It is with great sadness that we report that longtime SWG author and the friend of so many of us, Keiliss, passed away from cancer on August 11.

In the day since, many have shared their memories of Kei. She was a leader in the Tolkien fandom, modding the Slashy exchanges for many years. She was one of the original SWG members who joined seventeen years ago, when we were still just a Yahoo! Group and an LJ community, and whose wise, kind counsel helped shape who we are now. She was a heartbreakingly talented author, whose work was a comfort and delight to so many of us. Many remember her as one of the first to welcome them and make them feel at home in the fandom. And she was a beloved friend to so many, and her loss can never be filled.

Kei's MSV comoderator Red Lasbelin will share information about charitable contributions in Kei's name as they become available. In the meantime, if you don't know Kei's work, you should, and you can find her stories here. If you're looking for a way to honor her memory and all that she gave to our community, our art editor Anérea found a 2019 post from Kei, written for the annual Fandom Snowflake challenge, that sums up well her approach to fandom:

Fandom will go on, because as long as there are tales that have gaps that ask questions like 'what then?' and 'why?', people will fill those gaps as we have since time out of mind. The shape that will take further down the road—who knows? Whatever happens, I hope we don't fragment too far because one day we'll lose touch so completely that the only place we'll occasionally connect will be in the comment threads on AO3. And that would be so sad because fandom is about the writers and artists and the magic they create and the way imagination sparks from one to the other. This is our sandpit, we need to treasure it.

Go forth and make something beautiful or offer a kind word to someone who needs it. In loving memory of Keiliss.

SWG News

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.

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?

New Challenge: Funky '70s
We've compiled lists of '70s-themed prompts to inspire your fanwork in the June-July challenge.

Fandom Voices: Commenting and Feedback
We are collecting fan experiences related to giving and receiving feedback on Tolkien-based fanworks.

New Fanworks

No Time Have I by by Flora-lass [Writing]

A Silmarillion acrostic.

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Lament for the Singer by by daughterofshadows [Writing]

A short thing about Maglor, death and grieving.

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All of you by by chrissystriped [Writing]

Elrond and Celebrían celebrate their anniversary with their family.

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Eä's Redemption by by AaronAzrael [Writing]

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 thought on the matter who the Ainur are, who Eru is, how he matches our own religious pantheon, and this has been conducted after serious research of many esoteric teachings of our own planet's heritage.

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Map of Valinor by by Aprilertuile [Artwork]

My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it. 

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Fair as the First Snowdrop in Spring by by StarSpray [Writing]

The first time Elrond saw Celebrían he forgot how to breathe.

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Temper, temper... by by Aprilertuile [Writing]

Maglor hit some musical difficulties and snaps.

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Updated Fanworks

I called it Fate that I should fail by by AdmirableMonster [Writing]

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 he had originally thought. 

 

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Cosmological Poems of Arda by by AaronAzrael [Writing]

I would like to share my revelations of Tolkien's Universe in the form of narrative and emotional poems.

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Around the World and Web

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July 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
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Scribbles & Drabbles 2024
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Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands
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Elrond Week 2024
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Forgotten Ground Regained: Call for Submissions
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Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) 2024
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Acorns and Oak Leaves: A Year of Bagginshield
Throughout 2024, the Bagginshield community Acorns and Oak Leaves offers monthly prompts to encourage new creations of all kinds.