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

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

The Bookseller notes (Opens in a new window) according to Nielsen BookScan (Opens in a new window)’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 (Opens in a new window).

Events & Shows

The Tolkien Reading Day theme of 2023 is Travel and Adventure (Opens in a new window).

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

The Magic of Middle-earth exhibition is at the Novium Museum in Chichester (Opens in a new window) from April 1st . 

The Hobbit will be shown on stage in Milwaukee from Feb 3 (Opens in a new window).

Radio City Music Hall in New York City is having several 21st Anniversary Concerts (Opens in a new window) from February 6 for FotR.

Bakshi's LotR will be shown at the Babcock in Billings (Opens in a new window), MT, on Jan 28

See the Hilary 2023 termcard (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) in Argentina.

The BBC Repair Shop (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) with Facebook.

Scholarship and Fandom

Contents of Tolkien Studies #19 (Opens in a new window).

Tolkien as a gateway author (Opens in a new window) [David Bratman] - in reaction to [John D. Rateliff (Opens in a new window).]

How Pratchett became one of us (Opens in a new window) [John D. Rateliff.]

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

An interview with Robert Tally (Opens in a new window) on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion.

Oronzo Cilli's Tolkien's Library (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window), a treefrog.

Franchise and Merchandise

A single line in NACON's Q3 2022/2023 sales report (Opens in a new window) notes that Lord of the Rings: Gollum (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window).

For all Netflix subscribers who happen to be trilogy fans Feb 1 sounds like good news (Opens in a new window) [Gamespot]

The Lore of the Rings (Opens in a new window) on the Rings of Power [New York Review; paywall.] 

Right-Wing Rings of Power (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) - or not? [Business Insider] Also, JustWatch determined that in the US (Opens in a new window) and in Germany (Opens in a new window) RoP placed #5th on their most streamed series charts.

Ravensburger US (Opens in a new window) announced the LotR Adventure Book Game (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window)?

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

In Spring 1967 an interview with J.R.R. Tolkien was published with fanzine Niekas #18 (Opens in a new window).

Everything Star Wars (Opens in a new window) in 2023 [EW]

The ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Debate, Explained (Opens in a new window) [Forbes]

The science fiction and fantasy books we’re excited for (Opens in a new window) in 2023 [Polygon]

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

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 (Opens in a new window) definitely gets a mention.

Some of the latest in Star Trek (Opens in a new window) and yes, Michelle Yeoh (Opens in a new window); also DS9 is awesome (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window).

Ansible 426 (Opens in a new window) has been published.

Picture credits

Lotr Adventure Book Game: Boardgame Geek (Opens in a new window); Hobbit adventure game: Lemon64 (Opens in a new window).

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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Twitter (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Tolkien-Discord (Opens in a new window) [de/en]