Clement Moore’s version of Santa’s reindeer team was not the only one. Children’s author L. Frank Baum, known for his Oz series, offered a competing version: A team of ten (!) named Flossie and Glossie, Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady. The names used a rhyming, alliterative style …
Estonia is one of those countries that, when I was growing up, wasn’t paid much attention to and wasn’t in the news a lot. Until 1991 it was part of the Soviet Block, but what it was like, I couldn’t tell you. In this sense it was similar to a backwater country on a fantasy …
A while back I speculated on what Narnian female names might have been like, drawing from names that were given to Victorian-era English girls. Since there’s a paucity of names for human Narnian commoners I came up with another list, shown below. (This is a sore point with me. I don’t like to be reading …
If you’re a scholar of The Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll know that the White Witch’s Captain of the Secret Police, a wolf named Maugrim, received a name change when The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe was published in the U.S. in 1950. That change was to Fenris Ulf, a name familiar to those who read …
One of the things I dislike about Prince Caspian is that, after many, many, centuries, hags and werewolves are still around, even though Lewis told us they had been eliminated at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Seems like someone didn’t do the job they were supposed to. Nevertheless, they’re there, …
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. …
What is G? Good things, that’s what. G is the most social letter of the alphabet. It’s garrulous, giggly, generous, gregarious, and full of giddy genius. Hard or soft, it’s full of greatness, a grandiose gadabout of a glamorous guest, garbed in glittering garnets. The letter G Is pure showbiz. With growing green leaves, it’s …
When Zhu Zhu Pets came out in the beginning of the 2010s they were the hottest toy around. These little stuffed creatures were modeled on hamsters and came with wheels, so they could zip up and down trackways and do all the things Hot Wheels cars could. In addition, they made cute noises when they …
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