The Fireside

I have a theory. I believe that the 2018 Tolkien Calendar will feature Alan Lee's artwork. More than that, I believe it will be from the forthcoming Beren and Luthien , making it a "2018 Beren and Luthien Calendar." How did I arrive at this conclusion? Every so often, I check out sites like Amazon UK or Book Depository for listings of upcoming books (not limited to Tolkien). I saw that the 2018 Calendar was listed, so I went to the page there. It stated that Alan Lee is the illustrator. Also, it says this: Illustrations note 20 b/w, 12 col illus. Checking out the page for Beren and Luthien (also illustrated by Alan Lee) it states this: Illustrations note 20 b/w illus, 8 col plates, Index. Based on this, I believe it's fair to guess at this point that I may be accurate. Please note that when The Children of Hurin was published in 2007, the 2008 calendar featured artwork (from both the book) by Alan Lee. ...

This book definitely lives up to, and continues, the standard of quality established by the previous installment. It doesn't "feel" different, in that some sequels, or continuations do, from its predecessor. Includes a few unique and interesting takes on the Arthur saga, as well as elements about it. One thing in common with other, and traditional, Arthur tales: it features romance, heroism, and tragedy. Also includes an Author's Note once the story-portion of the book concludes, found at the back of the book. 5/5

Well, this is definitely unexpected! May 2017 will see the publication of Beren and Luthien ; the first new Middle-earth Tolkien book since The Children of Hurin . Much like The Children of Hurin , the story already exists in various Tolkien books. Also, like The children of Hurin , this will be illustrated by Alan Lee, and features the complete tale between its own covers. The book will be published in both hardback and deluxe edition. A paperback will follow, at the earliest, in 2018, for those that like that format. So know here comes the official word, as well as ISBNs. Please note that the deluxe edition artwork has yet to be revealed. "Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. ...

   One of the things that got me into books, not reading, but books, was seeing all the various editions and formats of (essentially) the same text. When I first got into Tolkien, it was late 2001. At that time, bookstores were that: bookstores. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, sometimes at the cash line up they may have some gooodies here and there but back in those days it was all books. No home section. No American girl, nothing. And so, after getting The Lord of the Rings in Christmas 2001 (this edition: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usedphotosna/43903642_614.jpg ) I went to see what else by Tolkien there was. And, I was baffled that they carried 5 or 6 different types of The Lord of the Rings : paperback, hardback, one book, three books, seven books...). So it is because of that, that I'm "designing" some food-for-thought for Harper Collins for future editions of Tolkien's works. The following is meant to be the 'next wave' of delu...

We now have cover art! Oct. 20 , as of now, marks the publication date of the (long-awaited) deluxe edition of The Story of Kullervo . Why it was not published closer to the original hardback as per usual is beyond me, but here we have it! Looks like Harper Collins is going with a red/orange colour scheme, and an embossment of Tolkien's design. Aside from the fact the book is quarter-bound, slipcased and superior paper quality, I'm fully expecting the page s/ contents of the book to be the exact same as the standard hardback. Since it's not out yet, and no site list the 'features' of the deluxe, I can't list them off here. The rest of the post is official publisher info, so I'll close here by saying if you want to brush up on related knowledge to this book, check out The Kalevala (as far as I know the only 'readily available edition' is the paperback offered by Oxford.) Here are the specs: Pages: 192 ...

It was revealed today that the Fantastic Beasts series of movies went from 3 to 5. “I can say one thing, we were doing some script sessions the other day and we always knew it was going to be one movie. We always knew that from the start. We said a trilogy as a placeholder because we knew there would be more than one movie. Now I think we can say, I’ve done the plotting properly so we’re pretty sure it’s going to be five movies.” Fantastic Beasts: Part 2 is expected November 2018, and Part 3 of the then-planned trilogy will follow in 2020. If that trend continues, expect Part 4 to come 2022 and Part 5 in 2024; though 4 and 5 are guesswork on my part. We'll see if this is a wise move. There are times where too many films in a franchise can be a bad thing. We'll have to wait and see, but expanding '3 to 5' sounds ok, as they always had more films planned, but as the quote above mentions, now that they sat down and plotte dit out, it seems they have their focus. ...

