Tag Archives: Mythcon

2015 Mythcon Adds Scholar Guest of Honor

Posted on by

Mythcon 46 named Jo Walton its Author Guest of Honor last fall, and now has added John D. Rateliff as Scholar Guest of Honor.

Mythcon, the annual conference of the Mythopoeic Society, takes place July 31-August 3 in Colorado Springs. The 2015 con’s theme is “The Arthurian Mythos.”

Jo Walton won the 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for her novel Lifelode. She has published 10 novels, with two more due out in 2015. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002, the World Fantasy Award in 2004 for Tooth and Claw, and the Hugo and Nebula awards in 2012 for Among Others.

John D. Rateliff, PhD., won the 2009 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies for The History of the Hobbit Part One: Mr. Baggins; Part Two: Return to Bag-end. He also has numerous credits in the gaming field, having worked for TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro.

Lewis Scholar Christopher Mitchell Passes Away

Posted on by
Christopher Mitchell

Christopher Mitchell

Christopher Mitchell, a premier C. S. Lewis scholar, former director the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College and, for the past year, a professor in Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, passed away unexpectedly on July 10. He was 63.

“A careful and imaginative scholar, Chris was a person of deep faith, authentic humility, generous spirit, and resonant compassion. He will be missed,” said Biola provost and senior vice president David Nystrom.

Mitchell received his master’s from Wheaton College, and doctorate from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, where he concentrate on historical theology.

From 1994 to 2013 he was director of the Marion E. Wade Center of Wheaton College, a major research collection of materials by and about seven British authors: Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. In addition, Mitchell served as Consulting Editor for Seven: An Anglo-American Literary Review. He also held the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College from 2006 to 2013.

Mitchell explained his reasons for moving to Biola in a 2013 interview with Scriptorium, the Torrey Honors Institute’s blog.

For the past eighteen years I have had the honor of directing the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College. I can honestly say that I have loved it. But at the same time it has not been at the center of my passion. Let me explain. The teaching, researching, and mentoring aspects of the position all play to my training, personal strengths, and passions. However, the administrative side of the job plays neither to my strengths or passions, and it is this aspect that has increased over the years. As a result, for the past couple of years I have begun to wonder whether it is time for me to pass the Directorship on to someone who is better suited to carry on the Wade’s important ministry. This in turn has caused me to consider where I might use the remaining years of my career most effectively. It is a question of the stewardship of my life experiences, my training, and my pastoral/teaching experience. For some time I have thought that if at some point I were to leave the Wade Center and return to a fulltime teaching position the Torrey program would be the kind of place I believe I could flourish and could invest in with passion.

Many are mourning the shortness of this next phase of his career.

He also will be missed by the many fans who got to work with him on the 1998 Mythcon held at Wheaton.

Mitchell is survived by his wife Julie, four children and four grandchildren.

Mythcons on the Horizon

Posted on by

The Mythopoeic Society’s new Annual Report tells about the next three Mythcons.

Mythcon 42 will be held July 15-18, 2011 in Albuquerque, NM. Author Catherynne M. Valente and scholar Michael D. C. Drout are Guests of Honor — and both are past Mythopoeic Award winners. The conference theme is “Monsters, Marvels and Minstrels: The Rise of Modern Medievalism.”

Mythcon 43 will be held August 3-6, 2012, at the Clark Kerr Center in Berkeley, a frequent Mythcon location. Two more past Mythopoeic Award winners will be its Guests of Honor, scholar G. Ronald Murphy and author Grace Lin.

Mythcon 44 will be held July 12-15, 2013, at Michigan State University’s Kellogg Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan.

[Via Lynn Maudlin.]

Update 05/08/2011: Fixed 2011 Mythcon year – thanks to Michael Walsh for catching the typo.

Glen GoodKnight (1941-2010)

Posted on by

Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society, died November 3. As Bonnie Callahan told readers of a Yahoo group:

“….Glen GoodKnight passed away on Wednesday night. He had been in poor health for a number of years, but was actively participating in many online activities, cataloging his collection for eventual sale/donation, and appeared to be in stable condition.”

I was often in the home of Glen Goodknight and his partner Ken Lauw when I was on Glen’s 1997 Mythcon committee. It was the ideal fan’s home, walls covered with bookcases, though unlike other fans Glen’s shelves were filled with editions of Lord of the Rings in every language it had appeared: collecting them was his passion. He was a highly interesting and very knowledgeable fan.

Glen founded the Mythopoeic Society in 1967 in the aftermath of the legendary “Bilbo-Frodo Birthday Picnic” held in September of that year. He invited fans to his house on October 12 to form a continuing group. The 17 attendees became the Society’s first members. Within a few years they had planted 14 discussion groups around the country. In 1972 at the suggestion of Ed Meskys of the Tolkien Society of America the two organizations merged and overnight the Society grew to more than a thousand members.

Mythcon I in 1970 was organized to help knit the Society’s different groups together. Glen married Bonnie GoodKnight (later Callahan) at Mythcon II in 1971.

Glen edited 78 issues of the Society journal Mythlore between 1970 and 1998.

After staying away from Mythcons for several years, Glen returned to celebrate the Society’s 40th anniversary at Berkeley in 2007. Greeted with a standing ovation, he delivered an emotion-filled reminiscence of the Society’s early days. Glen came back to Mythcon the following year, too. I was glad to see him renewing his links with the Society. Now I’m sad to know I won’t be in his company again.

Ken Lauw and Glen GoodKnight at 2007 Mythcon.

Read Owen’s First Dragon Book Free

Posted on by

Here, There Be Dragons, the first book in James Owen’s The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series, is a free read online through November 9.

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series is a grand fantasy adventure that tells the story of four travelers – who happen to be C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and H.G. Wells – as they travel through lands that may be familiar to readers of myths, legends, and fantasy literature.

At the site created for the series you can also find a video trailer for The Indigo King (the series’ third installment), downloadable wallpapers, and excerpts from four audiobook versions of the novels.

James Owen was a guest of honor at the 2009 Mythcon.

Mythcon 40 Extends Papers Submission Deadline

Posted on by

Mythcon 40 chair Sarah Beach says the committee “has decided to give folks a chance to follow up on their last minute paper ideas, and has extended the proposal deadline to May 22.” These are the scholarly and fannish presentations that energize every Mythcon. Accepted proposals get assigned slots on the program.

Check the Society website for the contact information for submission.

With James Owen as Author Guest of Honor and Diana Pavlac Glyer as Scholar Guest of Honor, how could the conference be anything but stellar?

“We are really looking forward to a wonderful conference this year,” promises Sarah. “ If you have not registered yet, do so soon. Don’t be left out of this special anniversary celebration!”

Sierra Preps for Mythcon

Posted on by

Diana Glyer and James A. Owen

James A. Owen autographing Sierra and friend with their favorite books

Diana will be Scholar GoH at Mythcon 40, which takes place July 17-20 on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

By happy coincidence, she was able to meet Mythcon’s Author GoH, James A. Owen, when he did a signing of his new book The Indigo King at nearby Vroman’s Bookstore on January 19.

Owen is well-known as the artist and writer of the independent comic book Starchild, and of the young adult fantasy Here, There Be Dragons, first novel in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.

Diana got Owen to autograph her copy of The Search for the Red Dragon, second in the series, which he did with a flourish – adding below his name a beautifully-sketched dragon’s head, in red ink.

Sierra went on that adventure with her mother and as you can see, she found a little friend willing to compare notes with her about their favorite books.