John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 199

Great Googly Moogly!

So, late Sunday I was looking up some news stories from Arkansas about how bad the flooding was that was set to hit Memphis. I'd been surprised to hear that I-40, between Little Rock and Memphis, was closed and traffic being re-routed to two-lane highways -- mainly because I wd have assumed, having traveled that road before, that any water high enough to knock out the interstate wd already be over the old highways. Apparently not: it was flooding along the White River (better known these days not for the White River Monster but as the last stomping grounds of the no-longer-exinct Ivory Billed Woodpecker) that was to blame.
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Flooding-closes-busy-I-40-in-eastern-Arkansas/h5W5Y6fYqkK6GesyZxWijg.cspx?rss=315

News of the flood that's just now cresting in Memphis, and on its way to Baton Rouge is bad enough: they think it'll match the flood of 1937. But I was stunned to read just how bad the flood of 1927, which was even worse. I'd only heard about this once before, in a Schlesinger article debunking recent (1990s?) claims that Herbert Hoover had actually been a progressive. According to Schlesinger, so far as I remember his piece (it's been a while since I read it), Hoover's flood relief added greatly to his reputation as a humanitarian but Hoover pretty much ignored black farmers hit by the disaster. I hope that's not true. In any case, here's the piece about how, bad as it looks, it's no Katrina, and it's no 1927;
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2011/05/river_flooding_begins_to_wrap_arms_around_memphis.php?ref=fpa

And, just in case the link doesn't work, here are the two final paragraphs that left me stunned (emphasis added):

This year's flooding is set to eclipse numerous crest records set mainly in 1927 and 1937. The Great Flood of 1927 swelled the Lower Mississippi to 80 miles wide in some parts, caused up to 1,000 deaths by some estimates and drove more than 600,000 people from their homes.

Since 1927, levees have been raised and constructed with different methods, dozens of reservoirs have been added across the basin and floodways have been added.

That's right: during the 1927 flood at Mississippi was EIGHTY MILES WIDE.
Great googly moogly!
--JDR

Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2011 (revised schedule)

So, thanks to Jason Fisher's post ( http://lingwe.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-tolkien-at-kalamazoo.html ), I now know more about other Tolkien events at Kalamazoo. So I've revised the schedule I put up a few days ago, to include the extra Tolkien events, two C. S. Lewis panels I only noticed last night, and (to increase the usefulness of it all), the room numbers where each event is to take place. So here's the revised schedule of Tolkien events at Kalamazoo 2011. I shd be able to make it to almost all of these, but we'll see. Enjoy!

Kalamazoo Schedule 2011

THURSDAY MAY 12th

10AM, Valley II 204

Session 7: In Honor of Jane Chance (Roundtable)

Presider: Gergely Nagy, Szegedi Tudományegyetem

A roundtable discussion with Deanne Delmar Evans, Bemidji State Univ.; Edward L. Risden, St. Norbert College ("Medieval Women, Its Impact on Medieval Studies and Medievalism"); Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ. ("Mythography and Middle-earth"); Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont ("A Hobbit Hole of One's Own: Identity, Gender, and Difference in Middle-earth Studies"); and Joe Ricke, Taylor Univ.

THURSDAY MAY 12th

1.30PM, FETZER 2016

Session 73: Languages in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Benjamin S. W. Barootes, McGill Univ.

The Pleasure and the Poetics of Translating Old Norse

Mary Faraci, Florida Atlantic Univ.

The Origins of the Name "Thrihyrne" in The Lord of the Rings in Relation to the Icelandic Sagas

Tsukusu Jinn Itó, Shinshu Daigaku

Dunlendish and Sindarin: Tolkien's Diptych of British-Welsh

Yoko Hemmi, Keio Univ.

