INTERVIEW: David C. Downing
Author of "Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel" (Ignatius Press, 2010)
Fellowship, I have a special surprise for you: Dr. David Downing, author of the great Inklings novel “Looking for the King” published by Ignatius Press in 2010, generously agreed to answer a few questions for us on it and his lifelong dedication to C.S. Lewis scholarship. Check out his brilliant answers below! You can find his novel and other work through this link.
Kaleb Hammond: Thank you for agreeing to this interview for Saint Tolkien, Dr. Downing. To start, please tell us a little about yourself. Have you always been a fan of the Inklings?
Dr. David C. Downing: I didn’t discover Lewis or Tolkien until after high school. My freshman year at Westmont College, I took a modern fiction course, and C. S. Lewis’s Perelandra appeared on the syllabus, along with works by Kafka, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Vonnegut. I enjoyed all those modern classics, but I was enthralled by Lewis’s fantasy novel—such a fascinating blend of otherworldly adventure and theological reflection! The following summer I went on a C. S. Lewis binge, reading a dozen of his books in three months. I read all seven Narnia Chronicles in two weeks, and then I re-read them in the following two weeks!
I first read The Lord of the Rings when I found out that Tolkien was a close friend of Lewis. Growing up, I had the impression that LOTR, with its Dark Lord and ringwraiths, was a horror story, not my preferred genre. But I learned later on that it is much more well-rounded than that, an epic fantasy in which good prevails over evil.
Hammond: You are perhaps most well-known for your C.S. Lewis scholarship. Could you tell us a bit about your many books related to him and his works?
Downing: I have written four scholarly books on C. S. Lewis and edited several more:
· PLANETS IN PERIL (1992) is a critical study of the Ransom trilogy.
· THE MOST RELUCTANT CONVERT (2002), examines Lewis's journey from atheism to faith;
· INTO THE WARDROBE (2005) offers an in-depth overview of the Narnia Chronicles;
· INTO THE REGION OF AWE (2005) explores how Lewis's wide reading in Christian mysticism enhanced his own faith and enriched his imaginative writing.
I have also edited three books of excerpts from Lewis’s writings for HarperCollins—The Reading Life (2019), On Writing and Writers (2022), and C. S. Lewis’s Letters on Living the Faith (due out in 2026).
Hammond: Let’s talk about your novel, which is one of my personal favorites: Looking for the King. To ask the cliched question posed to every novelist, where did you get your idea for this story?
Downing: When I attend Inklings conferences or speak on college campuses, I often hear someone remark, “I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at an Inklings meeting.” I have been studying Tolkien, Lewis, and their friends for most of my life, so I thought I could create a plausible scenario such as an Inklings confab at the Eagle and Child. That was actually the first chapter I wrote, a convivial meeting at the “Bird and Baby.” I didn’t want to presume to go into the minds of Tolkien or Lewis, so I created a third-party observer, the young American, Tom McCord.
Hammond: Your story is set in what was the heyday of the Inklings: 1940, just as WWII is beginning. Its threat lurks in the background throughout. How did you decide on this year?
Downing: As you say, WWII was less than a year old in 1940, and the British were very concerned about German spies operating in England. I wanted a bit of spycraft in the background of the story, something to add suspense and danger to the quests of Tom and Laura. In 1940, Tolkien and Lewis had each published one work of fiction (The Hobbit and Out of the Silent Planet, respectively), but they were still relative unknowns. I wanted to portray them before they both became household names around the globe.
Hammond: The main original heroes of your story, Tom McCord and Laura Hartman, are such well-rounded, natural characters. Their relationship develops into a charming mix of religious and romantic tension. Did you intend your book to be a kind of conversion story?
