Re: The General Tolkien News Thread

[malickfan]

Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger has a new book coming out, a collection of essays:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Would-Always-Fairy-Tale/dp/160635308X/

[halfwise]

As noted before I found her engaging in person, rather opaque in print.

[chris63]

[azriel]

That, to me, sounds interesting. I would like an book independent from The Silmarillion. I enjoyed Turin Turambar very much & Luthien with Beren is the epitome of a love story one could say greater than Romeo & Juliet. Tolkiens love for Edith is a tear jerker. Who among us would envy a soul mate love ?

[azriel]

Had to laugh at the snippet of "what we do in the Shadows"

[malickfan]

There's a new (and rather long) behind the scenes book on the two film trilogies coming out later this year:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Middle-earth-Script-Screen-Building-Hobbit/dp/0007544103/

I'm unlikely to get it myself, but if it is anything like the Chronicles books they did for the Hobbit Trilogy is should be interesting reading and very in depth if you like the behind the scenes/art and design stuff.

The 'Tales From the Perlous Realm' series of Radio Adaptations by Brian Sibley is getting re-released later this year:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Perilous-Realm-full-cast-dramatisations/dp/1785298631/

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tales_from_the_Perilous_Realm_(1992_radio_series)

[halfwise]

So for some reason I end up searching all over Ravenna for this pic, only to find it's in San Marino!

Also interesting, and obviously entirely justifying my belief that a film version of LotR's should, for Minas Tirith and Gondor, draw inspiration from Mediterranean type climes.    As he gives the Italian city of Ravenna as the inspiration for Minas Tirith-

[malickfan]

This new book sounds interesting:

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/bodleian-library-unearths-new-tolkien-507701

Though I'm not sure any of the content listed is actually 'new' to Tolkien Studies.

[Eldorion]

It's cool that we've continued to get a steady stream of new collections of Tolkien illustrations but yeah, it's not quite the same as a book of previously unseen written content. Not sure how much genuinely unseen stuff is left that they could release. The remaining drafts collected in the original version of Christopher Tolkien's The History of 'The Silmarillion', maybe, but my understanding is that most of those are only minor variations on stuff in HoMe where Christopher already explained what most of the changes were.

[malickfan]

New book by John Howe:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Middle-earth-Traveller-John-Howe/dp/0008226776/

Let acclaimed Tolkien artist John Howe take you on an unforgettable journey across Middle-earth, from Bag End to Mordor, in this richly illustrated sketchbook fully of previously unseen artwork, anecdotes and meditations on Middle-earth.

Middle-earth has been mapped, Bilbo’s and Frodo’s journeys plotted and measured, but Middle-earth remains a wilderland for all that. The roads as yet untraveled far outnumber those down which Tolkien had time to wander.

A Middle-Earth Traveller presents a walking tour of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, visiting not only places central to his stories, but also those just over the hill or beyond the horizon. Events from Tolkien’s books are explored – battles of the different ages that are almost part of legend by the time of The Lord of the Rings; lost kingdoms and ancient myths, as well as those places only hinted at: kingdoms of the far North and lands beyond the seas.

Sketches that have an ‘on-the-spot’ feel to them are interwoven with the artist’s observations gleaned from Tolkien’s books and recollections of his time spent in Middle-earth while working alongside Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies. Combining concept work produced for films, existing Middle-earth art and many new paintings and sketches exclusive to this book, A Middle-earth Traveller will take the reader on a unique and unforgettable journey across Tolkien’s magical landscape.

Not sure what this is, probably a boxset of some of the shorter Middle Earth books:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008260184/

[malickfan]

It's cool that we've continued to get a steady stream of new collections of Tolkien illustrations but yeah, it's not quite the same as a book of previously unseen written content. Not sure how much genuinely unseen stuff is left that they could release. The remaining drafts collected in the original version of Christopher Tolkien's The History of 'The Silmarillion', maybe, but my understanding is that most of those are only minor variations on stuff in HoMe where Christopher already explained what most of the changes were.

I think there's a completed prose version of Beren and Luthien that is still unpublished (IIRC it's actually a prose rewrite of The Lay of Leithian) but that might be the basis for the upcoming B+L book anyway...

[Elthir]

Malickfan wrote: "I think there's a completed prose version of Beren and Luthien that is still unpublished (IIRC it's actually a prose rewrite of The Lay of Leithian) but that might be the basis for the upcoming B+L book anyway..."

There's a fuller version, a substantial text* which reads in places like a prose paraphrase of the [rewritten] verse of the Lay, but it goes no further than the betrayal by Dairon to Thingol of Beren's presence in Doriath. So it might remind of the updated long prose Fall of Gondolin from Unfinishd Tales, abandoned all too early.

Two other notable fuller versions were "draft A", amply conceived but soon abandoned, and QSI "a very full form but less so than A"... "in turn abandoned quite early in the tale." A rough draft B was completed, but this appears to be the basis for a more compressed version to stand in QS. And essentially, the published version [1977 constructed Silmarillion] was based on the fuller form QSI "so far as it goes", then follows the shorter QSII, with some passages derived from the Grey Annals.

*This abandoned long pose version was unknown to CJRT when he prepared the constructed Silmarillion for publication.

[chris63]

The little known fairy stories of J R R Tolkien

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/books-comics/leaf-by-niggle/49699/the-little-known-fairy-stories-of-j-r-r-tolkien

[malickfan]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-tolkien-estate-settle-80-million-hobbit-lawsuit-1018478

Not much information there, I wonder how much which should read into

"The parties are pleased that they have amicably resolved this matter and look forward to working together in the future."

[azriel]

Mmm, often big "spats" like this gets on the news, I don't think Ive heard anything on TV about it ? We shall see...

[Eldorion]

I wonder how much which should read into

I don't think anything should be read into it. It's just pleasantries/making up. It's not like the Estate and WB have anything that they even can work together on -- WB has to go to the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises to license the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- unless rights to Tolkien's posthumously published works are sold. But I'm unaware of any indication that the Estate's stance on that has changed.

NB the LOTR slot machines were actually pretty funny in their absurdity. I posted a few pics of the one I played (illegally due to my age) during my 2012 trip to Reno. #allfrodoswild

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t115p275-tolkien-in-general#37246

[malickfan]

I wonder how much which should read into

I don't think anything should be read into it. It's just pleasantries/making up. It's not like the Estate and WB have anything that they even can work together on -- WB has to go to the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises to license the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- unless rights to Tolkien's posthumously published works are sold. But I'm unaware of any indication that the Estate's stance on that has changed.

NB the LOTR slot machines were actually pretty funny in their absurdity. I posted a few pics of the one I played (illegally due to my age) during my 2012 trip to Reno. #allfrodoswild

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t115p275-tolkien-in-general#37246

Yeah It was probably me just being that anti-adaptation grump I am and leaping to conclusions (I probably shouldn't get so annoyed at the possibility of new movies, I was burned by the Hobbit I don't think I could bring myself to watch any future Tolkien inspired films, though they would probably be so loosely based on the books they wouldn't really be adaptations...)

And yeah those slot machines can be pretty tacky (and overpriced) there's a few in the arcades down the coast from me.

[malickfan]

The expanded 2nd edition of Hammond And Scull's Companion And Guide has been reduced to £78 on pre-order (down from £120) that sounds a lot (and is still slightly more than I'd be prepared to pay) but I paid around £45 (IIRC) for the original edition used and I'm very tempted to get this new edition, it's re-edited and expanded with more than 400 pages of new content and the price is quite reasonable I suppose, considering the niche content and cost of research/editing/obtaining sources and rights permissions for quoting.

Hammond and Scull are (after Christopher Tolkien) probably the foremost Tolkien scholars working today, the first edition of The Companion And Guide was an absolutely incredible resource and reference point, packed with lots of interesting (and newly discovered) biographical information and literary analysis and quoting from numerous obscure or unpublished writings by Tolkien found nowhere else, if you are interested in Tolkien beyond just his stories I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy if you can.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/J-R-Tolkien-Companion-Guide/dp/0008214549/

[malickfan]

This book might be interesting

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1137596155/

(bit out of my price range though!)

[malickfan]

The expanded 2nd edition of Hammond And Scull's Companion And Guide has been reduced to £78 on pre-order (down from £120) that sounds a lot (and is still slightly more than I'd be prepared to pay) but I paid around £45 (IIRC) for the original edition used and I'm very tempted to get this new edition, it's re-edited and expanded with more than 400 pages of new content and the price is quite reasonable I suppose, considering the niche content and cost of research/editing/obtaining sources and rights permissions for quoting.

Hammond and Scull are (after Christopher Tolkien) probably the foremost Tolkien scholars working today, the first edition of The Companion And Guide was an absolutely incredible resource and reference point, packed with lots of interesting (and newly discovered) biographical information and literary analysis and quoting from numerous obscure or unpublished writings by Tolkien found nowhere else, if you are interested in Tolkien beyond just his stories I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy if you can.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/J-R-Tolkien-Companion-Guide/dp/0008214549/

Hammond and Scull confirm in this recent blog post that the new edition of the C+G has been finished and sent off to the printers, sounds like there is a large amount of new content in this second edition, but there are currently no plans to publish it in the United States (I'm assuming Eldo and Elthir at least might be interested in this new book):

https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2017/07/12/finished-at-last/

[Eldorion]

Very cool to hear how much new material has been added. I only bought the second volume of the first edition last year though, and I'm not very involved in the world of Tolkien studies/lore anymore, so I probably won't pick up the new one in the foreseeable future. Would be great if it's eventually published Stateside, though.

[malickfan]

The upcoming Tolkien Biopic movie(or more accurately one of them, IIRC there was three separate films in development at one point...) has a director attached:

http://deadline.com/2017/07/jrr-tolkien-film-dome-karukoski-director-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-hobbit-1202134806/

Never heard of him, but I continue to view this long developing project with a mix of cautious excitement and indifferent disdain...

[Eldorion]

I have pretty much negative expectations for this but if it gets positive reviews from both film critics and Tolkien scholars I'll probably check it out.

[malickfan]

I have pretty much negative expectations for this but if it gets positive reviews from both film critics and Tolkien scholars I'll probably check it out.

Yeah I can help but feel this will be a hollywoodised cash in, but as it seems to be covering the WW1 period I'm hoping they've got an interesting approach that will avoid the cliches about Tolkien's backstory/inspirations, if the script can get anywhere near the depth and interest of John Garth's book Tolkien And The Great War then I may check it out.

[malickfan]

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/nicholas-hoult-jrr-tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-1202506140/

Not someone I'd have considered but he's a good actor, around the right age and there is a little facial similarity