THURSDAY MAY 12th

3.30PM, FETZER 2016

Session 120: Romantic Nationalism in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Douglas Anderson, Independent Scholar

Herder, Hiawatha, Húrin, and Hobbits: Teaching Tolkien as a Romantic Nationalist

John William Houghton, Hill School

Kipling, Tolkien, and Romantic Anglo-Saxonism

Dimitra Fimi, Univ. of Wales Institute, Cardiff

Macpherson and Tolkien: A Tale of Two Legendariums

John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar

Rhetoric of the Rings: J.R R. Tolkien's Allegories of Reading

Craig Franson, La Salle Univ.

Th. May 12th

7.30 PM, FETZER 1055.

Session 148: Festive Video Game Workshop

[session contains one Tolkien-related presentation]

A Narrative of One's Own: Finding a Spot for Player Heroes in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

N. M. Heckel of the American Military University.

FRIDAY MAY 13th

10 AM, Schneider 210

Session 210: Scholar as Minstrel: Music and Tolkien

Presider: Keith W. Jensen, William Rainey Harper College

The Harmony of the Worlds and the Horn of Heimdal: Cosmological Music in Creation and Subcreation

Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.

The Three Greatest Minstrels in Middle-earth: Tolkien's Early Thoughts on Music and Power

Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

Swann's Songs: Tolkien's Clues To Tempo, Tone, and Tune in Middle-earth Music

John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville

CSI: Who Killed Cock Robin?

Jennifer Culver, Univ. of Texas–Dallas, and Lynn Payette, Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts

FRIDAY MAY 13th

1.30 PM, Schneider 1280

Session 264: Geography, Lands, Environments in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

"We Have Not Here a Lasting City": The Undying Lands and the Other Disappearing Landscapes of Arda

Jeffrey Pinyan, Independent Scholar

The Clay of Cataclysm: Graeco-Roman and Medieval Notions of Adaptation Present in the Building, Destruction, and Rebuilding of Middle-earth

James R. Vitullo, William Rainey Harper College

Geography's Grammar: A Stylistic Analysis of Middle-earth

Robin Anne Reid

Concerning Horses: Tolkien and Horses in the Legendarium

Janice M. Bogstad, Univ. of Wisconsin–Eau Claire

FRIDAY MAY 13th

3.30 PM, Schneider 1280

Session 322: Returning Heroes: Medieval and Modern in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College

Gandalf's Sojourn through Purgatory: Medieval and Modern Adventure?

Nicole Andel, Pennsylvania State Univ.

"Well, I'm Back": Tolkien's Return Song in Two Part Harmony

Vickie Holtz-Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

Point of No Return: The Scarred Homecoming in the Writing of J. R. R. Tolkien

Perry Harrison, Abilene Christian Univ.

Making Heroes: The Reception of Returning Soldiers in the Novels of J. R. R. Tolkien and Virginia Woolf

Margaret Sinex, Western Illinois Univ.

FRIDAY MAY 13th

7.30 PM, Fetzer 1010

TOLKIEN UNBOUND

Presider: Robin Anne Reid

(1) Maidens of Middle-earth

Eileen Marie Moore, Independent Scholar

(2) The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar; Deidre Dawson, Michigan State Univ.; Richard C. West, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dimitra Fimi, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff; and Deborah Webster Rogers, Independent Scholar

(3) Music Inspired by the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

(4) "Where Did Our Ring Go?": The Motown Tolkien

Mike Foster, Independent Scholar; Merlin DeTardo, Independent Scholar; Jo Foster, Independent Scholar; and Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College

SATURDAY MAY 14th

10 AM, Valley I 100

Session 351: Tolkien and the Medieval Mediterranean

Sponsor: UW (Madison) Department of Comparative Literature

Presider: Scott A. Mellor, UW

Gondor's Debt to Byzantium

Christopher Livanos

Crossing the Borders: Unconscious in Dante's Inferno, Tolkien's The Hobbit, and Wood and Burchielli's DMZ

