A proposed design for a Spanish language edition of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe using a collage technique. I like it.
My Narnia Fanfic
Since the end of the 2023 Summer of Narnia, I’ve written more Narnia fanfic on Archive of Our Own, which I’ll link to below.
Shades of Green Series
Stories about different aspects of Prince Rilian and the Green Witch, some serious, some erotic, some humorous. Each story exists in its own universe. Contains currently five stories.
Malice in Jade
Malignment in Emerald
Misadventure in Malachite
Misogyny and Verdigris
Mayhem and Moss
Every Nook and Cranny, set during the raid on the White Witch’s castle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
A Child of Charn, the evil of Charn exposed and laid bare.
A Year and a Day, a humorous story about Queen Swanwhite.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/12/24: Narnian Cat Names (Narnia LI)
Ginger turns into a plain old scaredy cat from the sight of Tash in the stable (AI art)
Cats get short shrift in The Chronicles of Narnia. Oh, sure, Aslan is a lion, and leopards and panthers are also mentioned. But domestic cats, unlike dogs, do not get to be heroes. In fact, a domestic cat is one of the notable villains of the series, the creatively named Ginger of The Last Battle. In that book the slick-as-ice, self-serving puss agrees with the Calormene invading forces that there is no real Aslan, or Tashlan as the case is, but it’s useful to let the other animals believe that there is for purposes of the invasion. To prove this he volunteers to enter the stable where “Tashlan” is hiding, speak to him, and walk out again, all the while knowing nothing is there. However, the real Tash has since entered, and it’s a shock to the first-time reader when Ginger runs out, frightened to death, the shock of the experience turning him from a Talking Cat into an ordinary cat.
On the lighter side, the owners of this male cat named him Narnia because magic seems to have given him a split face.
Since Ginger proves there are Talking Cats in Narnia, they surely have a way of naming themselves.
Cats being the predators they are, they would have many names for the speed, quality, and direction of motion. They might combine this with names of body parts, play objects, natural tendencies, and elements of nature.
Narnian Cat Names
| Baldbrow
Blackrunner Brindlechat Brindletuff Brookpatch Bugbatter Bushpad Curlyweed Daymarcher Digs-Alone Dirtbelly Fastpounce Fatfur Fat-Surprise Fernstripes Fleetflip Flowerbreast Fourth-Sun Frostwhisker Goodclick Goodmew |
Graypatches
Hazelpaws Luckystretch Meerhiss Proudgaze Roughpaw Satinback Scratchleg Shywrestle Sixth-Shadow Slowstretch Slybiter Snagwhisker Softbelly Stonegazer Stripeteacher Twigleg Whiteribs Wintertouch Wisehear Yellowhaunches |
The White Witch Returns, Part 2
Artwork by Collin Grant
One of the most iconic scenes in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the movies made of it, is of a naive, disgruntled Edmond meeting the White Witch in the woods with her sleigh. Most depictions show him startled, as here. The witch turns toward him casually, tall, proud, and imperious, about to utter the classic words “But what are you? Are you a great overgrown dwarf that has cut off its beard?” Words that Lewis later forgot she said in The Magician’s Nephew, where he shows how she met human children and well knows what they look like. Maybe all the years spent alone in the company of wolves and dwarves muddled her memory.
The witch looks older than the usual glamour gal depiction and heavier, adding a welcome maturity and power. More like the Evil Stepmother from the Disney movie Cinderella than Maleficent from the Disney Sleeping Beauty (the classic animated ones, not the remakes.) Edmond’s outfit of brown shorts, green wool vest, and knee socks is the classic one for these depictions too.
Artwork by Puppeteer-for-kings
A different version of the meeting. Edmond looks like he’s bowing here and he’s swapped his wool vest for a sweater. The witch doesn’t look too menacing, but that’s part of the stylization.
Artwork by faQy
Edmond looks like he’s in trouble here from this all-hands, grabby witch.
Artwork by Caren Morys
“Here’s your Turkish Delight.” This artist adhered to the book: gold crown and short wand, not a staff as in so many other depictions.
Mara, Dark Mother, by Georgy Demchev
Not the White Witch, but she could be. I like her attitude.
This White Witch, from a stage production, knows how to make a dramatic entrance! You can see her in the background of this pic; here she’s front and center. I love how her character is delineated by three elements: oversized furs, oversized wispy crown, and a white pompadour. Costuming at its finest.
From a children’s stage production — performed by children. This girl has a promising future as an actress.
A Russian-inspired witch who is smiling too cheerfully.
