I have degrees in history and Christian theology, and enjoy science fiction and fantasy stories, whether set on earth, or in other worlds, whether real (other planets of our solar system), hypothetical (possible planets in other galaxies), or imaginary (Narnia, Wonderland). But I like those set in this world best, and value them especially for the insights they give into life, the universe, and everything. As C.S. Lewis once said to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, if we want more of the kind of stories we like, we shall have to write them ourselves. The books Iāve recommended are the kind I like, and Iāve tried to write a few more.
Charles Williamsās books have been described as āsupernatural thrillers.ā Many later authors have tried to use the theme of a recently-rediscovered ancient holy relic, which various people want to get hold of for good or evil purposes, in this case the Holy Grail or Graal, but few have done it as well as Charles Williams. Iāve read it at least five times, and I also think it has one of the most attention-grabbing opening lines in fiction: āThe telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.ā
"War in Heaven" is a horrific romance, with many mythical creatures present. Instead of creating a unique secondary fantasy world or switching between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his modern world. This allows him to explore the influence of another reality on different characters. The object that guides the supernatural to the natural in this novel is the Holy Grail
The 12-year-old son of a friend recommended this book to me, and his judgment was spot-on. Colin and Susan (aged about 11) spend their holidays with Gowther and Bess Mossock on a farm near Alderley Edge, in Cheshire. A strange woman, Selina Place, accosts them and causes the stone in a bracelet Susan wears to change colour. It seems that the bracelet has magical properties, and Cadellin Silverbrow, a wizard who guards a troop of sleeping knights in a cavern under The Edge explains that it could be used to wake up the knights before they are needed. Selina Place and her coven of witches are determined to get hold of Susanās stone for their own purposes, and in a thrilling chase across country the children meet many characters from Norse and Celtic mythology, both good and evil, It also has the all-time scariest underground tunnel sequence of any book I have ever read.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time.
"Alan Garner's fiction is something special." - Neil Gaiman
When Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie creatures across Alderley Edge, they are saved by the Wizard. He takes them into the caves of Fundindelve, where he watches over the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights.
But the heart of the magic that binds them - Firefrost, also known as the Weirdstone of Brisingamen - has been lost. The Wizard has been searching for the stone for more than 100 years, but the forcesā¦
The first manned mission to Mars doesn't go as planned. Or does it?
Shadows of Medusa describes the unexpected tempest unleashed by a private mission to explore Mars. Though written twenty years ago, the novel puts a decidedly mystery/sci-fi twist on current space science and mission planning efforts. The socio-politicalā¦
Mark Studdock, a young weak-minded but ambitious academic, wants to get into the inner circle of the college where he teaches, and when he is offered a job at a prestigious research institute he eagerly grabs it, but does not realise that he was offered the job simply as a way of getting at his wife Jane, whose role was much more important, but little understood by the institute or by Mark. The institute has its own inner circle, who are also after power, but a supernatural power that they fail to understand and try to explain in scientific terms. Eventually the powers do come among them, with results that none of them expected. This is the third book of a trilogy, though it can be read on its own. The other two books are set on other planets. I have read this one at least six times, and each time it has had something to say about the time when I read it. In the 1970s it seemed to be about the demonic power of the military-industrial complex. Later, when I worked at a university, I thought its portrayal of the rivalries and petty ambitions of academics was brilliant.
Just as readers have been transfixed by the stories, characters, and deeper meanings of Lewis's timeless tales in The Chronicles of Narnia, most find this same allure in his classic Space Trilogy. In these fantasy stories for adults, we encounter, once again, magical creatures, a world of wonders, epic battles, and revelations of transcendent truths.
That Hideous Strength is the third novel in Lewis's science fiction trilogy. Set on Earth, it tells of a terrifying conspiracy against humanity. The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a sociologist who is enticed to join an organizationā¦
The Revd Merrily Watkins is the Vicar of Ledwardine in Herefordshire, England. When the diocesan exorcist retires, she is nominated to replace him. I studied theology at a college in Durham that trained clergy for the Church of England, and I liked Phil Rickmanās gently satirical touch. In the book, the church prefers the more twee title of ādeliverance consultantā in place of the more blunt āexorcist.ā I donāt know if any Church of England diocese has done such a thing, but itās the kind of thing one could easily imagine that they might do. But whether she is an exorcist or a deliverance consultant, Merrily Watkins is soon faced with problems such as the missing relics of a saint and some occult conspiracies. I also think it comes close to being a successor to the novels of Charles Williams as a āsupernatural thriller.ā
THE SECOND INSTALMENT IN THE MERRILY WATKINS SERIES
'They'll follow you home... breathe down your phone at night... a prime target for every psychotic grinder of the dark satanic mills that ever sacrificed a chicken...'
Diocesan Exorcist: a job viewed by the Church of England with such extreme suspicion that they changed the name.
It's Deliverance Consultant now. Still, it seems, no job for a woman. But when the Bishop offers it to Merrily Watkins, parish priest and single mum, she's in no position to refuse.
It starts badly for Merrily and gets no easier. As an early winter slicesā¦
Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.
This is Stephen Kingās zombie story, and I think it is the best of all his novels that I have read. I like the gradual build-up of menace in the story. Like the other books mentioned, there is supernatural evil, but unlike them, there are no occult conspiracies, the evil flows from human choices. It tells something about the nature of temptation, and one wants to warn the characters āDonāt do it. No good can come of this.ā But they do it anyway, and no good comes of it.
Now a major motion picture! Stephen Kingās #1 New York Times bestseller is a āwild, powerful, disturbingā (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the graveāamong Kingās most iconic and frightening novels.
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlowās tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creedās beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thingā¦as is evidenced by theā¦
Jeffery, Janet, and Catherine spend their summer school holidays swimming and riding horses in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. But then they have to deal with bullying teenagers who are into witchcraft (one of whom has a magical hyena skull), poachers, a witch who lures them into a deadly enchanted grove, and the strange guardian of a cave of Bushman paintings. And just when it seems that things couldnāt possibly get worse, the children stumble across a secret government project that the police think they know far too much about.
Two women, a century apart, seek to rebuild their lives after leaving their homelands. Arriving in tropical Singapore, they find romance, but also find they havenāt left behind the dangers that caused them to flee.
Haunted by the specter of terrorism after 9/11, Aislinn Givens leaves her New York careerā¦
"Broken, shattered, empty husks driven by a whirlwind. The clans shall be riven from their heart and cast into the furnace. And this before the snows return."
Three hundred years ago, the human race would have died out if not for a few who created and swore to abide byā¦