The Fireside

As mentioned in a previous blog post (“Of Elfstones and Tolkien” I believe I titled it) I’m a newcomer to Terry Brooks and the main Shannara books (from Elfstones forward, timeline-wise). I have discovered and read an interview with Terry Brooks from a few years back when he was in Montreal. He’s going to end Shannara. His latest set of books, “The Defenders of Shannara” ( The High Druid’s Blade, The Darkling Child, and the most recent Sorcerer’s Daughter ) is meant to serve as a ‘pre-conclusion’ to the final trilogy which will end the entire Shannara saga. So Defenders will lead into, or be very closely connected to the final trilogy, would be my guess. As of that interview, the first of the final three books is scheduled to be published in 2017. That interview mentions august 2017, but on his website, Brook mentioned that the ‘target’ date will be May. I’m guessing on how well the writing goes. If it goes well? May or sooner. If not as well as he hoped? Possibly Aug...

And now for something completely different! Moving down my shelf, this week’s post covers The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun . This book is quite different from the others thus far: a) it’s not connected to Middle-earth b) it’s a poem in verse! But don’t let that put you off – it is one of the best posthumous Tolkien publications ever. This book was published in 2009, so the only formats its seen are ebook, paperback, hardback, deluxe and super-deluxe. So let’s have a look at my edition on ‘the shelf’, the hardback. The dustjacket is made of the glossy material, that most hardcovers are, or, in the case of these Tolkien books so far, The Children of Hurin is made of similar material. Removing the dustjacket, the book itself is brown with both title and author’s name foil-stamped on the spine in gold. Inside, we are treated a plasticized facsimile of a portion of Tolkien’s own hand-written manuscript. Following that, is the table of contents. There are chapter ope...

So another Comic Con has come and gone, and I’ll share some of my thoughts. This post will be about the Marvel & DC live action films. DC: We got previews for both Wonder Woman and Justice League . The wonder Woman preview didn’t really do much for me. It reminded me of a mix of Captain America and Thor . However, this is the first time we get a live action treatment of the character (part of a cinematic universe), and Gal Gadot looks awesome in the part, not counting her brief appearance in Dawn of Justice . There were a few moments in the preview that were supposed to be funny, but I didn’t even smile…awkward humor attempt. Justice League got the better looking trailer. We get a good look at some of the core members (I’m guessing Green Lantern will join the ranks for the second film, as well possibly Martian Manhunter). I’ll wait for home viewing for both of these, due to my wariness of live action DC treatment. Plus there could be potential director’s cuts. I...

I was very skeptical with the pre-release and initial release of this film. I'm not choosing 'sides' but I need to stay that I'm a Marvel fan....of live action movies. I really enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, but outside of those, DC hasn't fared that well on the live action movie releases. I quite like some of DC's comics, their animated movies are awesome, and the DC tv series ("Arrowverse" I think it's called) have my got attention better than S.H.I.E.L.D did...but then again those Netflix Marvel shows are pretty great thus far. I wasn't overly fond of Man of Steel (granted, I only saw it once and may need to give it another watch. Sadly, there isn't a director's cut or extended version to check out) so I was very skeptical to initially see Dawn of Justice . Last year's Comic Con preview was the best of all the previews for this movie. Then one of the last previews hit (Wonder Woman, Doomsday...) and my ske...

Anyone waiting on a paperback edition of The Story of Kullervo, I’ve got great news for you! August 24, 2017 will see the paperback edition published. I’ve checked the dimensions of the book, and it will ‘match’ most of the other Tolkien books in paperback in terms of size. If you own Sigurd & Gudrun in paperback, for instance, it will be of very similar size and of the same height. The ISBN for the paperback by Harper Collins is:   9780008131388 . “ The world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father. Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. 'Hapless Kullervo', as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed hi...

