The Marquis de Leech

Elrond not being High King is pretty simple. It's descent through the male line only. Elrond in the male line is descended from the House of Hador, not the Noldor.

The Elves of Lothorien going from Amdir and Amloth (monarchs) to Galadriel seems like an upgrade to me, what with the latter being Caliquendi, and the former being mere Moriquendi.

Thingol is King of Doriath, not some overarching King of Beleriand. He's tolerated by the Noldor (what with the whole Girdle thing), not respected by them, technical Caliquendi status notwithstanding. 

The kingship of Dale isn't restored. It's an explicit upgrade from nobility. And the Lake Town system (basically a sort of Tolkienian take on the Venetian Republic) isn't inferior - we see a popular New Master replace the nasty old one.

(Meanwhile, the Elves of Lothlorien and Rivendell, not to mention the Ents, manage just fine without a monarchy. And the High Kingship of the Noldor, when it did exist, was entirely titular).  

Another chapter of Old Phuul sorted tonight. Manuscript sitting at 41,200 words.

Finally cracked 40,000 words on Old Phuul today. Yay.

On 7/5/2021 at 6:26 AM, Centrist Simon Steele said:

I just can't seem to interest a literary agent with my work--though I suppose that my currently finished novel about a vampire is kind of at the top of most horror agents "don't want" lists (no more vampires!). Since I'm just in the frame of mind where I want to continue this story, I had my book professionally edited, and I put it on Amazon last month, and now I'm happily writing the next book in the series. 

But, I guess we're at a strange time where stories about monster hunters and vampires are still everywhere and have huge audiences, but the agents and possibly book publishers are tired of the genre, sadly.

I discovered that a while back with a short story*. Vampires really struggle to find a home at the moment.

*The twist being that the Vampire was a Catholic Priest, who survives by drinking communion wine.

New short story out:

Perilous Treasures

Aragorn, explicitly, does not enter Minas Tirith until he has been approved by the people.

The reason is quite simple, of course. Gondorian precedent is against him - and a surviving Denethor would have used the Arvedui precedent for all it's worth (legally, the Stewards rule in Earnur's name). So we see the Steward, Faramir, refer the matter to the people... and they give the thumbs up to the war-victor.

Meanwhile, Gandalf crowning Aragorn is Aragorn's own choice. It's clear that he is expected to put the crown on himself.

The thing about no new Kings? Gondor's long period under the Stewards is basically because they had just had a truly hideous civil war, and no-one wanted to re-awaken old issues - by this point, most of the Gondorian nobility would be related to the ruling dynasty anyway.

(Also consider Bard in the Hobbit. Descendant of Girion, Lord of Dale, but upgrades his title to King).

Really, by your reasoning, Aragorn (or any of his forefathers) could have turned up, and ousted the Stewards, when that clearly was not politically viable,

I can report another short story acceptance.

On 6/6/2021 at 9:46 AM, Lord Varys said:

Aragorn's kingship is both based on the divine right of kings - which is expressed by having an eagle of Manwe proclaim him king (the real fun thing there is the line 'your king will be among you all the days of your life' - meaning you cannot even hope to outlive that particular king) and by having an Angel of the Lord crown him king - as well as by exceptionalism based on 'magical blood' - which is expressed by his long life and his magical healing powers.

You're forgetting another crucial element - the consent of the people of Minas Tirith. Aragorn's victory in war, and the convenient elimination of Denethor, render his claim politically viable. Without that, he's just a random Ranger of the North, a hillbilly descendant of Romulus Augustulus who dares wander into Constantinople.

As I read it:

• Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, or Durin's Bane claim the Ring: red alert for Sauron. Possible he might actually flee Mordor at that point.
• Elrond, Galadriel, Aragorn, or Denethor claim the Ring: amber alert for Sauron. He needs to crush them before they learn to wield it. turning it into a race against time. This is what Sauron thought he was dealing with.
• Anyone else: Crush at leisure.

On 5/25/2021 at 10:26 PM, Arakan said:

Isildur‘s death in its absurdity is basically the equivalent of a death by shrapnel on the Western Front in October 1918. . 

I'd say the better analogy is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. A won war... only for the victorious leader to be taken out. 

And another one. May hasn't been as supremely productive as February and March, but sitting on a 36k manuscript (of good words), with seven chapters sorted, feels great. 

Finished another Chapter for Old Phuul tonight.

On 5/5/2021 at 1:16 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

Just been offered representation by a literary agent and spoken briefly

 

Huzzah!

Sharing a crackpot theory of mine:

Ar-Pharazon might have been gay.

(I'd be very surprised if that turns up in the Amazon adaptation though).

Had a sword and sorcery piece accepted for the next issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. Yay.

I've taken the liberty of compiling the Tom Bombadil scenes from the Soviet adaptation, and adding them to the Swedish and Finnish versions, to create a quarter of an hour of adapted (non-English-language) Tom:

The Complete Tom Bombadil: 1971-1993

The biggest point of interest there is the demolition job on Humphrey Carpenter (and really raises so many questions about the Letters).

I actually disagree with her conclusion that Rider Haggard does not influence Tolkien at the plot level. The Mirror of Galadriel and the Bridge of Khazad-dum are both clearly influenced by She, quite apart from Tolkien originally naming the city of Tirion as Kor.

On 4/2/2021 at 2:33 PM, SpaceChampion said:

Submission guidelines for a spot in the Last Dangerous Visions.

They're rather hamstringing themselves with those submission guidelines. Someone who has never even had a token payment from an e-zine is going to stand out like a sort thumb.

The lost Soviet Fellowship of the Ring is rediscovered.

Oh god. Sympathies about your mother.

Revise and resubmit request on my sword and sorcery piece. Yay.

Hit 30k tonight. February and March have really been very solid months.

March continues to be a solid month for work on Old Phuul. I'm now at five full chapters, totalling 26,000 words. Better yet, they are good words - the sort that (hopefully) won't need massive revisions later.