Faith Portier

The Presence of the Middle East in The Lord of the Rings

Marryam Abdl-Haleem

10 AM, Schneider 1265

Session 380: Medievalist Fantasies of Christendom: The Use of the Medieval as Christian Apologetic in the Literature of the Inklings and Their Contemporaries

Presider: Cory Lowell Grewell, Thiel College

The Battle for Middle Earth: Medieval Fantasy of Christendom by a Modern Apologetic

Morgan Mayreis-Voorhis, Independent Scholar

Double Affirmation: Medieval Chronology, Geography, and Devotion in the Arthuriad of Charles Williams

Sorina Higgins, Lehigh Carbon Community College

The Polemical Other: Narnian Values and the Complicated Case of Calormen

Emanuelle Burton, Univ. of Chicago

Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins: Active Spiritual Warriors in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Emily E. Redman, Purdue Univ.

SATURDAY MAY 14th

12 noon, Bernhard: President's Dining Room

Tolkien at Kalamazoo

Business Meeting

Sunday, May 15

8:30 AM, Valley II 205

Session 517: C. S. Lewis: Rediscovering the Discarded Image I

Sponsor: C. S. Lewis Society, Purdue Univ. Organizer: Crystal Kirgiss, Purdue Univ.

Presider: Erin Kissick, Purdue Univ.

Refurbishing a Discarded Image: C. S. Lewis's Use of Spenser's Faerie Queene in That Hideous Strength

Paul R. Rovang, Edinboro Univ. of Pennsylvania

C. S. Lewis and the Narnian Cosmos: Re-envisioning the Discarded Image

Heather Herrick Jennings, Univ. of California–Davis

"The Discarded Image?" C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield on the Medieval Model

Edwin Woodruff Tait, Huntington Univ.

Sunday, May 15

10:30 AM, Valley II 205

Session 548: C. S. Lewis: Rediscovering the Discarded Image II

Sponsor: C. S. Lewis Society, Purdue Univ. Organizer: Crystal Kirgiss, Purdue Univ.

Presider: Jason Lotz, Purdue Univ.

"Use Your Specimens While You Can": Lewis the Medievalist, Lewis the Medieval

Jennifer Woodruff Tait, Huntington Univ.

The Intuitive Medievalism of C. S. Lewis

Chris R. Armstrong, Bethel Univ.

Lewis's Translation of Augustine on the Trinity

Charles Ross, Purdue Univ.

Farewell to Borders (Federal Way)

So, yesterday I was feeling under the weather (from the resurgence of last week's cold, which has me again in its grip) but, having stayed inside working on my Kalamazoo paper all Saturday and most of Sunday, was badly in need of an outing to stave off cabin fever. Just the night before I'd been looking up several things in James McKillop's wonderful OXFORD DICTIONARY OF CELTIC MYTHOLOGY, and noted that on the inside front cover where I sign and date my books I'd added a note to the effect that I'd bought this on Saturday July 26th 2003 on my first visit to the Borders in Federal Way, Janice having taken me there for a pokeabout when I was feeling sick.
Thus reminded, I thought it'd be a good idea to go down and poke around in the same bookstore's mythology section again and see what I might find, having had good luck there in the past,* followed by a work session at the nearby Starbucks. After all, this is one of my regular work-offsite spots: a pleasant drive down the West Valley Highway and Peasley Canyon Road, a browse in the bookstore and occasional purchase of a book or manga, followed by an hour or two's work in the Starbucks next door.
Accordingly, I got my laptop, some reference material I needed, and a thermos of tea to see me on the way down and back again. The drive down went smoothly, and the break from the books helped clear my head from the bits relating to the paper that had been going round and round all day, but when I arrived, I got a shock: the huge
STORE CLOSING
sign hanging out front.
Turns out it's all too true. Going inside, I found lots of people and a mostly empty store, with a '8 days till closing' sign hanging high and lots of '70% off' markers. Even the shelves and bookstands themselves were for sale.
Apparently this sale had been going on all month. Needless to say, I didn't find much. The manga section had been pretty well picked over. The mythology section simply no longer existed, and the same was true of the D&D shelves. What miscellaneous fantasy that remained didn't include anything that tempted me; the only book I almost bought was a new one called CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR, about the devastating effects of his India policy during World War II (the author blames him for three million deaths). This one looks interesting, but too far from my regular interest to buy; I may check it out from the library later on.
So, after sadly departing from a favorite store for the last time, it was over to the Starbucks for some tea and some work, after which I went back home for a few more hours' reading (taking lots of notes as I went as relevant for the paper). As once again the economy proves that 'too big to fail' really means only 'for now'.
--JDR
*I recall that on my second visit, I'd found THE BURNING OF BRIDGET CLEARY there.