Downing: Yes, I wanted the novel to include elements of romance, adventure, spycraft, and spiritual exploration. Laura already had a “character arc,” trying to discover the meaning of her prophetic dreams. I didn’t want Tom to be a static character, so I thought a good character arc for him would be for him to move from agnostic to believer. Lewis and Tolkien were instrumental in helping me resuscitate the faltering faith of my youth, and I thought they could perform the same service for Tom McCord.
Hammond: King Arthur, the “Matter of Britain,” was a favorite subject for the Inklings. How did you connect this mythology to the hagiography of the Spear of Destiny?
Downing: In the summer of 2005, my wife Crystal and I decided to visit all the Arthurian sites in England—Tintagel, Glastonbury, Cadbury, and so on. When travelling in Somerset and Cornwall, we discovered longstanding local traditions that Joesph of Arimathea used to visit England, and that he sometimes brought the young Jesus of Nazareth with him, before Jesus’s public ministry. (The Anglican hymn “And did those feet in ancient time,” is based on this bit of folklore, which some English people take quite seriously.)
In various retellings, it is said that in his later years Joseph brought with him to England the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus, the one used by a Roman soldier to pierce the side of Christ on the cross. Holy Grail stories have become almost trite from overuse. But I find that many readers know very little about legends of the Spear, which actually go further back than stories about the Grail.
Hammond: Your portrayal of the Inklings is truly masterful. Each member comes alive on the page, especially in their unique personalities and advice given to our young heroes. You must have done a great deal of research to achieve this level of realism, even with your extensive knowledge of Lewis.
Downing: Thank you for your kind words! Though I already knew the Inklings well, I went back for this project and re-read many of their books, as well as letters, biographies, and memoirs, in order to collect all the colorful details about things they said, the way they dressed, plus their opinions on the War, medieval legends, their favorite books--and even their favorite beverages!
Hammond: As you probably guessed, my favorite scene in your book is the hero’s meeting with Tolkien. Your description of his “book tunnel,” the references to passages in his letters (including his epic takedown of Hitler) and to The Hobbit, hinting at his work on The Lord of the Rings, even showing the “farm” he kept during the War and his little daughter Priscilla, who would’ve been only 11 at the time. He also has arguably the most important influence on the heroes of any Inkling. You must have studied a great deal about Tolkien. Did you get to visit any sites in England related to Tolkien while researching your book?
Downing: In the summer of 2008, I received a grant to visit all the sites I proposed to write about in my novel, including Tolkien’s residence in Oxford and his burial place. Many of the details from that chapter come from The Tolkien Family Album by John and Prisilla Tolkien and from Humphrey Carpenter’s classic biography.
Hammond: Your novel achieves what many examples of Christian fiction today fail at: an expert weaving of Christian themes into an artistically well-written and enjoyable story. Did you find this difficult, or did it come more naturally to you?
Downing: It came fairly naturally, as there is quite of me in the young Tom McCord. My personal faith was greatly strengthened by reading Lewis’s and Tolkien’s books. Tom got to hear many of the same observations and insights directly from them in person!
Hammond: You subtitled your book, “An Inklings Novel.” Can we look forward to any more stories involving the Inklings from you in the future?
Downing: I subtitled the book “An Inklings Novel” to let readers know that they would encounter Tolkien, Lewis, and the others as characters in this story. I do have a sequel in mind, set in 1942, in which Tom returns to the Oxford area as an air force lieutenant while Laura is pursuing a graduate degree at one of the women’s colleges. It’s only been 15 years since the first novel, so I haven’t worked out all the details yet!
Hammond: One last question: are there any film adaptations in the works for your novel? It’s a story that could do very well as a movie.
Downing: A screenwriter in California did get in touch with me to ask if he could “shop around” my novel to various studios. I am still waiting to hear if anything will come of that.
Thanks for the great questions! Here is a bonus answer: Tom wants to write a book about King Arthur and all the tales surrounding him. Did you or other readers notice that there are a number of Arthurian “Easter eggs” in the story? (Hint: a woman named Mrs. Morgan who runs the Blamore Guest House. Do those names ring any bells?)
