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Talking The Rings of Power: Numenor

Talking The Rings of Power: Numenor

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Sticking with my assessment that it’s better than The Shannara Chronicles, but not as good as Wheel of Time, it’s back to The Rings of Power.

Previously, I visited the sad story of Miriel (Tar-Miriel). Tolkien speculated on a couple back-stories to her marriage to Ar-Pharazon, but dropped all of them. Click on over and check that one out. He had some neat ideas.

I will say that I think that Numenor is one of the two strongest points in the show. It helps offset the fan-fiction level plotting and all the harfoot clutter.

THE GOOD

Numenor is one of my favorite things in The Silmarillion. Not surprisingly, The Rings of Power has been a bit free with adapting it. But overall, I think Numenor is one of the highlights of the show, and they could have done a lot worse.

Visually, Numenor is stunning. It was a great island empire in The Silmarillion, and they did a terrific job of conveying the splendor of Armenolos, the capital city. As Halbrand and Galadriel arrive on Elendil’s ship, the city is unveiled in majestic fashion. The big CGI budget absolutely pays off.

The Argonath – two giant statues of Isildur and Anarion, on the River Anduin – were a highlight of Peter Jackson’s movies. They stand, with their hands out in a gesture of defiance from the folk of Gondor.

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New Treasures: Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann

New Treasures: Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann

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Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann (Crossroad Press, March 16, 2018)

Shattered Walls, Book 4 of Ulff Lehmann’s Light in the Dark Book series, released this November, 2022. This post reviews Book 1, Shattered Dreams, to lure dark fantasy readers into the Dark. Do you like Tolkien-esque worlds with a unique perspective, perhaps sprinkled with Grimdark battle and horror? Shattered Dreams will whet your appetite. It’s a fresh, dark spin on traditional fiction.  You’ll be thrown into a mire of fractured perspectives and nightmares, and Lehmann controls the process of refining it all with a host of characters (the cursed Drangar Ralgon stealing the limelight). You’ll enjoy this if you enjoy mysteries, brutal melee, and Elvin worlds.

Shattered Dreams Cover Blurb

Epic Fantasy filled to the brim with Grimdark Reality.

If one looks too long into the abyss, the abyss looks back. Drangar Ralgon has been avoiding the abyss’s gaze for far too long and now he turns to face it. For a hundred years the young kingdom of Danastaer has thrived in peace. Now their northern neighbor, mighty Chanastardh, has begun a cunning invasion. Thrust into events far beyond his control, the mercenary Drangar Ralgon flees his solitary life as a shepherd to evade the coming war and take responsibility for his crimes.

In Dunthiochagh, Danastaer’s oldest city, the holy warrior Kildanor uncovers the enemy’s plans for invasion. As ancient forces reach forth to shape the world once more, the sorceress Ealisaid wakes from a century of hibernation only to realize the Dunthiochagh she knew is no more. Magic, believed long gone, returns, and with it comes an elven wizard sent to recover a dangerous secret.

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Gods, Demons, Monsters & Magic: The Mkalis Cycle by Kerstin Hall

Gods, Demons, Monsters & Magic: The Mkalis Cycle by Kerstin Hall

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The Border Keeper and Second Spear (Tor.com, July 2019 and August 2022). Covers by Kathleen Jennings and Jamie Jones

Kerstin Hall is the Senior Editorial Assistant at Scott Andrews’s excellent online magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and perhaps it was years of reading submissions that gave her the chops to write her acclaimed debut, the Tor.com novella The Border Keeper, a 2020 Nommo Award Finalist. (Yeah, I didn’t know what a Nommo Award was either, but I googled it and it’s legit — it’s presented by The African Speculative Fiction Society.) The Guardian called it “A phantasmagorical picaresque through a lushly realised underworld, populated by a grotesque bestiary of fantastical creatures… [a] twisty example of the new weird,” and Max Gladstone summed it up as “A labyrinth of demons, dead gods, [and] cranky psychopomps.” That sounds pretty cool.

The Border Keeper appeared in 2019, and the follow-up Second Spear arrived in August. Looking at the covers above, radically different in design and tone, the two books don’t look related (at all), but they are both part of what’s now being called The Mkalis Cycle. I much prefer Jamie Jones’s dynamic cover for Second Spear over Kathleen Jennings’ more abstract effort for The Border Keeper, but I gotta believe the dramatic cover shift was risky, and probably confused a few readers. I hope it pays off.

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Future Treasures: The Citadel of Forgotten Myths by Michael Moorcock

Future Treasures: The Citadel of Forgotten Myths by Michael Moorcock

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The Citadel of Forgotten Myths (Saga Press, December 6, 2022). Cover artist unknown.