Artwork by Rachel Elese
A sneaky, sneering witch with clawed fingers holding the stone dagger. She has the black hair of the book but Tilda Swinton’s crystal crown.
The White Witch Returns, Part 1
It’s time for some more depictions of Narnia’s White Witch, like this spooky one of a dark-complected, Drow-like (the black-skinned, white-haired chaotic evil elves of AD&D fame) Jadis riding sidesaddle on a white wolf.
An anime White Witch with a night sky of storms and snowflakes in her hair. The pale blue and black combination is effective.
A chrome statue of Jadis at the Narnia sculpture group in C. S. Lewis Square, Belfast, Ireland. The sculptor is Maurice Harron. Note her world-weary, hooded red eyes and snakelike pupils! Other subjects include Aslan, Mr. Tumnus, and Maugrim. Did you know C. S. Lewis was originally from Ireland? I didn’t.
An otherworldly White Witch offers Edmund, who looks 16 or 17 here, some Turkish Delight, but he doesn’t look too pleased. The male figure is clearly based on Skandar Keynes from the Walden movies.
Ice Queen, by Jeff Simpson
This one makes a good White Witch even though it’s not meant to be her.
A proud White Witch with a prouder nose. The hump gives her character and maturity.
. White Witch by Ammotu
A more elaborately clad White Witch. Aesthetically, I like the fancy costumes, but it’s hard for me to picture her running around in the woods wearing them.
Let’s peek inside the Witch’s statue garden. The free-floating hood she wears at her shoulders is a different take.
“Stoning” a group of satyrs here with her staff/wand.
And lastly, how about a slice of delicious White Witch cake? White chocolate of course, with coconut cream frosting.
Summer of Narnia 2024
The White Witch (AI generated)
Summer dawns once again in Narnia’s sky, and with it, articles, fanfic reviews, visual essays, and other analysis of this timeless classic fantasy series. Put on your buskins, clean and sheathe your sword, eat some (non-Talking) bear meat, and let’s explore!
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/5/24: The Best of Twittersnips (Anime, Pokemon, Video Games)
What other media product has such high demand as these three nowadays?
If you want to reference a completely imaginary one, here’s a list.
Anime, Pokemon, Video Games
| Anime |
Diversion: The First Sign Love and Hunting for Heroes Shogun Love Go-Go |
| Pokemon |
Rhadaroon Simuroodle Spagglespark |
| Video Games |
Dragon’s Maze: Fate Reforged Fighting Climax Ignition Gaiden: Valor and Vengeance Mystatherium Judgement Symbol Lord of Montoon Skies of Extinction Timeframe Genesis Pilgrim Sigil |
The Little Prince (1974) [Review]
If you were an elementary school student in the 1970s, your school library probably contained a copy of The Little Prince. Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French nobleman, pilot, and adventurer, and published in 1943, it has since become an oddball but revered children’s classic, standing beside The Phantom Tollbooth, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlotte’s Web. All of these books combine the mundane with the fantastic, serving as allegories for the adults and bizarre life lessons for children. Middle school fantasies like that don’t seem to be written too much anymore. Sure, we have the likes of Lemony Snicket and Rick Riordan, but they’re more satirical and slapstick. Books written before the 1970s were more quirky, and perhaps more subversive. They made both child and adult challenge their way of looking at the world.
The Little Prince, if you aren’t familiar with it, is about a nameless aviator who crashes his plane in the desert. There he meets a small child who tells him he is from a tiny planetoid where there is barely enough room to walk around. The child, the Little Prince of the book, tells the Pilot his story: he grows a sentient rose bush, who, though she loves him, proves cranky and problematic; so he sets off to explore the rest of the universe. On other tiny worlds he learns some farcical life lessons from The General, The Historian, The Accountant, and more; on Earth he encounters a snake and fox who impart more lessons. There’s a bit about a drawing that could be an elephant-eating snake or a hat, as sketched by the pilot, but the two mainly talk. In the end, the Pilot fixes his plane but the child disappears.
(Taken psychologically, the encounter could be a manifestation of extra party syndrome, where people in dire straits dream up a companion who keeps them sane and/or comforts them in dire circumstances.)
Book met Hollywood in 1973, when it was adapted as a musical by the Broadway team of Lerner and Loewe who had written the musicals Camelot and My Fair Lady. It seemed to be a sure hit in a time of lively kid-oriented musicals like Oliver, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday Morning TV shows like H. R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, both of which featured original songs and elaborate musical numbers. But the result fell short.
Never heard of it? Neither did I, until I watched it for myself a few weeks ago.
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