Kaleb Hammond: Thank you for agreeing to this interview for Saint Tolkien, Dr. Downing. To start, please tell us a little about yourself. Have you always been a fan of the Inklings?
Dr. David C. Downing: I didn’t discover Lewis or Tolkien until after high school. My freshman year at Westmont College, I took a modern fiction course, and C. S. Lewis’s Perelandra appeared on the syllabus, along with works by Kafka, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Vonnegut. I enjoyed all those modern classics, but I was enthralled by Lewis’s fantasy novel—such a fascinating blend of otherworldly adventure and theological reflection! The following summer I went on a C. S. Lewis binge, reading a dozen of his books in three months. I read all seven Narnia Chronicles in two weeks, and then I re-read them in the following two weeks!
I first read The Lord of the Rings when I found out that Tolkien was a close friend of Lewis. Growing up, I had the impression that LOTR, with its Dark Lord and ringwraiths, was a horror story, not my preferred genre. But I learned later on that it is much more well-rounded than that, an epic fantasy in which good prevails over evil.
Hammond: You are perhaps most well-known for your C.S. Lewis scholarship. Could you tell us a bit about your many books related to him and his works?
Downing: I have written four scholarly books on C. S. Lewis and edited several more:
· PLANETS IN PERIL (1992) is a critical study of the Ransom trilogy.
· THE MOST RELUCTANT CONVERT (2002), examines Lewis's journey from atheism to faith;
· INTO THE WARDROBE (2005) offers an in-depth overview of the Narnia Chronicles;
· INTO THE REGION OF AWE (2005) explores how Lewis's wide reading in Christian mysticism enhanced his own faith and enriched his imaginative writing.
I have also edited three books of excerpts from Lewis’s writings for HarperCollins—The Reading Life (2019), On Writing and Writers (2022), and C. S. Lewis’s Letters on Living the Faith (due out in 2026).
Hammond: Alongside your nonfiction work, you also have many fiction stories under your belt. How did you first get into writing fiction? Were the Inklings your biggest influence?
Downing: Kaleb—I would like to skip this question, as my fiction, apart from the novel, consists mainly of a handful of humorous short sketches in magazines. I think those pieces alone would not qualify me as a serious fiction writer.
Hammond: Let’s talk about your novel, which is one of my personal favorites: Looking for the King. To ask the cliched question posed to every novelist, where did you get your idea for this story?
Downing: When I attend Inklings conferences or speak on college campuses, I often hear someone remark, “I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at an Inklings meeting.” I have been studying Tolkien, Lewis, and their friends for most of my life, so I thought I could create a plausible scenario such as an Inklings confab at the Eagle and Child. That was actually the first chapter I wrote, a convivial meeting at the “Bird and Baby.” I didn’t want to presume to go into the minds of Tolkien or Lewis, so I created a third-party observer, the young American, Tom McCord.
Hammond: Your story is set in what was the heyday of the Inklings: 1940, just as WWII is beginning. Its threat lurks in the background throughout. How did you decide on this year?
Downing: As you say, WWII was less than a year old in 1940, and the British were very concerned about German spies operating in England. I wanted a bit of spycraft in the background of the story, something to add suspense and danger to the quests of Tom and Laura. In 1940, Tolkien and Lewis had each published one work of fiction (The Hobbit and Out of the Silent Planet, respectively), but they were still relative unknowns. I wanted to portray them before they both became household names around the globe.
Hammond: The main original heroes of your story, Tom McCord and Laura Hartman, are such well-rounded, natural characters. Their relationship develops into a charming mix of religious and romantic tension. Did you intend your book to be a kind of conversion story?
Downing: Yes, I wanted the novel to include elements of romance, adventure, spycraft, and spiritual exploration. Laura already had a “character arc,” trying to discover the meaning of her prophetic dreams. I didn’t want Tom to be a static character, so I thought a good character arc for him would be for him to move from agnostic to believer. Lewis and Tolkien were instrumental in helping me resuscitate the faltering faith of my youth, and I thought they could perform the same service for Tom McCord.
