Born on this date in 1898 was C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, best known for his works of fiction,
especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The
Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian works, such as
Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.
- Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 29 November 1898. His friends and family called him Jack, a nickname which arose from when, at the age of four, he lost his pet dog, Jacksie, and announced that Jacksie was now his name. For a time, he'd answer to nothing else, although in due course it got shortened to Jack.
- Even as a child, Lewis was making up fantasy worlds full of anthropomorphic animals, possibly inspired by the Beatrix Potter stories. With his brother, Warren, he invented a world called Boxen, a world in a box inhabited and run by animals. One of these animals was King Bunny, which was echoed later when the room in which he used to meet with fellow authors as an adult was called the Rabbit Room.
- He's known for being a Christian writer, but for a while as a young man, he totally rejected his religious upbringing and became an atheist, interested in mythology and the occult. Being drafted to fight in the first world war while still a student and witnessing all the horror turned him against God even more. However, thanks to the works of George MacDonald and G. K. Chesterton, and his friendship with JRR Tolkien, he returned to Christianity.
- During his army training, Lewis shared a room with another cadet, Edward Courtnay Francis "Paddy" Moore. The two men made a pact that if either of them was killed in the war, the other would take care of their family. Paddy was killed in action in 1918 and Lewis kept his promise, moving in with Paddy's mother and caring for her until she died. It has even been speculated that Lewis and Jane Moore were lovers, even though she was 45 years older than him. There is evidence to support the arguments for and against, so we'll never know.
- Friendships seemed most important to Lewis. His friendship with Tolkien is the best known. They shared an eccentric sense of humour - they once went to a party dressed as Polar Bears. It wasn’t a fancy-dress party. The protagonist in Lewis's Space Trilogy novels, Elwin Ransom, was based on Tolkien. When they first met, however, Lewis wrote of Tolkien in his diary: ‘No harm in him, only needs a smack or so.’
- As a writer, Lewis was a perfectionist and often wrote and re-wrote his works, especially his early poems. He took criticism from his friends very seriously - he destroyed the first draft of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when his friends criticised it, and rewrote it from scratch.
- He never used a Typewriter and never learned to type. All his work was written longhand. While the fact he only had one joint in his thumbs would have made typing difficult, that wasn't the only reason he chose not to type. Typing, he said, “interfered with the creative process in that the incessant clacking of the typewriter keys dulled the writer’s appreciation of the rhythms and cadences of the English language.”
- At first, his marriage to Joy Davidman, the American writer with whom he had corresponded, was a marriage of convenience. She came to England with her two sons to escape an abusive marriage. The two were great friends and so Lewis agreed to a civil marriage so she could stay in the UK. However, the relationship went further than that, and after Joy was diagnosed with bone cancer, they wanted a proper Christian marriage. A friend, the Rev. Peter Bide, performed the ceremony at her bedside in the Churchill Hospital on 21 March 1957. Joy's cancer went into remission and they lived together for another three years before the cancer returned and she died. Lewis wrote a book about his experience of grief, A Grief Observed, but published it under a pseudonym, N. W. Clerk, because the subject matter was so personal. It fooled many of his friends, who actually recommended the book to him to help him deal with his grief.
- Lewis tried to join up again when the second world war broke out but his application, at the age of 40, was rejected. The recruiting office suggested he might use his talent as a writer to write columns for the Ministry of Information in the press, but her refused, as he didn't want to write lies to deceive people. He also turned down a CBE and gave away the royalties from all his Christian books. By the time he got the tax bill, he would already have given the money away.
- He died on the same day as Aldous Huxley, but neither got much coverage in the papers because there was another famous death that day - the Assassination of John F Kennedy.
New!
Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.
Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.
Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.
Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.
Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.
Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.
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