eldritchhobbit

Just a quick fly-by post...

This is worth reading: "J.R.R. Tolkien Has A Touching Message For His Former Teachers In Newly Discovered Letter."

This also deserves a look: from NPR, "Harry Potter And The Forbidden Books."

Things that are cool:

* Scholar Michael Drout has written a most enlightening blog post clarifying his work with Tolkien's Beowulf papers, etc.: "Tolkien's Beowulf: The Real Story."

* From US Weekly: "J.K. Rowling to Pen Fantastic Beasts Trilogy as Harry Potter Spin-Off."

* From The Guardian: "Black death was not spread by rat fleas, say researchers."

* The Heinlein Society is pleased to announce its third annual scholarship essay contest for the 2014-2015 academic year. The scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities majoring in engineering, math, or physical sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry), or in science fiction as literature. Here are more details.

* From Muskrat Magazine: "Indigenizing Sci Fi" by Zainab Amadahy. This is a three-part study of how science fiction/fantasy con organizers everywhere might grow and diversify their events. I'm honored to be mentioned in this piece.

* My dear friend Tony C. Smith has opened a new shop, SeaDriftSoaps. If you're after soap that is natural, unscented, cruelty-free, and handmade, check it out!

* I'll be offering my two-semester history of science fiction with Mythgard Institute again this Fall (2014) and Spring (2015). Consider yourself invited to a free online Q&A session on June 5 for more information! (Note: I'll post a reminder closer to time. Another session timed for UK convenience will take place later this summer, and I'll post about that, as well.)

Last but definitely not least, happy early birthday wishes to sarah531, vg_ford, tunes84, captnofmyheart, wildviolet4, savagedoc45, lalam, silveraspen, denorios, prettybirdy979, sakuraember, cherylmmorgan, muuranker, izhilzha, and justicemuffins. May you enjoy many happy returns of the day, my friends!

As part of Lenoir-Rhyne University's celebration of Native American History Month, and in recognition of the 200th anniversary of his death this year, I'll be giving a talk tomorrow morning (free and open to the public) on "Remembering Tecumseh: A Great Native American Leader." Everyone's welcome!



In other news...

* The stage musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is going on a world tour! I saw it when it debuted at Toronto's Prince of Wales Theatre. If you can make it to a performance, I recommend it.

* John Finnemore has posted about the forthcoming and final Cabin Pressure special.

* Reminder: if you'd like a holiday card from me this year, please respond here.


"Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it is his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them. - Tecumseh

Audio, audio, audio!

* The latest episode of StarShipSofa includes the second part of my three-part "Looking Back on Genre History" article on the uneasy history between Star Trek and Native America. The same episode also includes my narration of Mercurio D. Rivera's haunting science fiction story "Tethered." You can find the episode here. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

* The latest episode of MuggleNet Academia is the podcast's first-year anniversary extravaganza, and I'm one of the special guests. (My work on the intersection of J.K. Rowling's and J.R.R. Tolkien's writing was the focus of a past episode.) This is an action-packed celebratory show, and you can find it here. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!


It's Wednesday. Here, have a virtual Captain Picard Facepalm! cookie:

I'm a very happy height-challenged, mushroom-loving Middle-earther, as I've been invited to be a guest scholar at one of the most anticipated international Tolkien events currently in the works, A Long-Expected Party 3. I do hope to see some of you there!



Have you ever looked to the mountains and wondered what lay beyond - or even under them? Have you ever wanted to carry a sword instead of a walking stick? Then perhaps you are in need of an adventure. Take a trip to the Shire and live the adventure of a lifetime and create memories that can be retold around the fire for ages to come.

Find out more about A Long-Expected Party 3 here!

LJ doesn't seem to want to allow me to respond to comments at the moment. Please forgive me if my replies are a bit tardy!

Today is the birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Hobbits and Dwarves and Elves and all of Middle-earth, who was born this day in 1892. I hope everyone will participate in The Tolkien Society's International Birthday Toast for 2013!


Happy eleventh birthday to The Shire's Virginia Lórien, a.k.a. Virginia, the world's most beautiful Boston terrier and our very best friend, who was born this day in 2002. We love you, Sweetheart!

Here is the birthday girl:



You can see more pictures of Virginia here.


The quote for the day is from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, and one of Virginia's favorite verses (because, after all, it mentions part of her name):

"Gandalf's Song of Lórien"

In Dwimordene, in Lórien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men,
Few mortal eyes have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright.
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water of your well;
White is the star in your white hand;
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lórien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men.

* Last call for holiday cards! If you'd like one from me, please reply here. Many thanks!

