I stand on the threshold of Bag End and peer inside. There’s an armchair by the hearth and a kettle that’s “just beginning to sing”. There’s magic here, and friendship, and long-expected birthday parties. I don’t particularly enjoy standing here on the threshold of Bag End, on the outside, where it feels like the eighth-grade…
There’s something about seeing a favorite character wrestle with the same sin as I do, or a villain who is redeemed in the end—it reminds me that authors can still use broken things. Take Loki, the Norse god of mischief, in the first Avengers movie. He appears seemingly out of nowhere with a weird, horned…
If I’m being honest, I like to be a little afraid of the story. Epic fantasy stories—where the fate of an entire kingdom is at stake; love stories—when it seems as if those crossed stars will never align; and grand adventures—when I’m praying that my favorite characters will make it home alive, and whole. I…
