Crier's Tower
I have done jack in keeping up with my website during my school break. Other obligations interfered. I am a terrible webmaster ... of my own website, anyway.
As always, I am hoping to make progress around here. I suppose that updating my sidebar is a positive start!
Magic and Mechanica is out from Ricasso Press! And I'm in it!
My short story "Cogs" has been published in this anthology, which centers on speculative fiction about "piston-driven fantasy and industrial sorcery." "Cogs" is about a heroine's attempt to reclaim her people's humanity in a world overrun by machines. Magic and Mechanica is available from the Ricasso Press Bookstore or on Amazon.com.
New in the Library:
The Message. Valinor has been left in darkness, and Finarfin is the new king of the Noldor. One night, he awakens with a strange vision: Someone has died in Middle-earth--but who?
New on the Heretic Loremaster:
Move over Fëanor . . . Some thoughts on Fëanor's jewelry choices and the larger lessons they suggest about how to read The Silmarillion.
I Need to Rant. On the notion that slash is a disgrace to Tolkien's world.
Inferior Writing? On Chicklit, Fantasy, and Mary Sue. Why do we put down certain genres of writing? Is there anything anti-woman about those we choose to scorn?
Dispatches from Other Lands:
I'm on Facebook. OMG yes really.
You can find me now on FanLore!
And my obsession du jour is Delicious: Check out what I'm reading and researching here.
What I'm Reading ...
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Beyond These Borders
There is a whole world beyond the Midhavens, begging for exploration. Herein lies a list of places where I have hung my banner on occasion--even flown it proudly--else found friendly company willing to share a song and a cup of wine.
Silmarillion Writers' Guild. Dedicated to studying and writing about J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, I founded the SWG as a place for discussion, fellowship, and the celebration of creativity.
Hundrede Artes. Here I document my progress as I attempt to create one hundred pieces of medieval-inspired artwork in seven years.
The (Cyber) Bag of Weasels. This was my first online home and, today, serves as my personal journal.
Awakening
Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Foreword
This story largely concerns itself with the legend of the awakening of the Elves at Cuiviénen that is discussed at the end of the essay Quendi and Eldar in The History of Middle-earth: The War of the Jewels. As with much of my recent writing, I am looking at this "canon" as though it was a historical document discussing the mythology of a particular culture and, therefore, prone to flaws, biases, and misinterpretations. In particular, I have always been curious about how a people that awakened in the wild and who are attuned to Arda (the earth) and nature came to develop the rather rigid sexual mores that are discussed in Laws and Customs among the Eldar in The History of Middle-earth: Morgoth's Ring. This story aims to explore how this came to pass.
For the record, the woman called Elenwë in this story is not the same Elenwë who would later marry Turgon and die crossing the Helcaraxë. Because the name literally means "star woman," it seems like it would be a common and popular name among the Eldar, who always adored the stars.
I don't believe in holding my readers' hands and giving them a guided tour of the canon used to develop this story. I trust that you all are intelligent enough to research and explore the canon for yourselves without me telling you what it says. However, if you have any questions about why I did things the way that I did, please ask. If you'd like a copy of the essays I used, I'm happy to share; just drop me an email.