The Inklings are often characterized as mostly sedentary men who wrote about people going off on adventures. Yet for a few of them, the highlight of their year was the chance to go on walking tours throughout England.

It's unlikely, in fact, that they would have been able to describe the adventures of, say, Elwin Ransom, or the three friends in Night Operation if they didn't take these rambles (and write about them!) from time to time.

With me to talk about the Inklings' walking tours are Inklings scholars Sørina Higgins, Don W. King, and (for the first time), Owen A. Barfield, grandson of Owen Barfield.

We cover a lot of ground during this conversation. Topics include:

• What exactly a walking tour is/was
• The walking tours Jack and Warnie took versus those Jack took with the "Cretaceous Perambulators" (Barfield and others)
• Why these excursions tended to be documented a bit better than Inklings' meetings at Magdalen
• Humor and bawdy among the Inklings
• Connection between walking, talking, and working ideas out
• "The Inkling Impulse"
• What different Inklings looked for in a successful walking tour
• Influence of the walking tours in the Inklings' fiction

My thanks to all three of my illustrious guests for joining me. You can find more about them and their work here:

• Sørina Higgins
• Don W. King
• Owen A. Barfield

See you in two weeks' time! As always, please do rate the podcast, and if you have ideas or responses, please do email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

Joseph Weigel from the Men With Chests podcast joins me to talk about NICE Alchemy!

By which I don't mean, "Whoa, that was some really sweet alchemy you were doing just now, dude! NICE!"

But rather, the connection between science and magic as practiced by the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) in C.S. Lewis' final novel in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength. It's weird stuff. And Merlin's involved, naturally. That guy.

This is part discussion, part interview, because Joseph has recently published an article in Sehnsucht about connections between the N.I.C.E.'s experiments and alchemy. Read it here: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cslewisjournal/vol18/iss1/11/

Also, be on the lookout for Joseph's forthcoming book, Planet Thulcandra. It hasn't come out as of the publication of this podcast, but it's on its way!

Be sure to check out Men With Chests while you're at it!

There is a lot more to come this season! It seems likely that (because this is only coming out once every two weeks), it will extend well into the Fall.

In the vault, I have:

A roundtable on The Abolition of Man

A conversation about the Walking Tours that members of the Inklings took

A discussion of George MacDonald's Lilith

A series on the OHEL

...and quite a bit more.

Shoot me an email to say hi if you're listening--I appreciate hearing from people who enjoy this podcast! And please do leave a rating and review if you can. It's nice to know when this is actually getting heard by someone!

Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler join me to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's great allegory (or is it?) for the creative process, "Leaf by Niggle"!

Enjoy! I am quite excited about this episode.

And check out Ned and Matt's stuff! I will post links! I will! In the meantime, I've given you the spelling of their first and last names, above. Notable works include, but are not restricted to: Every Moment Holy, The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad, The Wonder of It All. You're welcome.

More episode description to come, but it's been another late night editing, and I have small children who wake up early, you monster! Think of them.

Liked the episode? Give us a five-star review. Want to weigh in on the red-hot-button allegory controversy? Shoot me an email: inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com