The One-hundred and seventh Roving Ranger

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

Events & Shows

You can have a quick look at scenes (Opens in a new window) from the Chicago version of the musical. [TheaterMania] | See also this Chicago Tribune review (Opens in a new window) [region-walled]

The Exeter Phoenix and Exeter City of Literature will celebrate both book and films on August 17 (Opens in a new window). And you can still vote (Opens in a new window) for The Lord of the Rings as Exeter‘s favourite book.

A number of Tolkien-inspired events (Opens in a new window) are up with the Story Museum in Oxford.

The Marquette exhibition and research project Affirmation/Transformation: Fandom Created (Opens in a new window) is on-going at the Haggerty Museum and online.

You can now have a look at this year’s Oxonmoot’s schedue with Sched.com (Opens in a new window).

An exhibition on Sir Gawain & the Green Knight (Opens in a new window) is on in Wirral, UK. (h/t Tim Bolton (Opens in a new window))

For all events (Opens in a new window) check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

Women In Middle-earth SDCC 2024 Panel ft EA, Magic, Weta, Middle-earth Ent & more [Youtube (Opens in a new window); TORn]

The 2024 Mythopoeic Awards (Opens in a new window). [File 770]

Jeff LaSala has Van Helsing and The Rings of Power (Opens in a new window).

A lovely chat with collector Trotter (Opens in a new window) via Tolkien Talk [Youtube]

The latest version of cite.tolkien (Opens in a new window) is out.

A review of the Aubusson exhibition catalogue (Opens in a new window) [in French; Tolkiendil]

Spanish football players have been known to be Tolkien fans; there is now another (Opens in a new window). [Twitter]

Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson spotted one of his books (Opens in a new window).

Bulgarian LotR translator Lyubomir Nikolov has passed away. (Opens in a new window)

Given the political situation in the US right now and the fact that ‘Tolkienian rhetorics’ have become part of everyday political interaction here are a few links.

MAGA misunderstands the fellowship of the ring (Opens in a new window) [New York Times] | Reaction No Surprise, David French Completely Botches J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings (Opens in a new window) [Federalist]

Whose ‘Lord of the Rings’ is it anyway? (Opens in a new window) [Boston Globe]; If ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Is a Cautionary Tale, It Was Lost on JD Vance (Opens in a new window) [New York Times; paywall]

Peter Thiel’s influence over a network of Lord of the Rings-inspired companies (Opens in a new window)[Disconnect Blog]; JD Vance’s investments reveal potential contradictions with his political persona (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

Franchise and Merchandise

Cate Blanchett Says ‘No One Got Paid Anything’ to Film ‘Lord of the Rings’: ‘I Basically Got Free Sandwiches’ (Opens in a new window)[Variety; Youtube] Please note: This is NOT a surprise, see Kristin Thompson’s ”The Frodo Franchise”.

New Edition of Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Coming Soon (Opens in a new window) [Warhammer Community]

A LotR:RoP featurette (Opens in a new window) makes the - certainly not new - connection between heavy metal and the series. [Youtube]

Lord of the Rings: Online takes you on a stroll through Mordor (Opens in a new window). [Youtube]

Interested in buying Tolkien items? Have a look at some amazing specimens with Bayliss Rare Books (Opens in a new window).

This is one of the most hilarious examples (Opens in a new window)for auction site abuse you will ever find. PSA: Please inform yourself on reliable sites like TolkienGuide.com (Opens in a new window) whether the things you want you buy are genuine.

Inter alia & Back in the Day

Ellen Kushner noted in her recent newsletter:

I Bear Witness to an Ancient Time. It is the time that Fantasy as a Genre was invented, actually. Before LOTR had become a massive enough hit to engender an entire commercial genre of fantasy novels for Not Children, virtually all contemporary fantasy was published as Children’s Books. [Substack (Opens in a new window)]

Is romantasy killing Australian literature? (Opens in a new window)[Arts Hub]

Princess Leia’s Star Wars gold bikini fetches $175,000 at auction (Opens in a new window)[Guardian]

If you feel like using legendary WordStar to write your books - it’s online now (Opens in a new window).

Tiny arm bone unlocks mystery of Indonesia's extinct 'Hobbit' people (Opens in a new window) [Reuters]

The Micro Golden Age of Mid Eighties Fantasy Films (Opens in a new window) [Arts’ Desk]

‘Inside Out 2’ is a blockbuster. It doesn’t solve the animation business’ biggest problem (Opens in a new window) [L.A. Times]

Ansible 445 has been published (Opens in a new window).

A new game with an interesting background - Tales from the Mabinogion (Opens in a new window) - has a reveal trailer. The BBC and others are using a supposed Tolkien link, i.e. Sindarin, in reporting.

D23 2024: First Look at Skeleton Crew, News on The Mandalorian and Grogu, and More (Opens in a new window) [Star Wars]

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Opens in a new window) or Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), the bookshops of my personal trust.

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : : Threads : Mastodon (Opens in a new window) : Xitter (Opens in a new window)
You can support me by becoming a member with my Steady page (Opens in a new window).

If you happen to use Feedly (Opens in a new window) - why not subscribe to one of their most popular Tolkien blogs: thetolkienist.com ☺️

As this is 2024 I would like to note that this newsletter is 100% human-made, curated by me, Marcel R. Bülles. This also holds true for everything I write with my blog and here at Steady. Also, the average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours.