The Girdle of Melian

oday is Tolkien Reading Day, hosted by the Tolkien Society ! Tolkien Reading Day is held each year on 25 March, the date of the downfall of Sauron the Lord of the Rings and the fall of Barad-dûr, and the day of the New Year in Gondor. "The theme for Tolkien Reading Day 2016 is life, death and immortality. 'To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939... by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.' — J.R.R. Tolkien, Foreword to the Second Edition, The Lord of the Rings The theme was chosen for 2016 to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Tolkien fought and survived this dreadful battle, but lost his close friend and fellow T.C.B.S. member Rob Gilson. With the death of G.B. Smith later that year, the First World War undoubtedly shaped Tolkien's outlook on life and death, with mortality and immortality looming large in the Middle-earth legendarium." The TCBS was, from the hindsight of h

uest post from Roland Yeomans today. Welcome Roland! PREPARE TO BE BOARDED! Yes, it is another port of call for "Don't You Hate Book Tours?" Book Tour! Deniz Bevan graciously let me slip into her blog harbor to rant, ah, talk about my book, THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD . Lately, she has done a series of photos for her blog entries. "Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen." --Leonardo da Vinci In like manner, music is prose that is felt rather than read. Behold the first Air-Steamship, Xanadu . Its paint, its very fabric, its very metal has been impregnated with bits of aluminum and stardust. When the first rays of the yawning sun hit the vessel, it burns like a miniature nova in the night. And the inhabitants of whatever land over which the Xanadu is sailing know hope. The McCord is coming with his mysterious alien wife to bring justice and wrath to their oppressors. Stra