Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[Child of the 7th Age]

This review is a little more even handed:

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2...urce=whitelist

I came away from "The Children of Húrin" with a renewed appreciation for the fact that Tolkien's overarching narrative is much more ambiguous in tone than is generally noticed. As has been much discussed, he was a devout Catholic who tried, with imperfect success, to harmonize the swirling pagan cosmology behind his imaginative universe with a belief in Christian salvation. Salvation feels a long way off in "The Children of Húrin." What sits in the foreground is that persistent Tolkienian sense that good and evil are locked in an unresolved Manichaean struggle with amorphous boundaries, and that the world is a place of sadness and loss, whose human inhabitants are most often the agents of their own destruction.

[davem]

For those still waiting, Amazon.co.uk have the whole of Chapter 1 here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.h...d_i=0007246226

[davem]

Potter slain by Black Sword:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/art...060084,00.html

[davem]

http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/en...o_middle_.html

Endicott contributor Howard Gayton posed for the hero in the book's cover painting by Alan Lee. (He stood in my garden holding a broom for a sword and looking noble while Alan took photographs for visual reference.)

[davem]

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/in...lling-wizards/

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/r...of-hurin_N.htm

[Bêthberry]

Wonderful links, Child and davem.

I can't help but wonder about the number of them. Have all these sites and sources decided that the book really will be big and are they trying to get on top of the buzz? On the other hand, part of me--and sorry if this sounds terribly cynical--wonders if all these reports are part of a huge marketing campaign by HarperCollins.

For instance, my local newspaper was actually part of a contest with HarperCollins: the first 100 people who replied to an email contest (to win a trip for two to "Middle-earth", aka New Zealand) would receive a free copy of the book. Was this common with other newspapers or just something conceived locally?

Major book reviews come out on the weekend here, so I have my eye out for that. If CoH isn't reviewed, what would that mean?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Is my mind slipping, or is this new version the first time Gwindor's loss of a hand has been mentioned?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Wonderful links, Child and davem.

I can't help but wonder about the number of them. Have all these sites and sources decided that the book really will be big and are they trying to get on top of the buzz? On the other hand, part of me--and sorry if this sounds terribly cynical--wonders if all these reports are part of a huge marketing campaign by HarperCollins.

Yes http://www.thebookseller.com/control/?p=6&a=36306

HarperCollins will be advertising the book in Earls Court around the London Book Fair, and working in partnership with the Telegraph over the weekend of 21st and 22nd April. The Telegraph partnership will include full-page advertorials, ad placements throughout the whole newspaper, and a competition to "return to Middle-earth" by winning a trip to New Zealand. This will be supported by a month-long campaign on the Telegraph website, that includes a specially created Tolkien microsite, run-of-site advertising, advertorials, downloads and interviews.

Publicity will see a slew of reviews, features and interviews, including a major feature in the Sunday Times Culture magazine the weekend before launch, and interviews on news programmes giving the story behind the new book.

HarperCollins is also planning blanket targeting of the online Tolkien fan base through promotions with key fansites, search portals and social network sites, and a bespoke online PR campaign. There will be a dedicated website at www.tolkien.co.uk.

An all-day event at Waterstone's Piccadilly will launch the book, attended by the author's grandson, Adam Tolkien, and featuring a talk by Alan Lee. A leading "Lord of the Rings" actor will read extracts from the new book, and characters from "The Lord of the Rings" stage show will also be present. Lee will be giving talks and signing books at selected bookshops around publication as well.

Inevitable. Tolkien is both Harper Collins & Houghton Mifflin's 'star' apparently. They need to sell CoH big time.

Look at Bloomsbury's profits for last year - down 75% just because there was no Harry Potter book out. What happens to them when the HP saga concludes?