay “On Fairy Stories.”
One of the most interesting things I learned about him…
J.R.R. Tolkien studied linguistics. He put his knowledge of languages to use in various ways: helping write a dictionary, translating the Biblical book of Jonah… and, of course, inventing two Elvish languages for his novels.
Most famous for writing A Wrinkle in Time.
Superfans admire her for her nonfiction book on art, Walking on Water, as well as the various novels that followed the protagonists of A Wrinkle in Time (for example, the Time Quartet, of which Wrinkle is the first book).
One of the most interesting things I learned about her…
Did you know it is possible to write a tale with an endearing, magical, eye-covered seraphim? Or that mammoths, shape-shifting angels, and teleporting unicorns could belong together in a retelling of Noah’s Ark? Madeleine L’Engle’s creativity is inspiring.
