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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) -:- 😄

Life and Works

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

• Third Age (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 3018 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): Gandalf (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is imprisoned by Saruman (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [July 10]

Events & Shows

Anna Smol has Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and more; the Tales after Tolkien Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) also has programming.

Raconteur Radio presents Theatrical Adaptation of "The Hobbit" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [New Jersey, US]

Sarehole Mill, Birmingham, has guided tours on all Sundays in July (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

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

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

David Bratman has more progress (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (on the next issue of Tolkien Studies.)

I can only support the sentiment: Homebrew: Free Peoples United (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

doubtfulsea has Swords drawn (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

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

Robin Reid has Early Tolkien Scholarship: 1969, Source 1 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

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

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

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [IG; also FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (of the 21st Century) has FotR at #14, RotK at #15, and TT at #43.

Legendary board game developer Reiner Knizia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has another board game coming up soon:

Inter alia

Why is the right so fascinated with fantasy literature? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Financial Times]

Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Guardian]

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [404 Media]

Ansible 456 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has been published.

Peter Thiel joins tech billionaires backing new lender Erebor to rival Silicon Valley Bank (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Financial Times]

‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Guardian]

Fool of a Took: Palantir’s Fascism on Campus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Religion Dispatches]

Owen Barfield’s The Silver Trumpet has been re-released (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

Do use my invite link (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (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. 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