5 days to go! Anglo-Saxon epic poem Kickstarter

Hey all! I’m super excited to report that a great number of people have backed up my Kickstarter campaign for the publication of a special hardback edition of Hæstingas: A retelling of the valiant fall of England in verse.

The book is a historical fantasy, 4,000-line epic poem set during one of the most turbulent times in English history.

We’re only 5 days away from the end of the campaign. So if you wish to back this project, now’s the time to do so 😀

Copies of the paperback edition of Hæstingas are still available from Amazon.com and Amazon UK.

Till next time! 😉

VIDEO: Massive Tolkien Book Collection

Hey everyone! We’ve hit the 1k subscribers mark on YouTube and, to celebrate that, here’s a video with an overview of my Tolkien book collection. Enjoy!

Christopher Tolkien and Other Farewells

Photo by Charles E. Noad

For a number of years I used to think what would happen once the son and literary heir of J.R.R Tolkien would be with us no more. I questioned what would that mean to the Tolkien community, whether the experience of reading the books would change, and what would it mean for future scholarly work and publications.

A “very” sketchy analysis of the Lord of the Rings Amazon series interactive map

So Amazon just released an interactive map in what appears to be the beginning of a long and tantalising marketing campaign leading to the release of the secretively-termed “Lord of the Rings series”.

The interactivity of this map lies in the user’s ability to zoom in or out of the familiar layout of Middle-earth and scroll across the landscape features. Suffice to say, the map is quite bare – lacking any sort of geographical names or other details.

So what clues can we gather from this rather uncommunicative map. I decided to undertake a quick exercise to analyse the map, and avoid the hundreds of other fan theories most likely spawning out there on the internet.

What follows is my own, unbiased (most probably totally erroneous, but fun-making) analysis of what this map could mean …

‘Tolkien’ Teaser now online – and it looks stunning!

The kind folks over at TheOneRing.net were given the honour of unveiling the teaser trailer for the upcoming film ‘Tolkien’.

True, there’s not much one can fully appreciate in the 1-minute clip, but it sure got me excited for its release! The visuals truly look captivating, but I’ll reserve my judgement of the film itself once I see it in cinemas.

Tolkien’s Caves of the Forgotten

Hiya folks!

In a post title that feels somewhat appropriate given my recent absence from this blog, allow me to delve into yet another one of those Middle-earth topics we know very little about …

‘Beren and Lúthien’ Delayed

Over the last couple of days, news has emerged that the publication of Beren and Lúthien, the new Tolkien book, has been pushed back and will now be released on June 1st.

Originally intended for a May publication, there has not yet been any official statement on what has caused this delay.

One can only speculate.

Snow-Trolls and Stone-Giants in Middle-earth

The evidence for the existence of both snow-rolls and stone-giants haunting the deep, shadowy passes of Middle-earth is, at best, poor.

To begin with, we have a stronger argument in favour of giants.

Reflection on a Tolkien Quote

And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.

The Silmarillion, ‘Ainulindalë’

What an alluring way to describe the qualities of the Sea. Beautiful and terrifying at the same time, the Sea is essentially the foundation of our world. There is a mystery in the unfathomable depths of the ocean and a musicality to the waves hitting the shores.

My decade-old Tolkien book

Ladies and gentleman. This is the oldest Tolkien book in my collection.

It’s been 10 years since I bought my first book on Middle-earth. No The Lord of the Rings, nor The Hobbit would introduce me to the J.R.R. Tolkien’s storytelling.

I dived straight into the tales of the First Age.