No, your eyes don’t deceive you. That’s a brand new Elric novel, arriving in hardcover next week.

Described as a prequel, The Citadel of Forgotten Myths takes place between the first and second books in the Elric Saga, Elric of Melniboné (published a whopping 50 years ago, in 1972) and The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976). It’s the first new Elric novel since The White Wolf’s Son, way back in 2005, and is highly anticipated.

Because of Moorcock’s stature in the field these days, the back cover of his new novel is strewn with glowing quotes from J. G. Ballard, The New Yorker and NPR — and I have to admit, that NPR quote is pretty darn good. It’s taken from a 2014 piece titled (of all things) These Nautical Reads Will Put Wind In Your Sails, and is written by novelist Jason Sheehan. Here’s the whole thing; it’s worth the read.

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Snuggle Under a Blanket With Close to Midnight, the Latest Horror Anthology from Mark Morris

Snuggle Under a Blanket With Close to Midnight, the Latest Horror Anthology from Mark Morris

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After Sundown, Beyond the Veil, and Close to Midnight
(Flame Tree Press, 2020, 2021, and 2022). Covers: Nik Keevil and Flame Tree Studio

I’ve been enjoying Mark Morris’ recent run of unthemed annual horror anthologies. He kicked it off with the highly regarded After Sundown in 2020; the success of that volume convinced the publisher, Flame Tree Press, to make it an annual event. Beyond the Veil followed last year, and Close to Midnight arrived just last month.

The newest installment looks like it could be the best one yet. It contains 20 original stories, 16 commissioned from established names and four selected from new writers who sent in stories during an open submissions window. The result is a terrific cross section of horror from the most acclaimed writers in the business — including Steve Rasnic Tem, Ramsey Campbell, Muriel Gray, Alison Littlewood, Seanan McGuire, Brian Keene, and Adam L.G. Nevill — alongside some talented and exciting newcomers.

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Vintage Treasures: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling E. Lanier

Vintage Treasures: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling E. Lanier

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Hiero’s Journey and sequel The Unforsaken Hiero (Del Rey, 1983 and 1984). Covers by Darrell K. Sweet

Sterling Lanier occupies a unique and honored place in science fiction history. While he’s fondly remembered for his fiction, his greatest contribution came as a result of his keen eye, and his editorial daring.

In 1961 Lanier was hired as an editor at Chilton, a Boston publisher specializing in business magazines and automobile repair books. In 1965 he convinced Chilton to publish their first novel, an oversized science fiction epic that had been rejected by nearly twenty publishers due to its prodigious length. That novel, Frank Herbert’s Dune, eventually became a bestseller, launching one of the most respected literary franchises of the 20th Century, and completely remaking SF publishing.

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Talking The Rings of Power: Harfoots :-(

Talking The Rings of Power: Harfoots :-(

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I eagerly tuned in a couple weeks ago to watch the Georgia – Tennessee game. Having beaten Alabama in one of the most exciting games of the season, the Vols were ready to establish themselves as the new kid on the block and hit the College Football Playoff like Mt. Vesuvius exploding. Yeah… I’ve always liked the phrase, “The moment was not too big for him.” This was the biggest moment in Tennessee football since Tee Martin took them to the 1998 national championship. I liked Martin and I wish the Steelers had kept him longer as a backup QB after drafting him.

Anywhoo…the moment was WAAAAY took big for Hedron Hooker (and the rest of the Volunteers). That game was over midway through the first quarter. Tennessee simply was not ready to deal with a focused Georgia team, on the road. They got spanked. I’ve got over a thousand words on Numenor for this series. But I still can’t get it shaped and dialed in. So far, Numenor is too big for me. So, I will keep working on it (the reading alone is taking hours) for another week.

Which leaves me on Sunday morning searching for a new topic. I’m gonna get the harfoot thing out of the way. Following the proper format, THE GOOD was going to be that they killed a harfoot in the season finale.

THE BAD was everything else about them being in the series.

My hardback copy of the Silmarillion is 311 pages (including Tables). The book proper ends on page 304. And the ONLY reference to hobbits in the ENTIRE book is on page 303. That’s it, except that it continues to the first paragraph of page 304. Harfoots and hobbits had nothing to do with the First and Second Ages. But here they are, dead in the middle of the Rings of Power. For those of us who don’t like hobbits, their presence is the worst part of the show. And TOTALLY unnecessary.

