Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Eönwë Week 2024
We are pleased to announce the coming of Eönwë Week, a fandom event dedicated to our favourite Herald. The event will run from August 12th to 18th 2024 on Tumblr.
Prompts
August 12th: Genesis | Air | Almaren
August 13th: Friendships | Herald | Valinor
August 14th: War | Celeg Aithorn | Beleriand
August 15th: Romance | Mercy | Taniquetil
August 16th: Lost Tales | He Of The Sun | Son of Manwë
August 17th: Eagles | Duty | Noldor
August 18th: Freeform
Rules
- Have fun!
- This event should not be the vehicle to characters hate, bigotry, racism, transphobia and other less savoury behaviours. This is a safe event for lgbtqia+ people and behaviours reflecting any type of threats against this community will be blocked without any tolerance. it’s 2024, get over yourself.
The mods hold the rights to arbitrarily refuse someone’s participation to the event following that user’s behaviour toward others in the fandom. - Nsfw / dark content / dead dove are accepted but should be tagged properly.
- No AI generated works will be accepted, including ai generated art, writing, photo manipulation etc.
- Prompts are here as a general guidance, you are free to interpret them as you want.
- Respect other users’ entries. If something is not to your liking you are not entitled to let it known. Simply scroll down. it is that easy.
- Tag your entry with #eonweweek or mention this blog in your post to be reblogged.
Teitho August/September Contest: Do you remember ...?
Our prompt for August/September is “Do you remember . . .”
This prompt can be used for any character, any book, any timeframe in Tolkien’s work! We can’t wait to see what memories you will use for your stories and art this month!
Will you have your characters think back on good times or bad? Difficult days or ones of joy? A simple day or a fraught one?
Is it a thought going back to the Light of the Two Trees? The first sunrise over Beleriand?
The shadows of Menegroth? The caves of Nargothrond? The Halls of Theoden? Sunlight on a river?
Or perhaps three stone Trolls? A raven? Or the taste of strawberries on a spring day in the Shire?
Please do remember to submit your story/art for this prompt to teitho.contest@gmail.com by September 30, 2024!
August challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth
The August challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth.
The thematic challenge is: magic trees.
This could be any variety and degree of enchantment, powers or sentience: the Trees of Valinor, the White Tree, Old Man Willow, Huorns, Mirkwood, etc.
The formal challenge is: call and response.
This is essentially the idea that there is a leader or lead voice that makes the calls and a group that responds, whether in music and song, in poetry, or in dialogue and maybe other forms of prose.
Typical for call and response are all kinds of working songs from all over the world, choral music with solo voices, and some religious traditions. Think also of cheerleading and political speech-making and any kind of gathering where someone is trying to whip up a mood.
But feel free to adapt in any way you like. At a pinch, your chorus doing responses can be a group of one and you could have just two participants!
Either prompt can be filled independently of each other and combined with other challenges that allow that, such as the SWG monthly challenges.
More details at the linked post.
New participants welcome.
August 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Journal of Tolkien Research Special Issue: Asexuality and Aromanticism in Tolkien’s Legendarium
Queer scholarship in Tolkien studies has made great strides in recent years, from David Craig’s “‘Queer Lodgings’: Gender and Sexuality in ‘The Lord of the Rings’” (2001) to Jane Chance’s Tolkien, Self and Other (2016) and Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor’s Tolkien and Alterity (2017). At a critical juncture of growth, this sub-field is poised to evaluate and address any gaps that exist as the field moves forward. One such gap, in both Tolkien studies and queer studies, is asexuality and aromanticism, which, while part of the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, are significantly underrepresented in scholarship and interpretation.
Asexuality, defined broadly as not experiencing sexual attraction to other people, and aromanticism, not experiencing romantic attraction to other people, convey a spectrum of individual experiences (ace-spectrum, or aspec). Aspec perspectives not only represent these individual identities and experiences but also illuminate and refresh understandings of love, desire, relationships, communities, and culture. Implemented within literary interpretation, an aspec lens offers insights into characters, plots, themes, narrative structures, and much more.
In order to address a gap in queer scholarship in Tolkien studies and to solicit new perspectives that can deepen understandings of Tolkien’s work, we invite submissions for a proposed special issue in Journal of Tolkien Research that focuses on asexuality and aromanticism in Tolkien’s work.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
- Aspec readings of individual characters
- Interpretations of love/relationships beyond (but not necessarily excluding) romantic, sexual, and/or platonic love
- Intersections between aspec theory and gender, disability, race, or other critical theory
- Comparative readings between Tolkien’s work and other fiction
- Amatonormativity or aspec aspects in Tolkien’s work, life, and historical context
- Reception of Tolkien’s work by aspec readers
- Aspec interpretations within adaptations of Tolkien’s work
- Interpretations focused on specific identities within the ace-spectrum, including demi-
- sexual/romantic, grey-sexual/romantic, etc.
