The One hundred and thirty-fifth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

A posthumous edition of one of Tolkien’s works by his son Christopher has been listed with several serices: The Bovadium Fragments: Together with The Origins of Bovadium (Opens in a new window). [h/t Carl Hostetter]. More on this with Tolkiengateway (Opens in a new window).

First Gaelic translation of The Hobbit published (Opens in a new window) [University of Aberdeen]

Events & Shows

‘A Long-expected Party’ (Opens in a new window) in Kentucky is open for registration. [Sept 24-28]

The Gamer’s Keep Tavern close to Seattle is offering a Second Breakfast (Opens in a new window). [May 25, Facebook]

GIFCon 2025 is happening May 7-9 (Opens in a new window).

John Garth is on tour in Ireland (Opens in a new window). [Facebook]

The New York Tolkien Conference has announced Nicholas Birns as speaker (Opens in a new window).

Laura Martin-Gomez is giving a talk in Belgium: De la science en fantasy : lectures scientifiques de l’œuvre de Tolkien (Opens in a new window) [May 6]

Anke Eissmann’s art exhibition can be visited until autumn (Opens in a new window).

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

The Tolkien Society has announced its award’s winners (Opens in a new window).

John D. Rateliff has Tolkien and Wartime Oxford (Opens in a new window).

The people at the Tolkien Guide have interviewed Dutch Tolkien scholar and owner of the Tolkien Shop, the only brick-and-mortar store specialised in Middle-earth, René van Rossenberg (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellis has Now Available: The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth! (Opens in a new window)

Andymation is making the One Flipbook to Rule them All (Opens in a new window). [Youtube]

The Journal of Tolkien Research vol 21, issue 1, is filling up nicely (Opens in a new window).

Bruce Charlton has Charles Williams Did influence JRR Tolkien's writing - The Place of the Lion and The Notion Club Papers. (Opens in a new window)

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien's earliest "fairy" poem: Wood-Sunshine (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “Luck Served You There; but You Seized Your Chance With Both Hands One Might Say.” Some more thoughts on the empty Morgul Vale that Frodo and Sam will walk through (Opens in a new window).

Other Minds issue 28 (Opens in a new window) is available for download.

The purpose of this publication is to provide Tolkien-related content of interest to Tolkien enthusiasts of all kinds and more specifically, information usable by those who love to use role playing games to enjoy the many facets of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginary universe.

Mythic Capital. How Tolkien is whispering in the ears of America’s most powerful men (Opens in a new window) [ARC magazine]

Merchandise & Franchise

Experts say Monolith's patented Nemesis System doesn't have to die with its Lord of the Rings games (Opens in a new window) [Games Radar]

Meet The Fellowship Behind Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game (Opens in a new window) [Nintendo Insider]

The calligraphy Kickstarter by Ferris Wheel Press is followed by an Indiegogo campaign (Opens in a new window).

In Australia the LotR musical tour has:

Inter alia

Martin Freeman says he confronts ‘annoying’ fans who follow him around (Opens in a new window) [Independent]

Ansible 454 (Opens in a new window) has been published.

Paul Kidby will be exhibited at the Weston Museum (Opens in a new window) following May 28.

Fantastic Fiction: Elric of Melniboné: Tortured Elf Emperor with a Cursed Sword (Opens in a new window) [Seattle WorldCon; on whether Elric has pointy ears!]

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

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

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. Also, the average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.