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 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) -:- 😄

Life and Works

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

• Third Age (Opens in a new window), 3018 (Opens in a new window): Gandalf (Opens in a new window) is imprisoned by Saruman (Opens in a new window). [July 10]

Events & Shows

Anna Smol has Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2025 (Opens in a new window) and more; the Tales after Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window) also has programming.

Raconteur Radio presents Theatrical Adaptation of "The Hobbit" (Opens in a new window) [New Jersey, US]

Sarehole Mill, Birmingham, has guided tours on all Sundays in July (Opens in a new window).

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

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

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

David Bratman has more progress (Opens in a new window) (on the next issue of Tolkien Studies.)

I can only support the sentiment: Homebrew: Free Peoples United (Opens in a new window).

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 (Opens in a new window).

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 (Opens in a new window).

doubtfulsea has Swords drawn (Opens in a new window).

“A Time of Fire and Cataclysm”: The Centrality of Cosmic War in Tolkien’s Round World Cosmologies (Opens in a new window) by Kristine Larsen is now available. [Journal of Tolkien Research]

How Fantasy Fuelled 60s Counterculture (Opens in a new window): Why The Lord of the Rings was a hit with hippies [Substack]

Robin Reid has Early Tolkien Scholarship: 1969, Source 1 (Opens in a new window).

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

John Garth is in London with Tolkien’s Elves: A journey through the realms of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window). [July 15; Eventbrite]

Andrew Higgins has a review: Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr (Opens in a new window). [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 (Opens in a new window)):

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 (Opens in a new window). [IG; also FB (Opens in a new window)]

The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) (of the 21st Century) has FotR at #14, RotK at #15, and TT at #43.

Legendary board game developer Reiner Knizia (Opens in a new window) has another board game coming up soon:

Inter alia

Why is the right so fascinated with fantasy literature? (Opens in a new window) [Financial Times]

Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Opens in a new window) [404 Media]

Ansible 456 (Opens in a new window) has been published.

Peter Thiel joins tech billionaires backing new lender Erebor to rival Silicon Valley Bank (Opens in a new window) [Financial Times]

‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

Fool of a Took: Palantir’s Fascism on Campus (Opens in a new window) [Religion Dispatches]

Owen Barfield’s The Silver Trumpet has been re-released (Opens in a new window).

The BBC has In our Time - Dragons (Opens in a new window).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 (Opens in a new window) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Opens in a new window), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Opens in a new window) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), 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 (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.

1. h/t TolkienGuide (Opens in a new window). ↩