Proposals/abstracts of a maximum of 300 words, along with a short bio and working bibliography (not included in word count), should be sent via email to aspectolkien@gmail.com no later than midnight Eastern Time on August 31, 2024.
Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2025
Hosted by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, the International Congress on Medieval Studies is an annual gathering of thousands of scholars interested in medieval studies. The Congress embraces the study of all aspects of the Middle Ages, extending into late antiquity and the early modern period, including—but not limited to—history, language, literature, linguistics, art, archaeology, religion, science, medicine, music, drama, philosophy, gender, sexuality, mysticism and technology, as well as medievalism. The 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies takes place Thursday, May 8, through Saturday, May 10, 2025. Find more at the conference website.
Tolkien at Kalamazoo will be offering a total of eight sessions (paper sessions and roundtables), two of which are co-sponsored. The sessions are a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid as identified below. Send 100-word abstracts or complete papers to Christopher Vaccaro (cvaccaro@uvm.edu) and Yvette Kisor (ykisor@ramapo.edu) by the1st of September.
Tolkien and Medieval Conceptions of the Sea (in-person paper session): HYBRID
The Medieval Roots of the Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien (in-person roundtable): HYBRID
Tolkien and Old Norse (hybrid / in-person paper session): HYBRID
Tolkien and Medieval Feminisms (in-person paper session)
Medieval Languages and Tolkien's Language Invention (in-person paper session)
Medieval Resonances in Tolkien's Letters (in-person roundtable)
Fire, Dragons, & Jewels, O My!: Medieval Poems & J.R.R. Tolkien (co-sponsored with the Pearl-Poet Society, virtual paper session)
Return of the Franchise: The Ongoing Reception and Interpretation of Tolkien's Medievalism (co-sponsored with the Tales after Tolkien Society, virtual paper session): HYBRID
Coming Soon: Call for Proposals for McFarland's Critical Explorations in Tolkien Studies Series
We are sharing this information on behalf of Robin Anne Reid:
I recently signed a Letter of Agreement with McFarland Publishers to become the series editor for a new series, Critical Explorations in Tolkien Studies. The series will open for proposals in 2025 after I assemble an advisory board.
Scholars can submit proposals in either of two tracks. The first track is for single-author or collaborative monographs and edited collections written for academic experts that should be between 70-100K words long. The second track is for shorter Critical Companions, between 40-50K words long, written for a general audience including but not limited to students and fans. Submissions for both tracks will go through a double-blind peer review process.
Proposals on topics relating to Tolkien's published works as well as to the edited posthumous publications; the adaptations for film, television, and games; the translations; and fan transformative works (textual and visual) or other reception studies may be submitted to either track.
While peer-reviewed scholarship is a professional necessity for tenure-track and tenured academics, there is also value in shorter works, informed by critical theories, that focus on an aspect of single work or a thematic group of works, especially ones that have received less critical attention than The Lord of the Rings. The Critical Companions are designed to introduce a more general audience to analytical approaches and the scholarship in Tolkien studies by situating works in their socio-historical contexts; explaining how the text or texts fit into the field of Tolkien studies; and modelling how to apply critical theories to analyze primary texts.
The primary goals of the series are to add significant original contributions to Tolkien scholarship by developing and to create and support greater diversity in the field by embracing a wide definition of what Tolkien studies includes in relation to authors, texts, topics, theories, and methods.
Both single author and collaborative works, especially those foregrounding intersectionality, are explicitly welcome from authors without regard to ability status, age, caste, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, or sexuality. Approaches can include but are not limited to theories and methods from class studies, cultural studies, critical race studies; digital and new media studies; fan and reception studies; feminist, gender, and queer studies; film studies, languages and linguistics, literary studies (any period); medieval and medievalist studies; pedagogical studies, modernist and postmodernist studies, media and marketing studies; religious and theological studies; source studies; stylistics, and tourism studies.
Contingent faculty, early-career faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, tenure-track and tenured faculty in the Americas and worldwide who are trained in any discipline and period specialization are invited to submit proposals in either track and to consider applying to become m become a member of the advisory board.
The call for applications to the advisory board will be circulated shortly. Please email robinareid@fastmail with any questions you may have.
Tolkien at UVM 2025: Tolkien and War
The theme for the 2025 Tolkien at UVM conference will be Tolkien and War. The conference will be held on April 5, 2025, at the University of Vermont. Recent conferences have been hybrid and welcomed presentations and attendees online as well.
Signum University Regional Moots
These small, regional conferences are held at various dates and locations. See the Regional Moots page for more details.
Many thanks to Robin Anne Reid and her Online Conference Project for handily compiling this information on a regular basis!
Innumerable Stars 2024
Innumerable Stars is a Tolkien fandom gift exchange for all works by Tolkien or associated with Middle-earth.
