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ROFL!!! I hear yah! That is so true, too! As it so happened, when I set out to write fantasy way back when, I decided I did NOT want to be like Tolkien ie using the same formula. There has been a lot of deplorable fantasy that has come out since Tolkien...and where its not Tolkien, its a retelling of the Legends of King Arthur.

I have yet to finish Mere Christianity, as there is also Thomas Merton and Aquinas and St. Benedict that I have on my list to read. After these guys, Tolkien is escapism!!

There has been a lot of deplorable fantasy that has come "out since Tolkein"

Isn't that the truth! Did you try to read "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever'? More stupid songs, sung by giants whose favorite phrase is "Joy is in the ears that hear" Say what?

Skip Aquinas, a bit too Fruedian in his musing on his mother. Read Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" which tells of his time in Auschwitz and how a just God could allow that sort of evil to happen. Excellent!

Plato's writings about the Cave are pretty cool, too. Aristotle is great, as well.