Until the Dragon Comes

adair, over on sutcliff_talk quoted from Rosemary Sutcliff's autobiography, Blue Remembered Hills.

...the first of my brain children that I can remember was called Wild Sunrise, a saga of the roman invasion of Britain told from the British viewpoint. Its hero, Cardoc, was a young British chieftain, as Victorian-English as anything out of Whyte Melville's Gladiators. his adventures went on for ever, because I loved him so much I could not bear to part with him; because, also, I could not think how to bring them to a close. Eventually I did finish the story somehow and stowed it tenderly away in a dark corner. In due course, probably when my father and I moved house after my mother died, it sank without trace, which all things considered is just as well. I should hate, even now, for any eyes but mine to read Wild Sunrise, not so much because it was very bad as because so much of me was in it, naked and defenceless. It would be a form of indecent exposure.

Is is any wonder her books appeal to fans so much? She's so obviously one of us. :-)

the_marquis gave me a copy of an article from a German magazine, written by a journalist who was at the Tolkien Weekend earlier in the year. It mainly features Zainab's teaching of Elvish, with a very nice picture of a certain bouncy elf. :-)

When playing Tolkien 20 questions, I remembered something I have been meaning to rec for a while. I was waiting until it was finished, but actually that's not really necessary, as each chapter stands on its own.

Do you remember Dora Baggins, who was Frodo's aunt and "had written reams of good advice for more than half a century"? Dreamflower has written "Miss Dora Baggins' Book of Manners, Or The Shire Hobbit's Guide to Proper Behavior for Every Occasion". It combines world-building, creating a more detailed Shire society, with a wise and gently amusing take on proper manners for any number of situations. Even if you don't usually read fanfic, this is well worth the time of any Tolkien fan.

( For a taste, see under the cut... )

An interesting short article on Tolkien fandom from yesterday's New York Times - Elvish Impersonators by Ethan Gilsdorf.

Not a costumed loonies article, regardless of the silly headline, and with a only slightly garbled mention of the Tolkien Weekend.

Isn't the writer the guy who came to the Chester AGM?

Both stolen from nakeisha

( Time travel meme )


( File extension meme )

And for people who can't be bothered with memes - a new Terry Pratchett interview