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

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

The Bookseller notes (Si apre in una nuova finestra) according to Nielsen BookScan (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Events & Shows

The Tolkien Reading Day theme of 2023 is Travel and Adventure (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

An outstanding conference will happen in Oxford on March 21-22: G.B. Smith and J.R.R. Tolkien: a meaningful friendship (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Magic of Middle-earth exhibition is at the Novium Museum in Chichester (Si apre in una nuova finestra) from April 1st . 

The Hobbit will be shown on stage in Milwaukee from Feb 3 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Radio City Music Hall in New York City is having several 21st Anniversary Concerts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) from February 6 for FotR.

Bakshi's LotR will be shown at the Babcock in Billings (Si apre in una nuova finestra), MT, on Jan 28

See the Hilary 2023 termcard (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Argentina.

The BBC Repair Shop (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with Facebook.

Scholarship and Fandom

Contents of Tolkien Studies #19 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Tolkien as a gateway author (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [David Bratman] - in reaction to [John D. Rateliff (Si apre in una nuova finestra).]

How Pratchett became one of us (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [John D. Rateliff.]

To Rule the Fate of Many: Truth, Lies, Pity and the Ring of Power by Thomas P. Hillman will be published (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with Kent University Press.

An interview with Robert Tally (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion.

Oronzo Cilli's Tolkien's Library (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), a treefrog.

Franchise and Merchandise

A single line in NACON's Q3 2022/2023 sales report (Si apre in una nuova finestra) notes that Lord of the Rings: Gollum (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

For all Netflix subscribers who happen to be trilogy fans Feb 1 sounds like good news (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Gamespot]

The Lore of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the Rings of Power [New York Review; paywall.] 

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

Ravensburger US (Si apre in una nuova finestra) announced the LotR Adventure Book Game (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)?

More than fourty years ago Tolkien fans had to fight their way through The Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) adventure. You should maybe give it a try!

In Spring 1967 an interview with J.R.R. Tolkien was published with fanzine Niekas #18 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Everything Star Wars (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in 2023 [EW]

The ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Debate, Explained (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Forbes]

The science fiction and fantasy books we’re excited for (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in 2023 [Polygon]

The Służewiec neighbourhood in Warsaw recently got two new street names (Si apre in una nuova finestra): Tolkien and Gandalf. Funnily enough, the local nickname for this area is Mordor (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) definitely gets a mention.

Some of the latest in Star Trek (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and yes, Michelle Yeoh (Si apre in una nuova finestra); also DS9 is awesome (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Ansible 426 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been published.

Picture credits

Lotr Adventure Book Game: Boardgame Geek (Si apre in una nuova finestra); Hobbit adventure game: Lemon64 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Twitter (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Tolkien-Discord (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [de/en]