Hammond: King Arthur, the “Matter of Britain,” was a favorite subject for the Inklings. How did you connect this mythology to the hagiography of the Spear of Destiny?
Downing: In the summer of 2005, my wife Crystal and I decided to visit all the Arthurian sites in England—Tintagel, Glastonbury, Cadbury, and so on. When travelling in Somerset and Cornwall, we discovered longstanding local traditions that Joesph of Arimathea used to visit England, and that he sometimes brought the young Jesus of Nazareth with him, before Jesus’s public ministry. (The Anglican hymn “And did those feet in ancient time,” is based on this bit of folklore, which some English people take quite seriously.)
In various retellings, it is said that in his later years Joseph brought with him to England the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus, the one used by a Roman soldier to pierce the side of Christ on the cross. Holy Grail stories have become almost trite from overuse. But I find that many readers know very little about legends of the Spear, which actually go further back than stories about the Grail.
Hammond: Your portrayal of the Inklings is truly masterful. Each member comes alive on the page, especially in their unique personalities and advice given to our young heroes. You must have done a great deal of research to achieve this level of realism, even with your extensive knowledge of Lewis.
Downing: Thank you for your kind words! Though I already knew the Inklings well, I went back for this project and re-read many of their books, as well as letters, biographies, and memoirs, in order to collect all the colorful details about things they said, the way they dressed, plus their opinions on the War, medieval legends, their favorite books--and even their favorite beverages!
Hammond: As you probably guessed, my favorite scene in your book is the hero’s meeting with Tolkien. Your description of his “book tunnel,” the references to passages in his letters (including his epic takedown of Hitler) and to The Hobbit, hinting at his work on The Lord of the Rings, even showing the “farm” he kept during the War and his little daughter Priscilla, who would’ve been only 11 at the time. He also has arguably the most important influence on the heroes of any Inkling. You must have studied a great deal about Tolkien. Did you get to visit any sites in England related to Tolkien while researching your book?
Downing: In the summer of 2008, I received a grant to visit all the sites I proposed to write about in my novel, including Tolkien’s residence in Oxford and his burial place. Many of the details from that chapter come from The Tolkien Family Album by John and Prisilla Tolkien and from Humphrey Carpenter’s classic biography.
Hammond: Your novel achieves what many examples of Christian fiction today fail at: an expert weaving of Christian themes into an artistically well-written and enjoyable story. Did you find this difficult, or did it come more naturally to you?
Downing: It came fairly naturally, as there is quite of me in the young Tom McCord. My personal faith was greatly strengthened by reading Lewis’s and Tolkien’s books. Tom got to hear many of the same observations and insights directly from them in person!
Hammond: You subtitled your book, “An Inklings Novel.” Can we look forward to any more stories involving the Inklings from you in the future?
Downing: I subtitled the book “An Inklings Novel” to let readers know that they would encounter Tolkien, Lewis, and the others as characters in this story. I do have a sequel in mind, set in 1942, in which Tom returns to the Oxford area as an air force lieutenant while Laura is pursuing a graduate degree at one of the women’s colleges. It’s only been 15 years since the first novel, so I haven’t worked out all the details yet!
Hammond: One last question: are there any film adaptations in the works for your novel? It’s a story that could do very well as a movie.
Downing: A screenwriter in California did get in touch with me to ask if he could “shop around” my novel to various studios. I am still waiting to hear if anything will come of that.
Thanks for the great questions! Here is a bonus answer: Tom wants to write a book about King Arthur and all the tales surrounding him. Did you or other readers notice that there are a number of Arthurian “Easter eggs” in the story? (Hint: a woman named Mrs. Morgan who runs the Blamore Guest House. Do those names ring any bells?)