Run-up to Kalamazoo

So, next week I head out for this year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. Here's a listing of the Tolkien Track events that I know of (there are usually one or two more papers/presentations on non-Tolkien-themed panels, and I haven't had time to comb through the program book's listings yet), including the two I'm taking part in.

THURSDAY MAY 12th10AMSession 7: In Honor of Jane Chance (Roundtable)

Presider: Gergely Nagy, Szegedi Tudományegyetem

A roundtable discussion with Deanne Delmar Evans, Bemidji State Univ.; Edward L. Risden, St. Norbert College ("Medieval Women, Its Impact on Medieval Studies and Medievalism"); Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ. ("Mythography and Middle-earth"); Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont ("A Hobbit Hole of One's Own: Identity, Gender, and Difference in Middle-earth Studies"); Verlyn Flieger, Univ. of Maryland; and Joe Ricke, Taylor Univ.

THURSDAY MAY 12th

1.30PM

Session 73: Languages in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Benjamin S. W. Barootes, McGill Univ.

The Pleasure and the Poetics of Translating Old Norse

Mary Faraci, Florida Atlantic Univ.

The Origins of the Name "Thrihyrne" in The Lord of the Rings in Relation to the Icelandic Sagas

Tsukusu Jinn Itó, Shinshu Daigaku

Dunlendish and Sindarin: Tolkien's Diptych of British-Welsh

Yoko Hemmi, Keio Univ.

THURSDAY MAY 12th

3.30PM

Session 120: Romantic Nationalism in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Douglas Anderson, Independent Scholar

Herder, Hiawatha, Húrin, and Hobbits: Teaching Tolkien as a Romantic Nationalist

John William Houghton, Hill School

Kipling, Tolkien, and Romantic Anglo-Saxonism

Dimitra Fimi, Univ. of Wales Institute, Cardiff

Macpherson and Tolkien: A Tale of Two Legendariums

John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar

Rhetoric of the Rings: J.R R. Tolkien's Allegories of Reading

Craig Franson, La Salle Univ.

FRIDAY MAY 13th

10 AM

Session 210: Scholar as Minstrel: Music and Tolkien

Presider: Keith W. Jensen, William Rainey Harper College

The Harmony of the Worlds and the Horn of Heimdal: Cosmological Music in Creation and Subcreation

Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.

The Three Greatest Minstrels in Middle-earth: Tolkien's Early Thoughts on Music and Power

Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

Swann's Songs: Tolkien's Clues To Tempo, Tone, and Tune in Middle-earth Music

John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville

CSI: Who Killed Cock Robin?

Jennifer Culver, Univ. of Texas–Dallas, and Lynn Payette, Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts

FRIDAY MAY 13th

1.30 PM

Session 264: Geography, Lands, Environments in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

"We Have Not Here a Lasting City": The Undying Lands and the Other Disappearing Landscapes of Arda

Jeffrey Pinyan, Independent Scholar

The Clay of Cataclysm: Graeco-Roman and Medieval Notions of Adaptation Present in the Building, Destruction, and Rebuilding of Middle-earth

James R. Vitullo, William Rainey Harper College

Geography's Grammar: A Stylistic Analysis of Middle-earth

Robin Anne Reid

Concerning Horses: Tolkien and Horses in the Legendarium

Janice M. Bogstad, Univ. of Wisconsin–Eau Claire

FRIDAY MAY 13th

3.30 PM

Session 322: Returning Heroes: Medieval and Modern in Tolkien's Legendarium

Presider: Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College

Gandalf's Sojourn through Purgatory: Medieval and Modern Adventure?