Time for another Tolkien Tuesday post! Moving right along my shelf…next up is Tales From the Perilous Realm . This book is actually a compilation of shorter material by Tolkien (one of which relates to The Lord of the Rings / Middle-earth). All of these stories have appeared elsewhere before, but this is the first time that they have all been published in one book. Plus, it is illustrated in pencil throughout by Alan Lee. This book also ‘fits in’ with The Hobbit quite well. By that I mean it’s written in the same ‘tone’ as The Hobbit – very ‘whimsical’. So, onto my copy. The dustjacket is made of a paper-y / matte type material, and features a cover illustration by Alan Lee; I believe from Farmer Giles . Remember earlier how I mentioned taking care with this type of material and stickers? Yeah, it happened to this book sadly. Luckily, I was able to ‘reapply’ the sticker. I’d rather have a sticker on a book, then a messy / destroyed portion. (some other books I have h...

In the language of the dragons: Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! ... Huzrah nu, kul do od, wah aan bok lingrah vod, Ahrk fin tey, boziik fun, do fin gein! Wo lost fron wah ney dov, ahrk fin reyliik do jul, Voth aan suleyk wah ronit faal krein Ahrk fin zul, rok drey kod, nau tol morokei frod, Rul lot Taazokaan motaad voth kein! Sahrot Thu'um, med aan tuz, vey zeim hokoron pah, Ol fin Dovahkiin komeyt ok rein! Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! Ahrk fin Kel lost prodah, do ved viing ko fin krah, Tol fod zeymah win kein meyz fundein! Alduin, feyn do jun, kruziik vokun staadnau, Voth aan bahlok wah diivon fin lein! Nuz aan sul, fent alok, fod fin vul dovah nok, Fen kos nahlot mah...

Next up in my “Tolkien Tuesday” series, is The Children of Hurin . This was the ‘newest’ of the main Tolkien book when I began collecting Tolkien books. After seeing The Lord of the Rings films, I became interested in the books. For Christmas 2001, my parents got me the one-volume edition hardback with cover artwork by John Howe: the one of Gandalf walking. This worked out very well, because A) it was cheaper for them. Not that things were extremely rough financially, but money saved potentially means more gifts :P (when you have a set budget). B) I wanted The Lord of the Rings in hardback, so that’s what I got J That’s going back quite a few years. I still own that edition for sentimental reasons, and will give that, as well my older edition of The Hobbit (the same as my 70 th anniversary edition but older.) to my future kids someday. So, The Children of Hurin became the first NEW Tolkien book I ever got. Since this book onwards are so new, there’s fewer editions ...

To begin with, I need to state that I am a big of both the Harry Potter books, as well as the films. Hundreds of hundreds of peoples' lives have been changed, or affected, by her Harry Potter series. She made reading 'cool' again. However, ever since Deathly Hallows (both film and book) had ended, I can't help but notic something 'odd', especially of late. I've got "The Complete Harry Potter Collection", which includes all 7 of the Harry Potter books. It was I believe 2011 or 2012 that she launched Pottermore. From the looks of things, it was going to be an impressive, interesting and expansion of the world she created in the books. In fact, it would 'cover' the books, while going off in a few different directions. This was fine, as its been said that she would create new content for Pottermore (such as little short stories to actually creating the Sorting Hat questions.). I thought that was pretty neat of her to get involved like that. ...

For this week’s Tolkien Tuesday post, I’m going to examine my copy of the last ‘you have to read / own this!’ Middle-earth essential books – Unfinished Tales . Again, I won’t go into what the book is about ; but this should pretty much answer any remaining questions you may have after reading The Silmarillion , and part so The Lord of the Rings . So let’s go into the book. Much like The Silmarillion , there hasn’t been that many editions of this book since original publication. And, even more focal, I don’t think the text or contents of the book itself has changed at all. Regardless, here’s a look at my hardback edition, which I believe was published to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The cover, like all the others before it, is painted by Tolkien, and is definitely visually excellent. The dustjacket, like the others I've blogged about, has a matte / paper-y feel to it. Removing the jacket, the book underneath is black, and Tolkien’s logo and the title are emb...