The worst thing I can say about The Green Ember and its sequels is that they aren’t as good as Tolkien. Actually, I think they’re rather like something Tolkien or Lewis would have written if they’d seen and enjoyed the great action movies of the last 40 years. It is as if the books we never knew we needed have fallen unlooked-for onto our shelves; “You may find friends upon your way when you least look for it,” said Elrond wisely.

Had I world enough and time, I could say something about the Christian worldview that shines through the stories without even a hint (in what I’ve seen so far, being a little over halfway done with the series) of Aslanification.

I spent my first year after high school at a local community college where I took a drama class. I didn’t audition for the first fall production, Bus Stop, because getting a part would mean quitting my weekend job at the movie theater (and all those free movies and free popcorn and soda), but when there were auditions for Twelfth Night, I decided to go for it.

I’ll admit when I first tried to read through the script I found it fairly incomprehensible. Cliff Notes helped me figure it out. As in many Shakespeare comedies, mistaken identities are central to the plot and star-crossed lovers abound. 

An instructor at the school directed the play and cast himself in the plum role of Malvolio. I’m pretty sure that was the entire reason the play was chosen that season. I was cast as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the greatest fool in a play full of fools. In the last century, Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer, and Paul Scofield, all played the role on stage, and Richard E. Grant in a film adaptation. I, um, wasn’t as good as those gentlemen. I may have done as poorly in the part as anyone who has ever attempted the role.