The Eleventy-first Roving Ranger
Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)
Life and Works
“Parma Eldalamberon 23 - The Feanorean Alphabet, Part 2” has been published but does seem to have a few issues, see TCG discussion (Opens in a new window). At the time of writing a different printing service is being determined. [Official website (Opens in a new window)]
The Tolkien Collector’s Guide (Opens in a new window) did an unboxing of the deluxe LotR (Opens in a new window). [Youtube]
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) (UK/ Europe) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) (US) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window) (DE) ]
Tolkien & Chaucer (Opens in a new window) is coming out Oct 10th. [TCG]
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
Collected Poems (Opens in a new window) of J.R.R. Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
A lovely short piece on Marquette and Bill, of course!
https://today.marquette.edu/2024/09/60-second-marquette-on-bill-fliss-the-tolkien-collection/ (Opens in a new window)Events & Shows
The Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference (Opens in a new window) is coming in November - with an outstanding line-up.
Kyiv Meets Middle-Earth: Hobbit Day Respite From Russia’s War on Ukraine (Opens in a new window) [Kyiv Post]
Patrick Curry is offering Exploring Tolkien: Hobbits, Middle Earth, Faerie and Elves (Opens in a new window) [starting Oct 9th]
THE HOBBIT Comes to Pittsburgh Public Theater (Opens in a new window) [Broadway World; Oct 23 ff.; official website (Opens in a new window)]
A highlight video (Opens in a new window) for Oxonmoot 2024 is now available [Youtube]
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
Jeff LaSala has Anduin the Great and the Three Second Age Series They Should Be Making (Opens in a new window) [Foreshadowed and Foresung]
Jason Fisher has Tolkien, Goethe, and the long long ago (Opens in a new window) as well as Can Generative AI help us analyze The Lord of the Rings? (Opens in a new window) [Lingwë - Musings of a Fish]
Tom Emanuel has Reading The Lord of the Rings, Rereading Ourselves (Opens in a new window) [Queer and Back again]
Michael Martinez has How Has Amazon Changed Middle-earth Canon? (Opens in a new window) [Middle-earth Blog]
Dennis Wilson Wise has two reviews (Opens in a new window) - Tolkien Criticism Today, Revisited. [Los Angeles Review of Books]
Participate in a ‘fiction and personality survey (Opens in a new window)’ centered on Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings.
The Beyond Bree Calendar 2025 (Opens in a new window) is available now.
Merchandise & Franchise
We got a peek at the cozy Hobbit life sim game, and it understands the damn brief (Opens in a new window) [Polygon]; see also the Hobbit Day Showcase (Opens in a new window) [Youtube] - release date now is March 25th, 2025.
Games Workshop have provided more information on their upcoming tabletop game (Opens in a new window), including Helm Hammerhand (Opens in a new window).
The ‘first ever officially licensed original stained glass artwork’ is now with Kickstarter (Opens in a new window).
Fan reviews and parodies of Amazon’s The Rings of Power show that ownership is not just determined by contracts (Opens in a new window) [The Conversation] | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Exclusive Battle of Eregion (Opens in a new window) Preview [IGN] | The Rings of Power co-creator JD Payne reveals why Prime Video series is darker than The Lord of the Rings movies: ‘In the third age, they were worried…’ (Opens in a new window) [Indian Express] | The legend behind Rings of Power’s action breaks open the Siege of Eregion (Opens in a new window) [Polygon] | ‘The Rings Of Power’ Season 2, Episode 7 Review: The Best Episode Of The Series So Far (Opens in a new window) [Forbes] | 'The intention was to be controversial': The Rings of Power's Robert Aramayo defends divisive season 2 scene between Elrond and Galadriel (Opens in a new window) [TechRadar] | 'Rings of Power' season 2 star Charlie Vickers says they're telling a story 'true to Tolkien's work' (Opens in a new window) [Tom’s Guide] | ‘LOTR’: Prime Video Gives ‘Rings Of Power’ Viewership Update Ahead Of Season 2 Finale (Opens in a new window) [Deadline] | ‘Rings Of Power’ Star On His Rule As The High King And Season 2 Finale (Opens in a new window) [Forbes] | 'The Rings of Power has come into its own in season 2, but still feels like Tolkien fanfic' (Opens in a new window) [Yahoo] | As the Identity of The Rings of Power’s Stranger Is Revealed, a Tolkien Professor Insists The Lord of the Rings Canon Doesn’t Exist (Opens in a new window)[IGN]
Interesting data provided by the Digital Tolkien project (Opens in a new window) on both seasons.
Your Amazon Prime Video binge will soon get even more ads (Opens in a new window) [Android Police]
Inter alia & Back in the Day
A timeline of Battlestar Galactica (Opens in a new window) [Wertzone]
The Chilling Effect Is Real (Opens in a new window) [on book bans in the US; Slate]
Seeing in the Dark: On Bats as Companions, Protectors and Muses (Opens in a new window) [Literary Hub]
On the Internet Archive: How A Copyright Case Is Shining A Spotlight On SCOTUS Ethics Issues (Opens in a new window) [HuffPost] | Read the Archive’s reaction (Opens in a new window) to the unfortunate ruling.
Jared Harris says ‘no’ to playing father’s role in new Harry Potter reboot (Opens in a new window)[Independent]
When Did SFF Get Too Big? (Opens in a new window) [Reactor]
What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Dungeons & Dragons (Opens in a new window) [LitHub; h/t John D. Rateliff (Opens in a new window)]
Ansible 447 (Opens in a new window) has been published.
Marvel and DC have lost their trademark to the words Superhero and Superheroes (Opens in a new window) - because of Superbabies. [h/t PhantaNews (Opens in a new window); Reuters (Opens in a new window)]
This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Bob Iger Continues His Cost-Effective Measures, ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Underperforms, and More (Opens in a new window) [Star Wars News Net] | Very decent write-up: Is Disney Bad at Star Wars? An Analysis (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter]
https://xkcd.com/2992/ (Opens in a new window)Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?
Then do consider using Steady (Opens in a new window) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Opens in a new window), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) and start with three months fee-free.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]
According to German law I have to inform 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), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)
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 (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window) : Xitter (Opens in a new window).
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.
