The One hundred and forty-fourth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

When I started writing The Roving Ranger five years ago on a Friday (Si apre in una nuova finestra) I would never have imagined I’d still be doing this in 2025. Thank you all for your support and your kind words - let’s hope for another 144!

FYI In the run-up to RR #150 I will be adding a few tweaks here and there, there might even be a survey on what you would like to read in this newsletter - which I always love to know -, and some specials on what I am doing as the Tolkienist. I might even ask you to help me on a project or two…

The first detail to change? The Roving Ranger now has a subtitle:

-:- Strange as news from Bree (Si apre in una nuova finestra) -:- 😄

Life and Works

July 4, 1972. Letter 339 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is published in the Daily Telegraph - on forests.
July 7, 1944. Tolkien starts writing Letter 75 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - to Christopher, on many topics.
July 8, 1915. Tolkien writes the poem The Shores of Elfland (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
July 11, 1972. Tolkien writes Letter 340 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), to Christopher, on the headstone for his wife, and the success of his stories.

• Third Age (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 3018 (Si apre in una nuova finestra): Gandalf (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is imprisoned by Saruman (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [July 10]

Events & Shows

Anna Smol has Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and more; the Tales after Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) also has programming.

Raconteur Radio presents Theatrical Adaptation of "The Hobbit" (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [New Jersey, US]

Sarehole Mill, Birmingham, has guided tours on all Sundays in July (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Westmarch Smial (Port Talbot/ Swansea, UK) has another meeting coming up on July 27 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Facebook; Tolkien societies have smials all over the world, see the TS smials’ list (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

The Tolkien Regulars’ Table in Jena (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [IG], Germany, will have scholar Hamish Williams as a guest (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [July 9; Facebook; Tolkien and the Classical World (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with Walking Tree Publishers]
- Transparency note: This is ‘my’ smial as I live in Jena 😅

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

David Bratman has more progress (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (on the next issue of Tolkien Studies.)

I can only support the sentiment: Homebrew: Free Peoples United (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Stephen C. Winter has “Frodo Wouldn’t Have Got Far Without Sam, Would He Dad?” Frodo Thinks About the Place of Sam Gamgee in His Story and About Both of Them in The Great Tale (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Anthony Burdge and Jessica Burke have Journeys, Dwarves, a Hobbit & a Dragon In Burlington County? [report on a theatre production of The Hobbit]

Jeff LaSala’s excellent Silmarillion Primer with Signum University Press now has a project page (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

doubtfulsea has Swords drawn (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

“A Time of Fire and Cataclysm”: The Centrality of Cosmic War in Tolkien’s Round World Cosmologies (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Kristine Larsen is now available. [Journal of Tolkien Research]

How Fantasy Fuelled 60s Counterculture (Si apre in una nuova finestra): Why The Lord of the Rings was a hit with hippies [Substack]

Robin Reid has Early Tolkien Scholarship: 1969, Source 1 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

A new book from HarperCollins is coming out this year: Doomed to Die: The Gift of Ilúvatar by Tom Racine. [Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

John Garth is in London with Tolkien’s Elves: A journey through the realms of Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [July 15; Eventbrite]

Andrew Higgins has a review: Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Samuel Jay Keyser promoted his new book with Deborah Kalb (he is mentioned in Fingolfin’s Findings XLVI: Back to School: Tolkien and Me (Si apre in una nuova finestra)):

At Oxford I was a student of Old and Middle English language and literature. I attended lectures by J.R.R. Tolkien. I marveled at his translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem, Exodus. I read Beowulf, Gawain and the Green Knight, and Chaucer in the original.  

Anke Eissmann has shared another new illustration inspired by The Hobbit.

Merchandise & Franchise

If you are around North Dakota (I believe) you might look up Erickson’s Second Breakfast Stand (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [IG; also FB (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is happening right now, “there’s even a sandwich from Tolkien’s Shire on the menu at Hobbiton’s cafe.”

The New York Times The Top Movies According to Times Readers (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (of the 21st Century) has FotR at #14, RotK at #15, and TT at #43.

Legendary board game developer Reiner Knizia (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has another board game coming up soon:

Inter alia

Why is the right so fascinated with fantasy literature? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Financial Times]

Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [404 Media]

Ansible 456 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been published.

Peter Thiel joins tech billionaires backing new lender Erebor to rival Silicon Valley Bank (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Financial Times]

‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

Fool of a Took: Palantir’s Fascism on Campus (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Religion Dispatches]

Owen Barfield’s The Silver Trumpet has been re-released (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The BBC has In our Time - Dragons (Si apre in una nuova finestra).¹

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore dragons, literally and symbolically potent creatures that have appeared in many different guises in countries and cultures around the world.

xkcd wins again.

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

Then do consider using Steady (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Si apre in una nuova finestra), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and start with three months fee-free.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Threads (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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.

1. h/t TolkienGuide (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