C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis (better known as "C. S.", not to be confused with C. S. Goto (how dare you confuse the two), nor with Lewis Carroll) was J. R. R. Tolkien's good friend and another influential early modern fantasy writer. He was also an essayist and a theologian; one of his essays "Religion and Rocketry" discussed hypothetical ideas and how the existence of aliens would not clash with Christianity.

His Fictional Works

• The Space Trilogy
  • Out of the Silent Planet (1938)
  • Perelandra (1972)
  • That Hideous Strength (1974) (AKA That Hideous Book, according to JRR Tolkien).
• The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956)
  • The Magician's Nephew (actually a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  • The Horse and His Boy
  • Prince Caspian
  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  • The Silver Chair
  • The Last Battle
• The Screwtape Letters
• The Pilgrim's Regress
• The Great Divorce
• Till We Have Faces

Why he was influential

With the Narnia series, C. S. Lewis brought to the table the "everything in mythology but the kitchen sink" approach to fantasy writing. Norse, Greco-Roman, Folklore, Judeo-Christian (more on that later), even modern things like Santa Claus got worked in. If Tolkien gave modern fantasy RPGs Halflings, Orcs and Dark Lords, Lewis gave them Centaurs, Minotaurs, Merfolk, and talking animals.

On his writing

Tolkien had his beliefs and viewpoints and they manifested in his writings. His, religious beliefs, preference for the English Countryside and Forests, his dislike of pollution and the destruction of wild spaces by Industrialists all come up in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, though they come up as background details and a component of greater world building. In contrast, for Lewis wrote his works with the intent to expose his viewpoints to the audience. They are far more preachy, often in a literal sense as they preach Christianity. The Narnia series is basically the Bible in fairytale land with Lion Jesus and female ice magic Satan. There is also The Space Trilogy which is arguably the earliest example of Christian science fiction (a genre that exists but seldom receives media attention these days for... reasons).

C.S Lewis