Drawing inspiration from Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle," this post reflects on the tension between personal achievement and mentoring in academia. Austin Young Shull argues that interactions with students, often seen as interruptions, are essential to his vocation as a scientist and professor. This re-framing reveals how contributions to others' success expand one's calling beyond individual work.| vocation matters
Moria: Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring 2E recently won Gold for Product of the Year in the 2025 ENNIES. I am interested in TTRPGs based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I thought it would be interesting for me to look into how Moria has been represented in roleplaying games. | Rise Up Comus
A happy birthday month to my father! I just recently recovered a box of his Tolkien materials and discovered an essay he wrote 32 years ago. Did some quick speech-to-text reading, some edits, and a…| DREAMING DRAGONSLAYER
FYI: Out on the 17th, just prior to Hobbit Day (Sep 22nd, Bilbo/Frodo's birthday), is The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, a hefty 3-volume (!) set collecting much, but not all (!), of Tolkien's poetry:| ZENOPUS ARCHIVES
I was the deputy chair of Westmoot, the Tolkien Society’s recent event in the United States. This is the closing address that I gave for the event!| Luke Shelton PhD
Separamos alguns dos clássicos de George R.R. Martin, criador do universo de Game of Thrones e House of Dragon! De Tolkien a Conan Doyle, o autor é um grande leitor […] O post Os clássicos de George R.R. Martin apareceu primeiro em Antofágica.| Antofágica
“Eärendil was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien; he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in” There are two stories that were big inspirations for Union. One was Dune and the other was the Silmarillion. In the game you start with an end point, a singular character who did something important, […]| ars ludi
Somewhere on reddit recently, I saw someone casually mention the different types of fantasy implied by The Hobbit vs Lord of the Rings. And it set my mind spinning on isolating and bringing forth the world of The Hobbit's Wilderland.| Mythlands: The Setting to End All Settings
It’s time to address the Mumak in the Room… The Card Game Cooperative has always been a fairly laid-back Podcast (except for when James is on one of his rants…) we never had a strict release schedule, preferring just to record as-and-when we could. That said, as-and-when is becoming a lot less frequent. Since weContinue reading "Into the West"| The Card Game Cooperative
There has been a trend over the past year in which small conferences promote their registration or their call for submissions by claiming that they are seeking to reinvigorate or reanimate a field of scholarship that is on the wane. For instance, one such conference claimed that: 2023 is a significant turning point in Tolkien … Continue reading Promoting a Scholarly Tolkien Event or Book? First, Do Your Homework!| Luke Shelton PhD
We have finally had the perfect opportunity to sit down with our good friend Tom Hillman! Longtime friend of the hosts and supporter of Tolkien Experience Tom Hillman is finally on the podcast! Tom was the first person to submit hs Tolkien Experience Project entry, and we thought that the publication of his book later … Continue reading TEP #54 — Tom Hillman| Luke Shelton PhD
We start our newest season with an interview with a well-established artist: Donato Giancola! Donato has been an avid fan of Tolkien’s work for a long time and creates artwork based on Tolkien’s world when he gets the chance. Known for his work on Magic the Gathering, modern science fiction and fantasy covers, and a … Continue reading TEP #53 — Donato Giancola| Luke Shelton PhD
This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien fan. To see the idea behind this project, or if you are interested in sharing your own, visit the project homepage. If you enjoy this series, please … Continue reading Ofer Zivony’s Experience –Tolkien Experience (216)| Luke Shelton PhD
For this episode, we were excited to welcome the president of Tolkiendil, the French Tolkien society: Laura Martin-Gomez! Laura received her PhD in 2020, and her research interests include fandom studies and Tolkien’s texts. Her thesis examined fan groups in the US, UK, and France to parse out the similarities and differences in these groups … Continue reading TEP #52 — Laura Martin-Gomez| Luke Shelton PhD
This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien fan. To see the idea behind this project, or if you are interested in sharing your own, visit the project homepage. If you enjoy this series, please … Continue reading K. A. Montinola’s Experience — Tolkien Experience Project (215)| Luke Shelton PhD
For this episode, we were honored to welcome a very influential figure in the Tolkien fandom: Brian Sibley! Brian is the recipient of the Tolkien Society’s award for Outstanding Contribution in 2022. He is an honorary member of the society, and is perhaps best known to the Tolkien community because of the radio adaptation of … Continue reading TEP #51 — Brian Sibley| Luke Shelton PhD
This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien fan. To see the idea behind this project, or if you are interested in sharing your own, visit the project homepage. If you enjoy this series, please … Continue reading Tim Henne’s Experience — Tolkien Experience Project (214)| Luke Shelton PhD
This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien fan. To see the idea behind this project, or if you are interested in sharing your own, visit the project homepage. If you enjoy this series, please … Continue reading Mike Leister’s Experience — Tolkien Experience Project (213)| Luke Shelton PhD
This Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kindle edition of this recent publication on astronomical phenomena in "The #Hobbit" and other works by #Tolkien can be downloaded for free: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07BCK9FNT | Lalaith's Middle-earth Science Pages
I’ve just written a little article for Pen to Print’s Write On! magazine on the pitfalls faced by sci-fi writers, but also writers in general. We tend to think that writing the future is unproblematic, because the future is a blank canvas, where anything can happen. We don’t have to worry about historical inaccuracy or […]| Gareth Southwell
Recently I have been on a Tolkien movie fest. First watching “the Hobbit” series and now getting stuck into “Lord of the rings”. It’s not first time I’ve watched them, I’ve watched them…| JMJ Williamson
A while ago I speculated aloud on the idea of a subtle, non-imposing and (hopefully) non-awful framework for setting several game worlds in a shared context – in this case, planets in a shared galaxy or system or whatever. The idea still looms in the back of my mind, and two gamed-in worlds have already […]| Augury Ignored
"When a lady complained to Whistler that she did not see the world he painted, he is said to have replied: 'No, ma'am, but don't you wish you could?'"Owen Barfield, Saving the Appearances| Save The Phenomena
"Our physical body and our generative powers relate to the physical world; with the astral body and the ego we enter a totally different world every night, and initially this has extraordinarily little to do with the world in which we are awake during the day. The two worlds really only work together in so far as they are brought together in the human realm."| Save The Phenomena
J. R. R. Tolkien is the type specimen for good worldbuilding. He used his expertise in linguistics and medieval poetry to invent new languages, then built a world around those languages, then wrote stories in that world. I have always loved Tolkien and so he should have a place in my discussions of world building.| The Chaostician