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Talking The Rings of Power: Miriel

Talking The Rings of Power: Miriel

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Talking The Rings of Power continues; wherein I look at something good, and something bad, about one element of the show. Then I talk a lot more about Tolkien’s actual writings about it. THIS SERIES IS FULL OF SPOILERS – related to the show, and Tolkien’s writings. You have been warned!

I’m still working on the Numenor entry, as that Middle Earth version of the Atlantis story is a favorite. This week, I’ll look at Miriel, a tragic figure in The Silmarillion. Hurin, Thrain, Beren, Fingolfin, Miriel – lot of tragic characters in that book.

THE GOOD

Miriel is the Queen Regent of the mighty human nation of Numenor. Her father, Tar-Palantir, is a bit brain-addled and she is ruling in his stead. He dies in the final episode, which will formally make her queen. Though, she’s on a boat, coming back to Numenor, blinded from evil doings in the Southlands.

Cynthia Adddai-Robinson does a pretty good job as Miriel. Miriel is merely Tar-Palantir’s daughter and does not rule at all in The Silmarillion. So, the RoP folks are once again playing pretty free with the storytelling; but not quite fast as usual.

Miriel is haughty, intelligent, thoughtful, and we see her nobility of character. Kind of snotty, which befits a Numenorian, but also representative of the ‘good ones.’ They became a rather bad lot, and I’m sure we’ll see the opposite side of the coin, in Pharazon.

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Tales of Adventure and Exploration from the Pre-Spaceflight Era: Mike Ashley’s British Library Science Fiction Classics

Tales of Adventure and Exploration from the Pre-Spaceflight Era: Mike Ashley’s British Library Science Fiction Classics

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All ten anthologies in the British Library Science Fiction Classics edited by Mike Ashley,
plus his non-fiction survey Yesterday’s Tomorrows, and interior art from Moonrise (bottom right).
Covers by Chesley Bonestell, David A. Hardy, Warwick Goble, Frederick Siebel, et al

Mike Ashley is a fascinating guy. He interviewed me years ago about founding the SF Site (sfsite.com), one of the first science fiction websites, back in 1995, for his book The Rise of the Cyberzines, the fifth volume of his monumental History of Science Fiction Magazines. He’s edited dozens of SF anthologies over the years, including 19 volumes in The Mammoth Book series (The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction, The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures, etc.)

But I’m currently obsessed with his latest project, a sequence of terrific anthologies published under the banner of the British Library Science Fiction Classics. There are nineteen volumes in the British Library Science Fiction Classics so far, including long-forgotten novels by William F. Temple, Charles Eric Maine, and Muriel Jaeger, and even a new collection of previously-abridged novellas from John Brunner, The Society of Time, which looks pretty darn swell.

But the bulk of the series — eleven books — consists of ten anthologies and a non-fiction title from Mike Ashley. And what books they are! They gather early fiction across a wide range of themes, heavily focused on pulp-era and early 20th Century SF and fantasy. Mining classic tropes like the Moon and Mars, sinister machines, creeping monsters, and looming apocalypses, Ashley has produced a veritable library of foundational SF and fantasy. Reasonably priced in handsome trade paperback and affordable digital editions, these volumes are an essential addition to any modern SF collection. And they are positively packed with fun reading.

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Talking The Rings of Power – Tolkien Trivia

Talking The Rings of Power – Tolkien Trivia

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Okay – you have seen all of season one of The Rings of Power. Well, if you haven’t, might be some spoilers below… After writing about The Istari last week, it was logical to cover the harfoots today. But they are ruining the show, and I’m just not up right now for a couple thousand words on criticizing the overbearing, completely unwarranted, hobbit presence in The Rings of Power.

The Second Age is about elves and men. With some dwarves mixed in. The hobbits have NOTHING to do with the story being told. But the showrunners, afraid to make Tolkien without the lazy, constantly hungry, hairy-footed things, had to make them a cornerstone part of the show.

I’m not ready to tackle Numenor, or why the show is more fan fiction than actual Tolkien pastiche, or real Book Tolkien (condensing over 3,000 years of history into one point of time is a part of it). So, I’m gonna share some Tolkien trivia; related to the show in some fashion. Well, mostly, anyways! You probably know a lot of it. Some might be new. But it’s time to Talk Tolkien!

BALROGS

I was playing D&D for several years before I read The Lord of the Rings (LotR). And I loved seeing the influences that Tolkien had on Gary Gygax. Type 6 Demons (Balors) clearly were based on balrogs. A balrog features prominently in my favorite part of LotR – the Mines of Khazad-dum section of book one, The Fellowship of the Ring.
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