Authors often describe their fictional worlds and characters as something they discover rather than something they invent. Randy looks at a number of quotations, connecting this phenomenon with mythical thinking.
Fictional Worlds, Invisible Reality
By Randy Hoyt · April 1st, 2009 · Issue 10
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Science Fiction Primer: Interview with Amy Sturgis
By Randy Hoyt · April 1st, 2009 · Issue 10
Amy H. Sturgis is an author, speaker, and professor at Belmont University. Randy spoke with her about science fiction and its relationship to mythology.
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Virtual Unicorns: Religion & Science in Many Waters
By Laura Gibbs · April 1st, 2009 · Issue 10
Laura looks at *Many Waters* to explore Madeleine L’Engle’s use of material from the Bible, Jewish and Christian apocrypha, theoretical physics, and more to tell a moving story of love, devotion and sacrifice.
Life of Aesop: The Wise Fool and the Philosopher
By Laura Gibbs · March 1st, 2009 · Issue 9
Laura explores three anecdotes from the legendary _Life of Aesop_, showing Aesop outwitting his rivals. Aesop used logical thinking and mythical thinking to provide comic relief and surprising insight into the nature of the world.
Biblical Narratives in Doris Lessing’s Shikasta
By Randy Hoyt · March 1st, 2009 · Issue 9
Randy examines Doris Lessing’s use of material from Genesis in her science-fiction novel _Shikasta_, arguing that Lessing is a strong advocate for the potential for the products of mythical thinking to address problems in the modern world.
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Mythos & Logos: Two Ways of Explaining the World
By Randy Hoyt · March 1st, 2009 · Issue 9
We humans beings have used both mythical thinking and logical thinking to explain the world around us. Distinguishing between these can help us understand mythic narratives, both ancient and modern.
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Batman: Dark Knight, Dark Myth
By Dave Jones · February 1st, 2009 · Issue 8
Dave looks at the depictions of Batman in the works of Frank Miller and Alan Miller from the 1980s. These two have been instrumental in the development of the dark and morally ambiguous tone associated with Batman today.
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Northern Mythological Traditions in Alan Garner
By Jason Fisher · February 1st, 2009 · Issue 8
Jason looks at how Alan Garner, a lesser-known fantasy author, incorporates northern mythological and folkloric elements into an fantasy adventure set in his home county of Cheshire.
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Shiva, Lord of the Dance
By Laura Gibbs · February 1st, 2009 · Issue 8
Statues depicting Shiva as *Nataraja*, “Lord of the Dance,” portray a sense of balance, motion, and sheer beauty to all who view them. Laura explores the ways they express narratives to those who can read the symbols and allusions.
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Prometheus in the Emblems of Alciato
By Laura Gibbs · January 1st, 2009 · Issue 7
Laura looks at a selection of sixteenth-century emblems that depict the suffering of Prometheus to explore the ways this mythological narrative is represented in visual symbols and verse.
Illustrating Tolkien: Ted Nasmith Interview
By Randy Hoyt · January 1st, 2009 · Issue 7
Ted Nasmith is an artist best known for his illustrations depicting scenes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Randy spoke with him about his artwork and some of the challenges of illustrating fantasy literature.
Saint Sylvester and the Dragon
By Laura Gibbs · January 1st, 2009 · Issue 7
Laura explores a fourteenth-century fresco from the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, depicting the legendary story of Saint Sylvester taming the dragon.