The Ninety-eighth Roving Ranger
Life and Works
February 4, 1937. Tolkien's poem "The Dragon's Visit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
February 5, 1968. The first day of filming for the documentary Tolkien in Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
February 6, 1972. Tolkien writes a letter to Vera Chapman and the Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra); for the birthday gift see this (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
February 8, 1964. Tolkien writes Letter 294 (Si apre in una nuova finestra); if you ever wanted to get an idea how bad interviews can turn out, this one is for you.
February 10, 1966. Tolkien writes a letter to Donald A. Wollheim (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (of the Ace Books (Si apre in una nuova finestra) controversy.)
February 11, 1945. Tolkien writes Letter 97 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)(one my all-time favourite entries with Tolkien Gateway: Etymological exasperation). ☺️
February 13, 1923. Tolkien writes Letter 6 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Elizabeth Mary Wright (Si apre in una nuova finestra), thanking her for the article by her husband (Si apre in una nuova finestra) she had sent to him.
February 14, 1896. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) dictates a letter to his father (Si apre in una nuova finestra), aged three.
“"I am so glad I am coming back to see you it is such a long time since we came away from you I hope the ship will bring us all back to you Mamie and Baby and me…”
February 15, 1896. Arthur Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Tolkien's father, dies.
If you ever need a really short biography of Tolkien have a look at this (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
HarperCollins have released the covers for the UK History of Middle-earth paperbacks coming out - see all of them and the discussion (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with TolkienGuide.com.
Events & Shows (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Now, this is a little difficult to describe but this year’s Gulf Wars (Si apre in una nuova finestra)The Known World Party’s theme will be Gondor. Master Kat the Strange (Si apre in una nuova finestra) published this with the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Facebook group, a a part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (March 9-17). [Facebook]
Registration for MythCon 53 is open now (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (August 2024).
Lure of Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has anncounced its schedule for the February festivities at Castle Stahleck (fan organised con for Middle-earth CCG and LotR LCG).
The Canadian Children’s Opera Company in Toronto will be doing The Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)from May to June.
The Lord of the Rings musical version with the Watermill Theatre (Si apre in una nuova finestra) seems to have been not only a smash hit for the theatre but has also won nine awards recently (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Even theBBC (Si apre in una nuova finestra) noted:
A venue that staged a Lord of the Rings musical after losing its arts funding has won theatre of the year at a national awards ceremony.
Norwegian composer and long-time Tolkien enthusiast Martin Romberg has his Elven Songs nominated at the Norwegian Music Publishers Award (Si apre in una nuova finestra). (Listen to his rendition of A Elbereth Gilthoniel (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Youtube]
There are two slots this year to see some of the Tolkien manuscripts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at Marquette University (March and September).
The upcoming New York Tolkien Conference is looking for volunteers (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
The French convention Sur les Terres de l’Unique (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is moving to Plestin les Grèves (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Brittany. [Facebook; September 28-29]
The eighth Convegno Internazionale di «Poetica & Cristianesimo» at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Rome has Tolkien as a topic (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [April 18-19]
The Department of English and American Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Slovakia, invites you to Emotions in Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Call for Papers; event happens March 22, in person & online]
For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Scholarship and Fandom
John Garth has this: Queen of the Rings: Did Tolkien help Margrethe of Denmark abdicate? (Si apre in una nuova finestra), with David Bratman commenting (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Douglas A. Anderson has Fairy-tale Versions of Beowulf (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
My short review of the LPBD edition of Tolkien is listed with Tolkien Gleanings (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - so here is a shoutout to David Haden for his excellent Tolkien-related listings you can subscribe to as well.
The Wonder of the Wade series has Laura Schmidt Stanifer (Si apre in una nuova finestra), the Wade (Si apre in una nuova finestra) archivist, talk about its Hobbit first edition. Really, anything Laura has to say on Tolkien should catch your attention. [Youtube]
Have a look at the Tolkien sessions (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at the International Medieval Congress (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (h/t Andrew Higgins (Si apre in una nuova finestra)).
Anna Smol has some thoughts on John Howe, J.R.R. Tolkien and art: Drawing your way into a fantasy landscape (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Richard Gray has some thoughts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the new Letters edition.
