The Grip of Grace: God’s Hand in the Lord of the Rings

As a Christian who has both read and watched Lord of the Rings for years, I thought there was not much of its deeper meaning left for me to discover. How wrong I was! Brent King takes a classic we all know well and revisits it, bit by bit, uncovering things of value and eternal [...]

Fictional Forests: The Real-Life Inspirations

“Beyond the Wild Wood comes the wild world,” said the Rat. “And that’s something that doesn’t matter, either to you or to me. I’ve never been there, and I’m never going, nor you either, if you’ve got any sense at all.” ― Kenneth Grahame The Wild Wood Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows was inspired [...]

Names of Strength and Whimsy in Literature

While researching names for my next book, I began thinking of all the names I've always loved from my favorite stories. What makes a good name, exactly? Does it need to have a certain sound? A particular meaning? A "feel" to it - happy, solemn, playful or fateful? I came up with a list of several [...]

The Birth of the Hobbit

The word Hobbit was soon to be as much a magical word for Professor Tolkien as Hocus-Pocus was for any fairy-tale magician. In fact, Hobbit was the most important single word that ever inspired him to invent a story. (David Day, The Hobbit Companion) Hob. A short enough word, simple and unsuspicious. Is this how [...]