Unboxing Parma Eldaliéva Special II by Elmenel I am certainly not used to doing these things, as you can surely see from this video, but I found that this book is worth trying it out for. The book is Parma Eldaliéva Special II by Elmenel – Tsvetelina. I believe that her work deserves a larger audience, not just to be seen by many, but also to be bought by many. There is something exceedingly satisfying about having these red books on your shelf, knowing that such a level of beauty is awaiting inside. The magic, the enchantment, of Tolkien's fiction is in his words. It is the wo ..read more

Re-reading this post before publishing it, I find that it appears a bit rambling or unstructured, but I haven't been able to do much to improve on it. I suspect that this is, at least partially, a result of trying to express some views that, while deeply felt, I haven't had much occasion to express in a coherent manner. If true, that could probably also explain why I have felt the need to resort to concrete examples to explain what I mean.  I have, on this blog, already tried to indicate that I support the efforts of the Tolkien Society to open the society to be more inclusive of voices ..read more

I have been wanting to post more about the 2021 Tolkien Society Seminar on “Tolkien and Diversity” (I started writing “Diversity and Inclusion” ... that'd be my Scouting & Guiding background ?), but time has been scarce over the past few weeks for me to be able to say something coherent on this topic prior to the start of the seminar. So, I will start out with a link to the programme of the “Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021” Due to family planning, I have been unable to follow the first papers until the break, where I had particularly looked forward to the paper by Sara Brown. Alas! The ..read more

First: crikey! Has it really been nearly three years since my last post ...! Sorry! ? What prompts me to write at this point is seeing reactions to the announcement of the speakers for the 2021 Tolkien Society Seminar on “Tolkien and Diversity”. Now, let me be honest with you from the outset: it is very few (less than an handful) of the papers that I would, personally, be interested in attending, but that is really besides the point here. Or perhaps it is actually precisely the point, because even if I am not necessarily personally interested in the individual papers, I am truly happy that the ..read more

January 2017These monthly introductions have become an outlet for my feelings of having too much to do – to some extent as an explanation of delays and reduced commentary. As can be seen, I am now (albeit slowly) catching up with respect to the delays, which is certainly a relief (and due to a general lightening of loads compared to the latter half of 2016). The commentary is still light as I am unable to read through all items (and a number of them I simply include because they look interesting), and this is likely to continue for quite a while. Therefore I continue to make disclaimers regar ..read more

December 2016 Happy New Year! Yup, I know: I'm late ... again. Still, not as much as last month, and things are looking up, and I am now gnawing away slowly at the backlog – the ‘Mountain of Neglects’, as I joined Brenton Dickieson in quoting Tolkien last month. There are still old neglects to catch up on, but they are fewer than they were. Some of the artworks this month show that I often like my illustrations to try out new routes; to add something new to our perception of Tolkien's work, even if – and perhaps particularly if – it doesn't fit withour usual perceptions or (to be honest) with ..read more

November 2016I will start this month with a post that I felt that I could have written myself, except for the details of the neglects Brenton Dickieson, Tuesday, 22 November 2016, ‘Battling a Mountain of Neglects with J.R.R. Tolkien’ The fact that it is (at the point of writing this) less than a week until Christmas is, I suppose, telling of my own situation. I have often enough thought of Tolkien's letters when writing these introductions, and Dickieson's clever use of Tolkien's phrase, and his elegant weaving together of his own situation and Tolkien's struck me as particularly apt. For this ..read more

October 2016There is nothing new, really. Except, perhaps, that I have managed (apparently without any permanent injury) to pass, as my children lovingly remind me, a farthing score decades …. Personally I like the slow polysyllabic distinguishedness to semicentenarian :) Tolkien obviously featured on my wish list, and my own present for myself, Jenny Dolfen's brilliant Songs of Sorrow and Hope arrived just a few days after, with more to appear at a later date. My pre-order of the second edition of Scull & Hammond's J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide probably being last to arrive as it wil ..read more

August 2016I had these transactions something like 80% done before going to Oxonmoot, but couldn't get the last bit finished due to my other preparations. Now, however, I wish to get it out – to get it off my mind, so that I can work on other things (such as e.g. a report from my first Oxonmoot). This means that most entries will appear without commentary, and that there will be things I ignore simply because I haven't the time to dig out all my notes (if anything important turns up later, I will of course include it in a later issue). All the usual disclaimers apply about newness, completene ..read more

July 2016As you will see below, July has been a deliciously busy month with conferences and interesting papers coming up. And due to the summer holiday season in Denmark, I've been able to keep up better than usual. As I can see that the end of August and start of September is going to be quite busy for me, I had better warn that the next transactions may end up being somewhat delayed. If I haven't posted when I take off for Oxonmoot on the 8th, there is a good chance that I'll merge the August and September issues ... These transactions are posted on my blog, Parma-kenta (Enquiry into the ..read more