Before I begin, please note that I am in no way saying anything negative about the people mentioned in this post. It is just an opinion, and speculation on my part. As of late, I have noticed that Christopher Tolkien is editing less Tolkien material, and that Veryln Flieger has been editing more. Is it entirely possible that Christopher Tolkien is either stepping away, reducing his duties or handing the reigns to someone else? Any, or all three, are possible. However, please note that this post is purely guesswork and opinion.  Christopher Tolkien has been editing Tolkien material since the 1970s (and assisting his father beforehand, as well) with projects such as The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales , and The History of Middle-earth. He edited other Tolkien books here and there, but continued to do so from 2007 - 2014, with publications such as The Children of Hurin, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The Fall of Arthur and Beowulf . This year he turns 92. You may have notice...

I live in Canada. I was born in Canada, I live in Canada, very strong chance I'll die in Canada. Therefore, I am not a U.S. citizen. One thing that annoys me to no end is seeing updates on social media from fellows Canadians about the election and the debate, and anything going on in regards to US politics at the moment, and coming in Novemeber. Why? Because we're not U.S. citizens!! We cannot participate in the election!If Canadians could, then I'd be all for following it, and getting interested in it. Now, I'm not telling you what you can and can't watch, or what you should or shouldn't like, I'm just asking: what's the point?? We, here up North, can't do a damned thing about it!  The only time I would watch a U.S. debate like that, would be if I was interested in one of the candidates. Judging from people's comments, reactions, etc, nobody seemed to like either of them. Just my thoughts.

Well, I am excited for Fantastic Beasts . Initially I wasn't. The book is much smaller than The Hobbit, and getting 3 films ... and other factors. Like I've said many a-time on this blog, sometimes all it takes is a poster, photo or trailer to turn one's opinions. It was so with me and Fantastic Beasts , and the trailer named "final trailer", which was the only one I've seen. Anyway, so here is the soundtrack info - release dates, formats, tracklisting... So it's being released on the 3 main formats: vinyl (the ultimate way to own physical media. It seems CDs as an afterthought nowadays...), CD, and iTunes. The vinyl version will be arriving November 4th, and will be a "12" picture disc." Here are the available photos at this time: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an all new adventure returning us to the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. Featured on the picture disc are two early recordings by James Newton Howar...

I've set myself up a wishlist for vinyl LP records through Amazon.ca . Here is the link. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/registry/wishlist/F68MQXZEZHSG/ref=cm_wl_list_o_4? Now, this is out of interest to my readers. I'm not expecting any surprise vinyls to show up at my door. Please note, that I am after specific editions of albums. Those that are listed on my list are ones that I plan to get 'sometime'. Obviously, there are some that I wish to get sooner rather than later, but yeah. Not really a time limit on those, provided they aren't discontinued. I'll let the priority, and descriptions / comments speak for themselves. Feel free to leave comments here.

A set I've been interested in for a while, but was crazy expensive on the markets due to it out of print, is Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull's two-volume Tolkien Companion and Guide . However, it is being revised and set to be re-published next year. Here's the official word from Wayne G.Hammond and Christina Scull.... We were honoured to learn this past spring that HarperCollins want to continue to publish the Companion and Guide, not simply as a reprint of the existing text but in a new edition, corrected, revised, and enlarged. When we were commissioned to write a general book about Tolkien’s life and works, our first model was C.S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide by Walter Hooper, a thick volume of nearly a thousand pages; but we gathered so much material that our Chronology alone reached that length. Fortunately, HarperCollins agreed to give us two volumes, though we had to cut the text of the Reader’s Guide to fit the maximum number of pages the binding pr...

I did a somewhat similar post of this nature a while ago, but I’m re-branding, re-editing it for Tolkien Tuesday purposes. Also, this serves as the last planned posts about BOOKS themselves for Tolkien Tuesday. I mean, never say never, but this concludes what I’ve got to say. So far, I’ve covered the books I own, great paperback editions which ‘mirror’ or reflect other formats, (deluxe included) and the deluxe editions for collectors. Now, I’m going to go over which ones you can find the easiest! What I mean by that is this. I recommended specific editions. But, what happens if by the time you get around to getting the books, that particular edition is out of print? I know, that may sound o dd: me recommending a particular edition, if others aren't available! I mean to say, that these ones are easily found, and as of this writing, still in print. You don’t need to worry about them running out, i n other words. I was showing my collection over the past few weeks,...