The Fireside

Hey all, hope you're well! I'm going to give that long-overdo update later this week, but before the weekend. However, I've got another post, and it's Tolkien related. The last thing I need is another copy of The Hobbit.....but look at these goodies!! Here is the official description of the facsimile boxed set coming out in time for Hobbit Day 2018: "This sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it to become the one enjoyed by readers since 1951. The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937, with a print run of 1,500 copies. With a beautiful cover design, nearly a dozen black & white illustrations and two black & red maps by the author himself, the book proved to be popular and was reprinted shortly afterwards. History was already being made. The scarcity of the first edition has resulted in copies comman...

Something interesting was discovered recently - there is a mysterious new Tolkien book on the horizon! It's so much a mystery, that we don't know anything about it at this stage. It could even be listed in error! Assuming it isn't, what could it be? The first hope is The Fall of Gondolin , the last of the three 'Great Tales' of Middle-earth, two of which have gotten their own 'stand-alone' books. It's also entirely possible that it could be a new edition of The Silmarillion , which has celebrated its 40th anniversary a few months ago. Or, it could even be something brand new or mostly unheard of, the same way that The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun  has caught us off-guard. The Trumpets of Faerie  spring to mind, as it would be similar to Tales From the Perilous Realm . At this time, it's only listed on Amazon UK, with the title "Tolkien Untitled." It's being published by Harper Collins on August 23. It'll have 304 pages, and will be a...

One item that sometimes, in my experience, that gets overlooked in the field of Tolkien scholarship, as well as overall importance, is The Annotated Hobbit  by Douglas A. Anderson. The book was published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Hobbit . That is, of course, nothing ill against Anderson, The Hobbit  or what he has done. In a field so varied and vast as Tolkien scholarship, it oft gets overlooked, I mean to say. In a sense, I consider it to be "an underrated piece of genius." Of course, in terms of thinking it could be overlooked, I could be completely off the mark. I remember when the revised edition of the book was brand new. I was getting into Tolkien, and checking out various titles by and about him. I saw the book and thought it was a bit unnecessary for my needs at the time. Plus, it didn't match any of the other books in terms of size dimensions etc. More on that later. I thought it was a neat concept, but at the time, I was casual normal reader, ge...

This is what I would love to see from future deluxe editions, published by Harper Collins.

The new 'black' edition of The Children of Hurin  by Harper Collins has now been released - in the UK (the release date for other areas, like Canada,  has it listed as February 17, 2015. So the best thing to do, is order it from  www.bookdepository.com , seeing as the book's already published, and they offer free shipping. Possibly Tolkien's last 'new' book set in Middle-earth / Beleriand / Numenor / The Realms & Legends That He Created, not counting anniversary, deluxe, or illustrated editions of works previously published. Long before the One Ring was forged in the fires of Mount Doom, one man—Húrin—dared to defy Morgoth, the first and greatest of the dark lords to plague Middle-earth. Thus did he and his children, Túrin and Niënor, earn the enmity of a merciless foe that would shape the destiny of all the ages to come. Only J.R.R. Tolkien, the undisputed master of the fantastic, could have conceived this magical tale of Elves and Men ...

Egil's Saga is the 10th-century Nordic equivalent of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Translated from the Icelandic with an introduction, notes and an essay, this is the first time Eddison's version of this epic heroic saga has been published in paperback. The saga of Egil, son of Grim the Bald, tells the exciting tale of a medieval warrior-poet and his many Viking adventures. Challenged by his ugly appearance and haunted by rumours that his grandfather was a werewolf, Egil devotes himself to Odin, god of kings, warriors and poets, and determines to avenge his father's exile from Norway. With action ranging across Iceland and Scandinavia down to Scotland and England, Egil's thrilling encounters include kings, sorcerers, berserkers and outlaws, as the story follows his transformation from youthful savagery to mature wisdom. Sometimes considered the greatest of the Icelandic sagas, Egil's Saga is the 10th-century Nordic equivalent of The Iliad and The Od...

In a previous blog post, I mentioned how I associate fall reading with fantasy (especially with Tolkien and Harry Potter.). It was thanks to both Tolkien and Harper Collins (for putting various editions of his works) that got me into books. Not "reading" but "book buying" (different than 'collecting'...somewhat). So make sure you read up on some Tolkien now that school is back in session, and it is now the beginning of the ideal reading season.   This post is a brief run-down of Tolkien's works, as well as some quality cost-effective editions worth checking out.

I know with this post, I am getting really ahead of myself - but an author can dream eh? It is not my intent to 'step on any toes' here, but for me to merely express some of the big names in publishing whom I would love to work with and print Kalvel. And you know what, in the end all that really matters is if eventually I do get published...

With renewed interest in Tolkien due to the Hobbit films, here is a gift option for shoppers come Thanksgiving / Christmas [I will do a Christmas idea post in November or December sometime. This ideas are not for myself.]