Nicole Andel, Pennsylvania State Univ.

"Well, I'm Back": Tolkien's Return Song in Two Part Harmony

Vickie Holtz-Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

Point of No Return: The Scarred Homecoming in the Writing of J. R. R. Tolkien

Perry Harrison, Abilene Christian Univ.

Making Heroes: The Reception of Returning Soldiers in the Novels of J. R. R. Tolkien and Virginia Woolf

Margaret Sinex, Western Illinois Univ.

FRIDAY MAY 13th

7.30 PM

TOLKIEN UNBOUND

Presider: Robin Anne Reid

(1) Maidens of Middle-earth

Eileen Marie Moore, Independent Scholar

(2) The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar; Deidre Dawson, Michigan State Univ.; Richard C. West, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dimitra Fimi, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff; and Deborah Webster Rogers, Independent Scholar

(3) Music Inspired by the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Brad Eden, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

(4) "Where Did Our Ring Go?": The Motown Tolkien

Mike Foster, Independent Scholar; Merlin DeTardo, Independent Scholar; Jo Foster, Independent Scholar; and Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College

SATURDAY MAY 14th

10 AM

Session 380: Medievalist Fantasies of Christendom: The Use of the Medieval as Christian Apologetic in the Literature of the Inklings and Their Contemporaries

Presider: Cory Lowell Grewell

The Battle for Middle Earth: Medieval Fantasy of Christendom by a Modern Apologetic

Morgan Mayreis-Voorhis, Independent Scholar

(the rest of this session consists of one paper on Wms' Arthuriad and two on Narnia)

SATURDAY MAY 14th

12 noon

Tolkien at Kalamazoo

Business Meeting

Is It Something In The Water?*

So, yesterday we had another shooting in Kent -- as in, a man waving around a gun was shot (and, in this case, killed) by Kent Police. This time it happened not near where we live, but instead about a block from where Janice works. I'm told news helicopters hovered over the area (Kent Station) afterwards. Here are three news stories about it:

(1) first, a v. brief notice that doesn't give much in the way of detail, other than to explain that this time it's the Federal Way police who'll investigate (since the Renton police are already doing oversight on the previous shooting here in Bayview).
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/27779215/detail.html

(2) next, from the local paper's website here's a detailed account of what happened, complete w. pictures:http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ken/news/121272214.html

(3) finally, here's what the Seattle Times has to say, including a lot of background about the man with the gun.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014957273_kentshooting05m.html

All in all, a sad story that looks like 'suicide by police', as it's sometimes called. I'd suspected last month's shooting to be along the same lines, but there the gunman survived. And, terrible though the incident is, at least no one else was hurt (bringing a loaded shotgun to a train station /transit center next to an open-air mall, a government office, and a community college is high on any list of Bad Ideas).
Too many guns. Too many guns in the hands of stressed out/crazy people.
--JDR
THE WIFE SAYS: The local Water Quality Report, which just arrived, says it's fine.

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day:

It's a terrible thing when the life you've led causes the whole world to celebrate your death.

