Purtill, Richard
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1931-2016) US academic and author whose first work of genre interest was the nonfiction study Lord of Elves and Eldils: Fantasy and Philosophy in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (1974); separate examinations of these two authors from a Christian standpoint followed [see Checklist below]. Purtill's Kaphtu Universe sequence, beginning with The Golden Gryphon Feather (1979) and extending to two trilogies, is fantasy inspired by archaeology and the myths of ancient Greece. Murdercon (1982), in which a murder is discovered at an sf Convention, is a nonfantastic tale involving Recursive SF elements. In The Parallel Man (1984; exp vt as Parallel Worlds of Richard Purtill, coll 2011), a warrior Hero in a fantasy world finds that he is in fact a Clone in a high-tech Parallel World, where he and his mirror must come, uneasily, to terms; the tale is very competently crafted. The same setting appears in three short stories, included with other short work in Parallel Worlds of Richard Purtill. [JC/DRL]
Richard Lawrence Purtill
born Chicago, Illinois: 13 March 1931
died Bellingham, Washington: 4 December 2016
works
series
The Kaphtu Universe: The Kaphtu Trilogy
- The Golden Gryphon Feather (New York: DAW Books, 1979) [Kaphtu Trilogy: pb/George Barr]
- The Stolen Goddess (New York: DAW Books, 1980) [Kaphtu Trilogy: pb/Jan Duursema]
- The Mirror of Helen (New York: DAW Books, 1983) [Kaphtu Trilogy: pb/Don Maitz]
The Kaphtu Universe: Lost Tales of Kaphtu
- The Gryphon Seal: Lost Tales of Kaphtu, Book 1 (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2005) [Lost Tales of Kaphtu: pb/]
- The Eleusinian Gate (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2005) [Lost Tales of Kaphtu: pb/]
- Letter To Nausicaa (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2008) [Lost Tales of Kaphtu: pb/]
individual titles
- Murdercon (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1982) [hb/Peter Rauch]
- The Parallel Man (New York: DAW Books, 1984) [pb/Ken W Kelly]
- Parallel Worlds of Richard Purtill (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2011) [exp vt as coll assembling the above, further stories in the same universe, plus other matter: pb/]
- Enchantment at Delphi (no place given: Gulliver Books, 1986) [hb/]
nonfiction
- Lord of Elves and Eldils: Fantasy and Philosophy in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1974) [nonfiction: C S Lewis, J R R Tolkien: pb/]
- C.S. Lewis's Case for the Christian Faith (New York: Harper and Row, 1981) as Richard L Purtill [nonfiction: C S Lewis: hb/]
- C.S. Lewis's Case for the Christian Faith (Port Collins, Colorado: Ignatius Press, 1981) as Richard L Purtill [nonfiction: rev of the above: C S Lewis: hb/]
- J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion (New York: Harper and Row, 1984) [nonfiction: J R R Tolkien: hb/]
links
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