The Ninety-third Roving Ranger

Life and Works

November 24, 1964. Robert Graves (Si apre in una nuova finestra) introduces J.R.R. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Ava Gardner (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
November 24, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 90 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Christopher on an Inklings pub night out.

The result was a most amusing and highly contentious evening, on which (had an outsider eavesdropped) he would have thought it a meeting of fell enemies hurling deadly insults before drawing their guns. #Letter90

November 25, 1936. Tolkien delivers Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
November 27, 1914. Tolkien reads The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at a poorly attended meeting of Exeter College (Si apre in una nuova finestra)'s Essay Club.
November 29, 1971. Edith Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) dies after a short but severe illness attributed to an inflamed gall-bladder.
November 30, 1966. Tolkien conducts an interview, published as "The Man Who Understands Hobbits (Si apre in una nuova finestra)".
December 1, 1913. Tolkien is elected president of the Stapledon Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra), a student body at Exeter College (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (i.e. the JCR).
December 2, 1945. Tolkien submits The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for publication.
December 3, 1916. G.B. Smith (Si apre in una nuova finestra), one of the T.C.B.S. (Si apre in una nuova finestra), dies of gas-gangrene in his wounds, sustained 4 days earlier.

“My chief consolation is that if I am scuppered tonight there will still be left a member [of our School group] to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. For the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve [the group]. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four! May God bless you my dear John Ronald and may you say things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them if such be my lot." Garth, Tolkien & the Great War, p. 118.

December 6, 1961. Tolkien writes Letter 235 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Pauline Baynes (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
December 8, 1956. Tolkien writes a letter to Anthony Roberts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (available (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with the Tolkien Society Facebook group).

The revised edition of Letters (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been published and notes and reviews are coming in: John D. Rateliff (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Word on Fire (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Holly Ordway | David Bratman (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

One of the early books on Tolkien’s writings, Randel Helm’s Tolkien’s World, was returned to a UK library - 16,683 days overdue (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The UK Bookseller lauds our favourite genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy: genre on course for a record year (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

If you happen to be in Lagos, Nigeria, do get yourself a copy of The Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [support (Si apre in una nuova finestra) your local (Si apre in una nuova finestra) bookstore (Si apre in una nuova finestra)!]

Tolkien’s letter to Naomi Mitchison (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is set to cost GBP 30-50k+. [Christie’s]

The University College London has found some Tolkien correspondence (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs as part of the Folklore Society Archive.

Events & Shows

Christmas with C.S. Lewis (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is on in the next couple of weeks in the US. [trailer (Si apre in una nuova finestra) @ Youtube]

A review of the Fantasy: Realms of the Imagination exhibition: The British Library's new fantasy exhibition opened my eyes to how important fantasy is (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Eurogamer].

The New Berlin Library (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Wisconsin has a Hobbit Party (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on Dec 14 in mind.

The Peruvian Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) have Perumoot in Lima (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well as readings of the Letters from Father Christmas (Si apre in una nuova finestra) planned.

Scholarship and Fandom

Tom Hillman has been interviewed by the Tolkien Guide about his book Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Journal of Tolkien Research’ volume 17 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is available (issue 2, Tolkien's Animals).

Douglas A. Anderson has Off-trail Hobbit Illustrations: Michael Hague (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and some off-trail Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) illustrations.

Shawn E. Marchese, the Lord of the Mark of the Prancing Pony Podcast (Si apre in una nuova finestra), has been interviewed (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Jeff LaSala. [TOR.com]

I have two new posts (coming up) with my “Tolkien Travel Posters” series - this time it is Beverly Arce (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [thetolkienist.com (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Funnily enough, there is a very indirect connection from J.R.R. Tolkien to former Arkansas Governor Mick Huckabee: The latest AI copyright lawsuit involves Mike Huckabee and his books (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Verge] I have been working on this for some time and will publish it via thetolkienist.com.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the Tolkien exhibition (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Reuters]

Franchise and Merchandise

I am immensely proud to say that the website I was effectively running on my own for the German Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been mentioned (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in this article: The Most Divisive Fantasy Epic of the ‘70s Influenced the Greatest Modern Blockbuster (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Inverse; huge thanks go out to the Internet Archive (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for this].

Roleplaying publisher Free League Gaming (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is making The One Ring and LotR RPG 5E fans happy with new publications (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

If you are thinking about making a proper investment why not go for a Tolkien letter? Their value has been rising steadily and another one (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is up for auction (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Embracer (Si apre in una nuova finestra), owner of Middle-earth Enterprises (Si apre in una nuova finestra), seem to be making decent money (Si apre in una nuova finestra) off Tolkien. [Variety; see also Kotaku (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Amazon is cutting jobs at its gaming division (Si apre in una nuova finestra) but the MMOs will be left untouched. [Verge] Coincidentally, its Q3 total revenue soared to $143.1 billions. (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Hollywood Reporter]

People in New Zealand might possibly smile knowingly at this: Amazon Warns Of Threat To UK Status As Hollywood Rival; Says Shoots Can Be Relocated At “Short Notice” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Deadline]

Good news for Hobbit foodies - the Hobbit Restaurant (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Orange, California is set to reopen Nov 28 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

An angry comment on Warner Bros. gaming and what the company has planned: Warner Bros. Is Pivoting To Live-Service A Decade Too Late (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Gamer]

Players are willing to forgive all of Shadows of Mordor’s heinous crimes against Tolkien because it’s so d*rn fun to play, but the CEO sees it as a failure because nobody’s still buying it nine years after release.

Inter alia & Back in the day

Michael Whelan (Si apre in una nuova finestra), one of the best and most successful fantasy and science fiction artist of all times, recently shared his version of Gollum via Xitter.

Later on he also shared a number of images he did of Frodo & Sam at Mount Doom (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Some contradictory statements on ‘Fantastic Beasts’: “Director David Yates says studio has franchise on ‘a pause’ after third film (Si apre in una nuova finestra)”. [LA Times]

John Scalzi talks about Christopher Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra), in a sense.

You may have seen the Antidepressant drug or Tolkien? quiz recently - here is some background on it (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [thetolkienist.com]

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, the bookshop of my personal trust.

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) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Tolkien-Discord (Si apre in una nuova finestra)