--JDR

Festschrift for Walter Hooper

So, the latest new arrival -- again appearing on my doorstep only two days after being ordered* -- is C. S. LEWIS AND THE CHURCH: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF WALTER HOOPER, ed. Judith Wolfe & Brendan N. Wolfe, a collection of essays presented to Walter Hooper in honor of his eightieth birthday. I'd heard about this from Chris Mitchell while at Wheaton a few weeks back, although modestly enough he didn't tell me he was a contributor (other familiar names include James Como and Michael Ward).
Now that I have the book in hand, it looks to be an interesting collection. For one thing, it addresses an issue that Lewis scholarship has skirted for decades: CSL's affinities with specific denominations. Lewis himself adopted the pose that his was a 'mere' (essential) Xianity, though in practice this meant conservative Anglican. In his works he was on the whole pretty successful in avoiding taking up positions identified with specific branches of the Anglican communion: neither 'High Church' (Anglo-Catholic) nor 'Low Church' (the more evangelical part of the church, and the closest to what most of us wd call Protestant) and certainly not 'Broad Church' (those who wanted to modernize the church and its theology)-- these last being the group CSL utterly opposed. And yet while Lewis himself was indisputably Anglican, many of his most devoted readers are Roman Catholic or Fundamentalists. There have been a few attempts to look at Lewis's affinity or otherwise with one particularly denomination -- most notably Derrick's C. S. LEWIS & THE CHURCH OF ROME -- but on the whole it's been a topic everyone more or less agreed to de-emphasise, until now.
Of the essays, the Introduction is of immediate interest for its account of the summer when Hooper met Lewis. After that, when I come to read the book I'll probably start with the final section, a set of four essays looking at Lewis from the perspectives of Catholicism, the Orthodox Church, and Evangelicalism. I'm curious to see if it addresses a topic Hooper spoke about when I got to see him address the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society during my 2007 visit to the Bodleian: the fact that the audience Lewis originally wrote for, his fellow Anglicans, have by and large drifted away, while he's acquired a whole new audience, mainly Evangelicals, in America.
In the meantime, here's my own little tribute to Hooper, written as part of an 'Encomium for Walter Hooper' at the time he was presented with the Wade's Lifetime Achivement award (October 2009):

How pleasant to meet Walter Hooper

Whose editing work has been super

-lative. Eight thousand pages

Of the Magdalen sage's

Thoughts on paper, now preserved for the ages.

But oh how pleasant to sit over tea

And talk of good books and of good company

He, with his "soft-spoken Southern courtesy"**

And I, with ears wide open.

--JDR

*ordered M.4/25, arrived W.4/27 -- amazon's really on the ball these days**the phrase is Tolkien's

A Neighborhood Meltdown (Follow-up)

So, a month or so back I posted about a shooting here in Bayview. Details at the time were sketchy, though disturbing. Now that a little more time has passed, Janice pointed out to me one follow-up article that I wd otherwise have missed. Even though it's from a few weeks ago, I thought I'd share:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/articl...


Aside from the usual inaccuracy of detail to which journalism is inevitably prone, given the haste and immediacy w. wh. it must be written -- e.g., there's no "gazebo" in Bayview, so presumably this took place where I'd suspected, down by the arbor/trellis near the first set of mailboxes within sight of the Bayview entrance -- this does add a good amount of information. First, that the person shot of indeed a fellow Bayview resident. Second, that even though he was shot multiple times and rushed to Harborview (where all the most critical flight-for-life cases go), he must be doing much better, since within a matter of three weeks or so he was transferred from the hospital to a jail. Third, it's scary to think that in addition to the AK-47 he was carrying at the time he also had half a dozen back-up guns and 1700 bullets.
1700 bullets?
Why on earth wd anyone need a stockpile of 1700 bullets?
Finally, I find it odd that he's being charged with "Assault", when he's the one that got shot. I'd have expected some such charge as Reckless Endangerment or Attempted Homicide. Strange are the ways of our legal system.
But while I feel bad for the guy who got shot, and for the policeman who shot him, I feel most for the other neighbor, the one whose window got shot out. Not a happy thought.
--JDR