Please note: Whenever you need to know anything about Tolkien’s letters visit the TCG Guide to Tolkien’s Letters (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
A lovely story that happened recently: When the Peruvian Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) did a Zoom call (Si apre in una nuova finestra) talking about the History of the Hobbit they had a surprise guest - none other than author John D. Rateliff, thanks to the intervention of Erik Mueller-Harder (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Facebook; Sacnoth’s Scriptorium]
Bruce Charlton has some thoughts on Tolkien’s poetry and particularly The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
I am happy to present another amazing artist in my “Tolkien Travel Poster” series, Danielle Sylvan (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [thetolkienist.com (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Stephen C. Winter has another interesting piece: “There Are Dead Things, Dead Faces in The Water.” Frodo and Sam Cross The Dead Marshes.” (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Seldom have I read a poem with more pleasure than Dear Tolkien Estate (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Tales after Tolkien Society]
Would you have expected these keywords when talking about Gimli - “Neotropical, Zalmoxoidea, relict, sexual dimorphism, cave-dwellers”? Well, then you probably are a scientist finding spiders in the dark (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and naming them.
Check out Myla Malinalda’s rainbow series with Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Franchise and Merchandise
The Hobbit Hole (Si apre in una nuova finestra), a game shop opened in September 2014 in Catteris, Cambridgeshire, is closing in March (Si apre in una nuova finestra); if you feel like taking it over, do talk to the owner (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Cambridgeshire Live, Facebook]
Some background information on the casting for (Si apre in una nuova finestra)Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from Emmy winner Theo Park (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Casting Network]
Games Workshop has published information (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on what lies in store for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game community in 2024. My favourite? The ME Hobby Bingo (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [PDF download].
An interesting with the Bookseller explains marketing in modern terms, using the recent example of Sarah J Maas: Understanding fandom (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
I know, I do have to share it: Margot Robbie’s greatest film crush (Si apre in una nuova finestra) was Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [W Magazine; Youtube] My favourite: Ryan Gosling asking first: “Wait, from the book?”
Available now and until #RovingRanger100 on March 1st: trial memberships with the Tolkienist at Steady
Alan Sisto of the Prancing Pony Podcast, John Garth, members of the Tolkien Guide team and one of the world's leading Tolkien linguists have already joined my in my Steady adventure 🤩
Inter alia & Back in the day
Ah, a different Leia would have made for a different film - Jodie Foster (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Guardian]
An insightful essay on C.S. Lewis as a poet: Dennis Wilson Wise, "The New Poets of Rum-Ram-Ruf: C. S. Lewis, The Nameless Isle" (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
The WorldCon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Chengdu has been criticised ever since the vote decided on China. Now, according to reports, some writers were excluded for no apparent reason from the Hugo awards (Si apre in una nuova finestra); File770 has more (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on this. [Guardian]
I know, there really isn’t that much to connect them (yet) to Tolkien but twin brothers that share a birthday with Frodo and Bilbo (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and are planning on turning “a meadow higher up on their property into the Flathead Shire with some Hobbiton-style in-ground homes”, well, that’s worth a mention. [Flathead Beacon, Montana]
The new edition of Letters is already being put to use: Tolkien on Loyalty to the Church (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Where Peter is].
The Star Trek franchise might change owners (Si apre in una nuova finestra), again. [TrekMovie]
Fandom finds many ways to express itself - like a Choc’lit Throne (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for GRRM.
You will find a lot of material right now on the anniversary for D&D - do have a look at: Happy 50th Birthday to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and the tabletop roleplaying genre (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Wertzone]
It is not much of a surprise that music super stars like Ed Sheeran pay quite a bit of tax (Si apre in una nuova finestra) but some fantasy authors really are up there in the UK. [Independent]
And yes, Harry Potter (Si apre in una nuova finestra) will get a “decade-long” series - and more (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Variety; Inside the Magic]
That certainly was not the headline I thought I would add to this newsletter: YouTube, Discord, and Lord of the Rings Led Police to a Teen Accused of a US Swatting Spree (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Wired; limited free reading]
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:
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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.
