The One hundred and forty-ninth Roving Ranger

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-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

The Great Tales of Middle-earth Boxed Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien & The Fall of Gondolin, “sixth and final in a series of collectible boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien”, will be published on Aug 14.

TolkienGuide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has everything on The Lord of the Rings: 70th Anniversary Deluxe (signed limited edition) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Visit East Yorkshire’s official video of the unveiling of Tolkien’s Statues in Roos is available with Youtube (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Do listen to Michael Flower’s podcast interview Tolkien in East Yorkshire (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for more on the background. [Acast] Please also note: Roos Church is open on Saturdays during August and September between 10am and 3pm . Refreshments available.¹

PLEASE NOTE

The Roving Ranger will see a few additions and improvements starting with #151, celebrating another milestone.

More information with #150.

This lovely Party Tree comes to you by kind permission of MGCoco (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Events & Shows

David Bratman has a short MythCon report (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [LiveJournal]

Christopher Tuthill has a recap from the New York Tolkien Conference (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

John D. Rateliff notes the upcoming stage play: C. S. Lewis at the Taproot (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

TheOneRing.net (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has Looking for Middle-earth: San Diego Comic-con 2025 Wrap up (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as well as Collecting The Precious – San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Middle-earth Tour (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tolkien Society Seminar 2025 – Arda’s Entangled Bodies and Environments (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has the list of papers and registration options online.²

Westmoot will be returning in 2026 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).³

Eleanor Parker will be talking about ‘On the gathering tide of darkness ride’: Tolkien and the Autumnal Equinox (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Sept 17, Fintry Trust, Fintry, Brook, Godalming, Surrey]⁴

The Lord of the Rings Musical is now in Singapore (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Aug 12 ff.]

Theater Review: CCTC/HJT’s ‘Hobbit’ An Innovative Take On The Tolkien Classic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Cape Cod Chronicle]

The Rangers of the North (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are holding a moot to visit the "Magic of Middle-earth" exhibition at the Atkinson, Southport on Saturday 16th August 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), including a talk by Tolkien Society CEO Shaun Gunner. [Facebook]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Tom Hillman has The Sad Tale Behind Tolkien's Famous 1938 Letter to a German Publisher (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Tales after Tolkien Society has About "Carnap Finds the One Ring" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and an An Irregular Update (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). including the CfP for Kalamazoo 2026.

The latest issue of Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research has a number of reviews on Tolkien research, including The Romantic Spirit in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)⁵, Celebrating Tolkien’s Legacy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Cartographies (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Thoughts on Tolkien has Tolkien’s Early Letters (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

"Things That Were, Things That Are, and Things That Yet May Be": The Matter of Time in the Faërie Realms of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is available with the Journal of Tolkien Research.

Miriam Ellis has The High Garden and Architecture of Tolkien's Rivendell.

https://www.miriamellis.com/post/the-high-garden-and-architecture-of-tolkien-s-rivendell (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Andrew Higgins has Mommie Dearest. aiþei - A Gothic/Tolkienian Crux (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Tolkien, Landscape Archaeology, and the First Age of Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Jeff LaSala has From Dice to Darkwood (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Joel Merriner’s Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is up for pre-order.

The 2024 Mythopoeic Awards Winners have been announced (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Marc Wilhelm Küster has Fantastic Letters. Writing in a Fictional World (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [PDF; Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century/gʁafematik/ June 8-10, 2022. Proceedings, 2022, Part II [Fluxus Editions (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]⁶

The Dead Language Society is making The case for Middle English (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), including Tolkien mentions. [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “The Lady’s Gift! The Star-glass! A Light to You in Dark Places, She Said it Was To Be.” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

doubtfulsea has Simple Words (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Merchandise & Franchise

Free League Publishing with one of its latest releases, The One Ring: Moria™ – Through the Doors of Durin, has won big with the Ennies (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [FLP newsletter]

Humble Bundle is offering WB Games, including Shadows of Mordor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tales Of The Shire Isn't As Bad As You Think It Is (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Gamer]

Weta Workshop seem to have outdone themselves with this piece.

https://www.wetanz.com/fellowship-in-moria-masters-collection?utm_campaign=644947_Masters%20Collection%202025%20Pre-order%20Announcement&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Weta%20Workshop%20Limited&dm_i=6XI1,DTN7,3Q856C,1YCPC,1 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Inter alia

The “Hugo Rocket” given to Tolkien - here is the history to it (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [File 770]

Artist Michael Whelan has an interesting post on Setting Type: Exploring book cover layout from the illustrator's perspectiv (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)e. [Substack]

Ansible 457 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has been published.

You need to read the alt text to this xkcd comic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [hint: Tom Bombadil!]

Elon Musk, J. R. R. Tolkien et une guerre culturelle et politique sans merci (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)⁷ [Le Monde, paywall]

Girlguiding unveils 72 new badges including 'fandoms' and 'laughter' (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[BBC]

Author for Sale’s 40 Favourite Books: 39 – ‘The Book of the New Sun’ by Gene Wolfe (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Book of the New Sun [by Gene Wolfe (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)], as the collective story is known, is the only book I have read as often as Lord of the Rings, or perhaps more often.

St John Henry Newman set to become newest Doctor of the Church (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Vatican News (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

For all you Black Sabbath and Ozzy fans out there - this exhibition’s run has been extended until January 2026. Use your time in Birmingham to visit some of the Tolkien places as well!

https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/exhibitions/working-class-hero?utm_campaign=83921136-Curiosity%202025&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114735410&utm_content=114735410&utm_source=hs_email (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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General info

According to German law I have to inform you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Threads (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Mastodon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

As this is 2025 I would like to note that this newsletter is 100% human-made, curated by me, Marcel R. Bülles. This also holds true for everything I write with my blog and here at Steady. This edition has taken more than 12 hours to put together. [Also, the minimum time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.]