* Happy birthday to tuesday_darling, and happy early birthday to juliakarr, janellemadigan, mguibord, gypsyjr, tuilelindowen, whswhs, and arkhamdenizen. May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!


I've been thinking a lot about Bilbo Baggins, both because of the soon-to-be-released The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film and in preparation for teaching my "J.R.R. Tolkien: Hobbits, History, and Heroism" seminar at Lenoir-Rhyne University in the spring. Being the fan and student of Tolkien-inspired world music that I am, my thoughts have turned to Bilbo-centric songs.

So here are a few of my favorite Bilbo Baggins-centric (as opposed to merely Tolkien-related) songs from musicians around the world.

(No, Leonard Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" doesn't make the list. Ha!)


1. "Bilbo's Last Song," words by J.R.R. Tolkien, music by Stephen Oliver for the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (British)
The words make this one of my favorite songs, period.

2. "Accanto al Fuoco" (Bilbo's "I Sit Beside the Fire" Song), words by J.R.R. Tolkien translated into Italian, music by Lingalad from Voci dalla Terra di Mezzo (Voices from Middle-earth) (Italian)

3. "Bilbo's Song" (a.k.a. "The Old Walking Song"), words by J.R.R. Tolkien, music by The Tolkien Ensemble from An Evening in Rivendell (Danish)

4. "Eärendil" (Bilbo's poem as performed in the Hall of Fire in Rivendell), words by J.R.R. Tolkien, music by Andi Grimsditch from The Tolkien Song Cycle, Vol. 1 (Argentinian)

This version of "Eärendil" is by far the best, most moving adaptation of Bilbo's poem I've heard. It's heartbreakingly beautiful. (You can hear an excerpt from it here.)


5. "One More Time," lyrics and music by Hobbit (from Bilbo's point of view) from All for the One (U.S.)
(You can hear it here.)

I feel the wind upon my face now.
There's something strange about today.
I have to say, I can't believe this feelin':
A new adventure's gonna come my way.
I think I've found a destiny across the Brandywine.
Yeah, passing undetected, just one more time...


Honorable mention goes to Kevin Henry's U.S. country-folk theme album Bilbo's Great Adventure, which is a hoot and worth a listen here.

J.R.R. Tolkien's never-before-published The Fall of Arthur is coming in May!



I hope you enjoy our Text of the Day:

Fair Elenor
by William Blake (1757-1827)

The bell struck one, and shook the silent tower;
The graves give up their dead: fair Elenor
Walk'd by the castle gate, and lookèd in.
A hollow groan ran thro' the dreary vaults.

She shriek'd aloud, and sunk upon the steps,
On the cold stone her pale cheeks. Sickly smells
Of death issue as from a sepulchre,
And all is silent but the sighing vaults.

Chill Death withdraws his hand, and she revives;
Amaz'd, she finds herself upon her feet,
And, like a ghost, thro' narrow passages
Walking, feeling the cold walls with her hands.

Fancy returns, and now she thinks of bones
And grinning skulls, and corruptible death
Wrapp'd in his shroud; and now fancies she hears
Deep sighs, and sees pale sickly ghosts gliding.

( At length, no fancy but reality )

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Today is the anniversary of the Long-Expected Party celebrating Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday and Frodo's coming of age in The Lord of the Rings. Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins! It was on this day that Bilbo gave his infamous birthday speech, saying "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve," before disappearing from the Shire forever.

Also on this day, according to the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, 99-year-old Samwise Gamgee rode out from Bag End for the final time. He was last seen in Middle-Earth by his daughter Elanor, to whom he presented the Red Book. According to tradition, he then went to the Grey Havens and passed over the Sea, last of the Ringbearers.

And now, in honor of the Baggins Birthdays, the departure of Samwise, and Hobbits in general, here are a few of my favorite quotes from The Hobbit:


Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.
***
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
***
It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.
***
“I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air, I am he that walks unseen.
I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.
I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.
I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider.” (Bilbo Baggins)
***
“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” (Thorin Oakenshield)

Pssst! All fans of The Hobbit! And lovers of fantasy, in general...

My latest offering for "Project Kaitlyn" (stories for my niece) is an unabridged reading of The Marvellous Land of Snergs (1927) by E.A. Wyke-Smith, which J.R.R. Tolkien read to his children and acknowledged as a sourcebook for his The Hobbit. This is a most clever and delightful story. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take Tolkien’s: “I should like to register my own love and my children’s love of E.A. Wyke-Smith’s Marvellous Land of Snergs...”



Please feel welcome to download this. If you listen, I hope you enjoy! The entire narration is a seven-ish hours long.

( Here are the download links. )