NorWesCon, Part II

[PART TWO]More specifically, the second panel of the day: RETURN TO MIDDLE EARTH IN 2011 (2 pm), focusing in on Peter Jackson's HOBBIT. Unfortunately the Moderator didn't show up, and this panel really needed one to keep them focused. As it was, we all proved that everyone in the room, panelist and audience alike, were well-stocked-up on internet rumors and perfectly willing to share them. I came away from it an hour later no wiser than before, though in the meantime I'd heard much speculation, been presented with one "inside scoop" that was wildly implausible, and been really, really annoyed by some idiot's frustration that, as she put it, she cdn't have any Silm. movies "until Christopher Tolkien croaks"* -- one panelist mildly demurred that, all things considered, we owed CT quite a lot; I'd have preferred to see her boo'd out of the room. Oh well. The one interesting idea to take away from the event, I thought, was the observation by one panelist (named Chris Nilsson) that in THE HOBBIT Bilbo is v. good w. words, and often able to talk people out of things or establish friendly relations through speaking w. those he encounters. Don't think I've seen that pt made in quite that way before, so that's an idea to remember.
After that, it was back to dealer's room, where I got to see Bruce again and meet his friend Tori, who seems v. nice; we reminisced about my having edited Bruce's v. first roleplaying design, the excellent GATES OF FIRESTORM PEAK. Much to my surprise, while we were chatting I was hailed by my friend Miranda,** whom I was v. glad to see; hadn't even known she was in town. Caught up on some of her news while doing some browsing; she bought a sort of Edward Gorey tarot and I picked up two books: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MEET CTHULHU by Rachel Gray (no doubt full of amusingly futile advice) and THE SECRET HISTORY OF FANTASY, ed Peter S. Beagle -- this latter for its introduction*** and afterwords, which tie in nicely w. a project I started on back in 1983 but had to abandon in late '86 and may still someday return to. The same booth also had some Discworld and Doctor Who dvds and a dvd of THE GREEN SLIME, one of the worst science fiction movies ever made (and the obvious source for one of D&D's most iconic monsters). I also ran into Erik, and we chatted about various early science fiction/fantasy authors, this being a shared common interest between us (though he tends more to the science fiction and I more to the fantasy end).
Then it was over to the final panel of the day: IS TABLETOP GAMING DEAD? **** (4pm) w. Jeff Grubb, Sean Reynolds (another ex-TSR/WotC friend), Erik, Jeff Combos, and Jeremy (whose had been at the lunch, but whose last name I didn't catch) -- these last two actually NOT being ex-fellow employees of mine from TSR or WotC days. Having immediately settled the official question ("NO"), they shifted into matters such as 'why do people think it is?', to which Jeff G. suggested it was the number of classic/golden age rpg companies that'd been bought out (WotC, White Wolf) or shut down (West End, Iron Crown, FASA) or faded into insignificance over the past ten or fifteen years, with Paiso being one of the few to rise to major-player stature in recent years. The loss of a lot of independent gaming stores, I suspect, is another element, though this did not come up per se. The best comment of the panel I don't seem to have written down, but it was the assertion (by Jeff G., I think) that rpgs have a distinctive quality that can't be reproduced by any other type of game; therefore those who like it continue to like it; it's a lifelong hobby, not a passing fad.
Afterwards, on my way back to dealers' room I was hailed by Dan'l Kaufman, another ex-WotC friend who I usually see about once a year at GwenCon (where we're going to run across one another now that GwenCon has run its course, don't know -- NorWesCon, perhaps); got to meet several of his friends and learn about their video parody project. Then made my final swing through the book room, resisted temptation, and ending by collecting my LAND OF LEGEND Tolkien goodies and departing around five thirty.
After that came a long-delayed meal, a quiet evening, some reading, some poking about online, and now this. All in all, a pleasant day, seeing a lot of friends I haven't seen in far too long. Maybe next year I'll alternate it with SAKURACON -- if I find a way to avoid spending 3+ hours in the registration line, like last time.


