New Challenge: Crossroads of the Fallen King
Cross "The Silmarillion" with a second text or fandom in this month's crossover challenge.
SWG News
A Sense of History: Thálatta! Thálatta!
While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
New Challenge: Tengwar
Each day for thirty-six days, we feature a randomly chosen letter from the Tengwar as a prompt.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Tengwar: To The Letter by cuarthol
For the Tengwar prompt challenge.
All 36 prompts plus bonus chapter
[Writing] A blip on the radar by daughterofshadows
Humanity took to the skies. Eärendil and Ilmarë adjust.
[Writing] History abandons us by AdmirableMonster
During his incarceration in Roderick Burgess' basement, Dream receives a strange, ancient visitor.
[Writing] Tengwar Acrostics by Himring
Responses to the Tengwar Challenge in which first letters spell out the name of a tengwa.
1) Early Encounter (Nerdanel, Indis)
2) Numenorean Lullaby (Almarian, Aldarion)
[Writing] Tengwar Drabbles by cílil
A collection of Silmarillion-centric drabbles written for the Tengwar Challenge. Short and sweet!
[Writing] If i get home before daylight by BloodwingBlackbird
a traveler meets a stranger at a crossroads.
Current Challenge
Crossroads of the Fallen King
Create a fanwork that crosses with a second text or fandom. Read more ...
Tengwar
A daily prompt of a Tengwar letter per day. Read more ...
Random Challenge
New in References
Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook
[]While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
[]
With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]In a book as full of death as the Quenta Silmarillion, grief and mourning are surprisingly absent. The characters who receive grief and mourning—and those who don't—appear to do so due to narrative bias. Grief and mourning (or a lack of them) serve to draw attention toward and away from objectionable actions committed by characters.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Waybread (The Waybredlik) by Himring
[]Lembas speaks out.
[Series] Apr 1st Stories by Uvatha the Horseman
[]Once a year on April 1st, a canon character from LOTR or the Silmarillion gets pranked.
[Writing] Crossing Forest River by Dawn Felagund
[]Bilbo recounts, in verse, the attempt of Gandalf, Beorn, and him to cross the Forest River after the Battle of Five Armies. Written for the Hungarian Tolkien Society's 2024 Mailing Competition.
Around the World and Web
Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands
Mythcon 53 will be held 2-5 August 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the theme "Fantasies of the Middle Lands."
Teitho May/June Challenge: Joker
For the May/June Teitho challenge, you can pick ANY of our past challenges that stir your imagination and write a story or create art for it.
Monstrous May 2024
Monstrous May is a Tumblr event where, for each day of the month of May, there is a prompt involving and invoking the monstrous.
Fellowship of the Fics: Modern AU May
During May, Fellowship of the Fics offers modern AU prompt lists for setting, character occupation, and dialogue on Tumblr.
May challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The May challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic challenge: name; formal challenge: acrostic. As usual, these can be filled independently and freely combined with other prompts such as the SWG challenges. New participants welcome!
To Whom It May Concern by Anne Wolfe
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Chapter Two
To Whom It May Concern
Chapter Two
A Farm in Oklahoma
“Arrgh!” Inside her bedroom, Ethel mashed random keys on her laptop. “Why! Won’t! It! Sound! Right!”
She glanced at the time. Five-thirty. She had half an hour left until dinner. Only one hour she had needed to unpack, but three hours had not sufficed to give I Have Found a Silmaril - Inquire Inside the proper feel. It was short enough, too. So much grief over so small a thing.
“Bother it all,” she muttered for the forty-seventh time since she had found that thing. “I’m not writing some sort of full-blown business letter, I don’t have enough information for that… Well, better slightly inaccurate formality than flippancy. Draft eight… no, draft three… no, draft eight.” That second paragraph still seemed off… No, no second thoughts allowed. The Important Persons probably had senses of humor anyway, especially when the jokester was willing to work with them.
The eighth draft of I Have Found a Silmaril - Inquire Inside went something like this.
To whom it may concern:
The writer of this letter has found one (1) of the objects known as Silmarils. The writer of this letter wishes to return this object to its rightful hereditary owner; thus, if that rightful hereditary owner shall see this letter, it shall be that rightful hereditary owner’s duty to contact the writer of this letter. The two parties will then decide on a meeting ground where the transfer of the property will take place.
If one who is not the rightful hereditary owner of the discussed object shall read this letter and that person shall attempt to retrieve the discussed object, it shall be understood that that person deserves what is coming to him.
-TheStubbornestShoelace
þÞþÞþ
A/N So in all seriousness, just pm me if you’re interested. ;)
Reviews will be rewarded with virtual peanut butter cookies, or sugar cookies if you’re allergic.
See y’all next fic!
Ethel squinted at the screen for 4.53 seconds, had second thoughts, and deleted the bit about fraudulent claimants deserving what they got. She posted it, and the click of her mouse rang like a death-knell in her ears.
Ethel peeked out the window, hoping all the combined armies of the remaining elves wouldn’t be converging on her parents’ property en masse. Well, realistically, that would probably only be about ten elves, maybe twenty. If she, Mom, and Dad each had guns, and they fired at a rate of one per minute, and she allowed them to all miss every other shot, and they saw the elves coming from at least… fourteen miles away-- Oh, good grief. She’d just put out as open an invitation for peaceful negotiation as she had the resources to. She didn’t need to make battle plans.
Besides, considering the property, thick with all the trees Dad could get to grow, no one would see any hostile forces coming until those forces got to the lawn. Bother it all.
Ten minutes remained until dinner-time. She looked under her bed. No wildlife save a wayward cricket and a few lovestruck moths disturbed the Silmaril, safe in its Tupperware box.
She poked it a bit closer to the wall.
An absurd amount of caution? Almost certainly; Beren hadn’t had any troubles until Carcharoth got involved, and Ethel had never killed anything more sentient than deer. But there had been wars, and thousands of people had died, and at least she ought to respect the things. In any event she didn’t want to try to explain it all to Mom and Dad.
Nudging a few of the crickets’ deceased brethren out of her path, Ethel started the walk to the bathroom, her heart thudding all the while.
