New Challenge: Bollywood
This month's challenge offers songs, films, and tropes from Bollywood, the world's largest film industry based out of India, as prompts for fanworks.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data provides insight into how comments benefit authors and which authors are most impacted by a lack of comments, with a digression on authors' perspectives one-click feedback like kudos.
A Sense of History: Passing Ships
As Tolkien's characters in various texts gaze out to the sea, what do they see? What is brought by the ships coming out of the West?
Beta-Reader List Now Available
The beta-reader list and profiles have been moved into our new system and are available again.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] No Time Have I by Flora-lass
A Silmarillion acrostic.
[Writing] I called it Fate that I should fail by AdmirableMonster
Nimruzimir, a natural philosopher recently out of his apprenticeship, hardly considers himself very important to anyone, least of all his colleagues. When his strange, prophetic fits bring him to the attention of the High Priest, however, he may find that his existence is less superfluous than…
[Writing] All of you by chrissystriped
Elrond and Celebrían celebrate their anniversary with their family.
[Writing] Lament for the Singer by daughterofshadows
A short thing about Maglor, death and grieving.
[Writing] Cosmological Poems of Arda by AaronAzrael
I would like to share my revelations of Tolkien's Universe in the form of narrative and emotional poems.
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously…
[Artwork] Map of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Season's Greetings
Create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. Read more ...
New in References
Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that authors view comments as driving their motivation to create fanfiction. However, perception of comments by authors is part of a larger shift in fandom around how and how often fans interact with each other.
Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook
[]The arrival and departure of ships across the Great Sea carries mythic significance for the peoples of Middle-earth. The image of ships crossing out of and back into a mysterious West appears as well in Beowulf and is alluded to in Tolkien's tower analogy in his lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," where the tower allows those who climb it to observe the passage of the ships.
Fanfiction and the Serious Business of Writer's Craft by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that while most authors self-identify as taking their craft seriously, a growing subset of authors may be pushing that norm.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Staging a Battle by StarSpray
[]He and Diamond were visiting, though Pippin had been disappearing every afternoon, and taking Frodo and Elanor and most other lads and lasses in the neighborhood with him—though why they couldn’t use Pippin’s own pony, Sam couldn’t imagine.
[Writing] From whose bourn no traveller returns by losselen
[]So gathered they were to Bree, what lieutenants who could be spared, from their scattered watches west and east, for their chieftain had returned from his long sojourn in lands godless and mountains strange.
Aragorn returns from the South to tells his tales. Halbarad listens.
[Writing] Sand Sorcery by StarSpray
[]It is well known that Psamathos does not leave his cove. He does not like to get his feet wet, and prefers to spend his days dozing under the sun.
Around the World and Web
Fellowship of the Fics: Summer Stories 2024
Fellowship of the Fics offers four weeks of summer-themed prompts during the month of July.
Elrond Week 2024
Elrond Week is a fandom event dedicated to Elrond Peredhel that will run from July 10th to July 16th on Tumblr.
July challenge at tolkienshortfanworks posted
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for July has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. The thematic challenge is: original character or unnamed canon character; the formal challenge: fixed length of multiple of 50 words. New participants welcome.
July 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers and proposals in July 2024.
Teitho June/July Challenge: Mentor
The June/July prompt for the Teitho challenge is "mentor" and invites fanworks about this relationship in Tolkien's works.
A Kinslayer and A Queen by LadyBrooke
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Chapter 1
“If you are smart, you will take your children and head east.”
“And why would I do that?” she asked, dropping her hands from the harp and glancing up at him. “There is no one in the east I know who would greet my arrival.”
“Because however good your disguise of your sons, they do not hide the fact that they are twins nearly as well as you need them to and your daughter speaks only of the splendors of Doriath, including its treasury.” Amras sat down. “It is not that hard to discover who they are
“I do not know what you mean.” She met his gaze and smiled. “Surely you do not believe we are the elves that have forsaken the King of Doriath?”
“I believe that only the Queen of Doriath would be brazen enough to deny such a fact to a Kinslayer in the face of such evidence,” he said.
“And if such were true, why would a Kinslayer tell a Queen to flee with her children, instead of keeping her to bargain with?” She did not glance away. “What reason would you have to warn her, son of Fëanor?”
“My brothers are driven mad by Dior’s actions, and I cannot predict what they would do if they were the Kinslayer involved,” Amras answered. “But I do not believe that Dior would bargain for you now, if he would not listen to your advice when you resided with him and asked him to give away the Silmaril for the safety of your children. And I would not see children dead or hostages when nothing can be gained from it.”
She nodded. “Perhaps it would be safer to leave no matter who we are.”
“Take two of the pack horses in the stable for your belongings,” Amras responded. “We will have less need of them after our attack, I expect.”
“You realize I could warn them there will be an attack?”
“You could, but your children would likely be killed for your attempt to warn them of something everyone knows is coming.”
“How long do we have?” Nimloth asked, standing with her harp.
“Caranthir arrives in two days. The rest follow shortly behind him, and you need to be gone before Curufin or Celegorm arrive at the latest.”
“We will be gone by the morning.” She paused. “I wish I could hope for your safe return from battle.”
“I wish you could as well.” Amras smiled. “I hope for your safe journey to the east.”
Nimloth bowed her head before leaving.