--JDR-------------------------*not only was it stunningly rude, but the self-evident stupidity of the remark entirely escaped her -- as if we'd even HAVE a published SILMARILLION without Christopher. Gah!**another ex-TSR/ex-WotC, and one of the best editors that department at WotC ever had.***which praises both Bellairs and Hughart -- both of whom authored works I rank among the all-time ten best fantasy novels.****e.g., D&D, CALL OF CTHLUHU, &c. -- so-called here to distinguish them from computer games.

NorWesCon, Part I

So, today was NorWesCon. AND Sakuracon. And all on a weekend when I'm buried in proofreading.
Not having been to NorWesCon in years (I think the last time was to see Ryan Dancey & Cindi Rice on some panels throwing out teasers about the forthcoming D&D 3e -- i.e. in 2001), and having fond memories of their book room (where I picked up one or two original Arkham House Clark Ashton Smiths on previous visits), I decided to take Saturday off and go, and work through the Sunday instead. Janice, having been indoors all week, decided to pass on spending the day in windowless rooms inside a crowded hotel. So she dropped me off and then picked me up at the end of the day.
I didn't get an early start, but arrived in time for a first poke into the book room, wh. turned out to be almost entirely crafts, w. a few excellent non-craft book/videos/game-related booths among the wilderness. Did find a table with a v. old LotR boardgame from LAND OF LEGEND,* called QUEST OF THE MAGIC RING. I'd seen in their mail-order list years and years ago but never been able to afford back in 1977-78; bought this at once and asked them to put behind the counter for me until later today. Looks as if it were both designed and illustrated by the same person, one W. Hill, whose work I don't otherwise know. One oddity is that while clearly a licensed product and Bakshi-movie tie-in, the box cover is careful to genericize its Tolkien details (e.g., "A Game of Adventure in Mythical Earth", rather than Middle Earth"). Another oddity is that the cover art showing the Fellowship in Moria has one extra hobbit amongst their number -- a presage of Odo, perhaps? Or maybe Gollum was better at disguise than we thought . . . I also got, from the same place, two press releases, one promoting the movie and the other announcing Heritage Model's new LotR line -- some of which I've had since I first started playing D&D, although now in rather battered condition from many years' use. And I also picked up three minis, one of which was clearly Bakshi's Gandalf.
The first panel I went to, at noon, was CRUNCH VS. FLUFF, w. Jeff Grubb, Stan Brown, Bruce Cordell, Erik Mona, Jonathan Tweet, and Jason Bulmahn -- all but last of whom are former co-workers of mine from WotC days. I sat w. Logan Bonner (lead author of the excellent project I'm currently proofreading, as it happens) and enjoyed the discussion. My own view is that just as I enjoy having both a left hand and a right hand, so too I enjoy having both rules and story in a game -- it's not a roleplaying game without the presence of both. In the best games, the two make for a unified experience (e.g., CALL OF CTHLUHU, PENDRAGON); in poorly designed games one or the other dominates. Jonathan made the interesting claim that all the rules in 2nd edition AD&D involved combat and virtually none related to role-playing. The question I'd like to have asked but didn't (since the session was winding down) is how alignment played into this -- since alignment, as a core concept in 1st edition AD&D (still my all-time favorite roleplaying game), drive roleplaying and story without directly affecting combat. In fact it cd be said that the AD&D alignment rules, which can have a huge impact on what happens during the game, are entirely story-focused in their effect.
Afterwards, I got to visit a little w. Bruce, whom I'd not seen in far too long, and caught up on his news a little. Then I joined a group for lunch that included about half of the aforementioned panelists, myself and Logan, and several others I didn't know, but service was so slow that I had to leave before anything arrived (other than some mango tea, which I drank piping hot). Good conversation, though; wish I cd have stayed longer, but Tolkien was calling . . .
--JDR

.................................*The folks from whom I ordered my copy of THE SILMARILLION, if memory serves