The Seventy-Ninth Roving Ranger

Welcome to a new home - from TinyLetter to Steady

(In case you ever asked yourself about this photo - I took this at Merton College where Tolkien did not only hold a chair as Professor of English
Language and Literature but Merton College also graciously offered him rooms at the end of his life [1971-1973] and this table beside Deadman's Walk has now become the Tolkien Table.)

Life and Works

28 Jan, 1982. The Old English Exodus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is published.
30 Jan, 1914. The Chequers Clubbe is given permission to organize dinners (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
31 Jan, 1892. Tolkien is christened at Bloemfontein (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Cathedral.
4 Feb, 1937. "The Dragon's Visit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
5 Feb, 1968. First day of filming of Tolkien in Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
10. Feb, 1966. Tolkien writes a letter to Donald A. Wollheim (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of Ace Books.

Tolkien passed away on Sept 2, 1973. The Royal Mint is commemorating the 50th Anniversary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of his passing with a £2 coin; sets are now available for sale. [Read more on my Steady page (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).]

The Bookseller notes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) according to Nielsen BookScan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)’s Science Fiction & Fantasy  category for the UK the former 2001 record of sales was broken with £46.8m in 2022, led by J.R.R. Tolkien by a very healthy margin (TCM values given: #1, Tolkien, £4,475,660; #2, Sarah J Maas, £3,698,340; #3, George R R Martin, £1,681,487). Also, fantasy far outpaced science fiction; the only name on the top ten from that category was Dune's Frank Herbert. [Paywall]

March 30 will see the publication of The Battle of Maldon together with the Homecoming of Beorhtnoth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Events & Shows

The Tolkien Reading Day theme of 2023 is Travel and Adventure (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

An outstanding conference will happen in Oxford on March 21-22: G.B. Smith and J.R.R. Tolkien: a meaningful friendship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Magic of Middle-earth exhibition is at the Novium Museum in Chichester (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from April 1st . 

The Hobbit will be shown on stage in Milwaukee from Feb 3 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Radio City Music Hall in New York City is having several 21st Anniversary Concerts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from February 6 for FotR.

Bakshi's LotR will be shown at the Babcock in Billings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), MT, on Jan 28

See the Hilary 2023 termcard (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of the Oxford TS smial Taruithorn.

It is always nice seeing Tolkien fans all over the world enjoy themselves - and celebrating their 20th Anniversary like the Association Tolkien Bariloche (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Argentina.

The BBC Repair Shop (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has an episode on notebooks inspired by Tolkien's writings - and the owner has several letters by the author himself. [BBC, UK only]

For all Tolkien-inspired events in the world visit the International Tolkien Fellowship: List of Events (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with Facebook.

Scholarship and Fandom

Contents of Tolkien Studies #19 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tolkien as a gateway author (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [David Bratman] - in reaction to [John D. Rateliff (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).]

How Pratchett became one of us (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [John D. Rateliff.]

To Rule the Fate of Many: Truth, Lies, Pity and the Ring of Power by Thomas P. Hillman will be published (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with Kent University Press.

An interview with Robert Tally (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion.

Oronzo Cilli's Tolkien's Library (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) now gets its second edition - Jan 31.

“In a stream in the forest there lived a Hyloscirtus. Not  a nasty, dirty stream, with spoor of contamination and a muddy smell,  nor yet a dry, bare, sandy stream with nothing in it to perch on or to  eat: it was a Hyloscirtus-stream, and that means environmental quality.” 

This is how you properly introduce Hyloscirtus tolkieni (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a treefrog.

Franchise and Merchandise

A single line in NACON's Q3 2022/2023 sales report (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) notes that Lord of the Rings: Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has a new release date: in the first half of FY 2023-24.

LotRO is working happily along; read the latest info letter on things to expect in 2023 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

For all Netflix subscribers who happen to be trilogy fans Feb 1 sounds like good news (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Gamespot]

The Lore of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on the Rings of Power [New York Review; paywall.] 

Right-Wing Rings of Power (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) talks about Peter Thiel, Palmer Luckey, and Georgia Meloni - or Palantir Technologies, Anduril Industries and neo-fascism in Italy [Capital and Main.]

LotR: The Rings of Power may have helped Amazon grow Prime subscription numbers (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - or not? [Business Insider] Also, JustWatch determined that in the US (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and in Germany (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) RoP placed #5th on their most streamed series charts.

Ravensburger US (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) announced the LotR Adventure Book Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for Jan 31st.

Inter alia & Back in the day

Please always note that in 97.5% of all cases "many believe" in an online article means "we made it up and we don't care"; in this case an alleged connection (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) between Tolkien and a certain estate is happily promoted. It is a fact, though, that quite a few people are quite happy to make money off the Professor's name without actually providing proof for any such connection - I am just sayin'.

Recently, a German court decided (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that naming someone else a 'Gollum' is an insult ☺️

Sometimes I do not want to find out what people are talking about - but why are mountain bikers happy for Hobbit Juice (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)?

More than fourty years ago Tolkien fans had to fight their way through The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) adventure. You should maybe give it a try!

In Spring 1967 an interview with J.R.R. Tolkien was published with fanzine Niekas #18 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Everything Star Wars (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in 2023 [EW]

The ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Debate, Explained (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Forbes]

The science fiction and fantasy books we’re excited for (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in 2023 [Polygon]

The Służewiec neighbourhood in Warsaw recently got two new street names (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): Tolkien and Gandalf. Funnily enough, the local nickname for this area is Mordor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

I try not to link sites with presumably illegal Tolkien-inspired material but as I will probably never wear a watch with a digital clock face this one (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) definitely gets a mention.

Some of the latest in Star Trek (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and yes, Michelle Yeoh (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); also DS9 is awesome (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [TrekMovies, Polygon]

Would you like to know more about the state of the game industry in 2023? No problem, you can download the free report here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Ansible 426 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has been published.

Picture credits

Lotr Adventure Book Game: Boardgame Geek (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); Hobbit adventure game: Lemon64 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.]

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Twitter (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Tolkien-Discord (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [de/en]