People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars are:
- Interested in and excited about multiple Tolkien-based canons.
- Interested in their fellow fans’ creativity in fanfiction and fanart, and excited to explore their own.
- Open to creating and receiving any one of a number of different prompts or ideas.
- Happy to read and comment on the fanwork(s) they receive with thanks first of all, but also to read and comment on other fanworks in the exchange.
People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars will:
- Generally read and create for a variety of slash, gen, het, adventures, fluff, dark, erotica, worldbuilding, etc.
- Create their fanwork following their recipient’s prompts in good faith, and receive the fanwork(s) that have been given to them in good faith also.
- Also write or draw “treats” for others in the exchange, if their own time and inspiration permits after they have completed their assignment,. These are not required but they add to the fun and excitement of the exchange!
- Create their fanwork without the use of AI, be it in writing or art.
What Innumerable Stars is NOT:
You do not have to be open to or interested in every type of fanwork to participate. However, Innumerable Stars is not for anyone interested in just one character, pairing, or scenario. Nor is it for people who find stories or art containing material they are not interested in offensive because it exists. If either of these apply, we wish you well, but this is not the exchange for you.
Schedule
Nominations Open: Sunday, 04 August 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Nominations Close: Sunday, 18 August 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Sign-ups Open: Sunday, 18 August 2024, 11:59 PM UTC
Sign-ups Close: Sunday, 01 September 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Assignments Out: Monday, 02 September 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Assignments Due: Sunday, 6 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Works Revealed: Sunday, 13 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Authors Revealed: Sunday, 20 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Tolkien Pinup Calendar 2025 Sign-Ups Open
The Tolkien Pinup Calendar compiles a calendar of risque fan art of your favorite Tolkien characters! The majority of the art is commissioned, and in that way, we are helping to support fan artists. In addition to the calendar, Commissioners can also submit fics inspired by the art! There will be an AO3 collection with the fics revealed at the end of the event. Because of the nature and content of the art, the event itself is an 18+ event. More details and rules can be found on the event's FAQ page.
If you are interested in signing up to be a Main Commissioner, click here.
If you are interested in signing up to be an Artist, click here.
If you are interested in being a Pinch Hitter, click here.
To submit any ideas or view those others suggested, take a look at our Ideas Form! Or submit your own idea!
Forgotten Ground Regained: Call for Submissions
The Fall issue of Forgotten Ground Regained is open for submissions. I am especially interested in poetry that explores themes of love, devotion, and desire – themes that are, thus far, relatively sparsely represented in modern English alliterative verse. Submissions should be sent to Paul D. Deane at the following email address: pdeane [at] alliteration.net.
Requirements
- Submissions must be in modern English, but authors should feel free to submit poems that take advantage of the diction, rhythms, and syntax of particular language varieties and communities. I do not discriminate against Scots, Appalachian English, Black English Vernacular, Indian English, or any other language variety, though I do ask that authors be prepared to supply notes to explain any terms or expressions that outsiders to their communities may not readily understand.
- Submissions should make skillful, systematic use of alliteration in ways that use alliteration to reinforce the rhythm and connect important ideas. Overall, I prefer poems that have the strongest impact on readers when they are read aloud. I therefore encourage authors to include links to audio or video versions of their poems in their submissions.
- I would love to see people experimenting with modern English versions of Old and Middle English alliterative verse, with Old Norse forms like ljoòahattr and drottkvætt or modern Icelandic rimur, or with new alliterative forms designed to highlight modern English rhythms and speech patterns. While my first preference is what traditional scholarship calls alliterative-accentual verse, I am also open to alliterative free verse or to alliterative versions of traditional forms, such as the ballad, as long as the alliteration is clearly a structural rather than a decorative feature of the form.
- I am open to work both by contemporary poets and to projects that would normally be considered to fall outside the literary mainstream, such as speculative poetry, SCA Bardic Arts projects, and fan fiction.
- There is no hard upper length limit, though poems more than five to six pages in length are likely to be published separately on the website, with links provided from the Fall issue, rather than being included directly in the pdf magazine. Note that I love both both the lyrical and the narrative turns in poetry, so longer narratives will be given careful consideration.
- Please submit your poem in the body of your email. I will not open attachments.
Submissions for the Fall Issue must be received by September 15th, 2024.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) 2024
First conceived in 2018, the Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (or TRSB!) is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event celebrating the talent of our fanwork creators. At its core, the event is about bringing together the artistic side of our fandom with the literary talents it possesses, creating bridges between the separate areas of fandom experience for the enjoyment of all. During the late spring, signed up artists submit fan art pieces in progress or finished, which is then posted anonymously in our Gallery. The Gallery is open to the pool of writers who have signed up for the event only. Each writer is then invited to claim a piece of art to write for; the minimum word count is 5000.
We are open to all characters, genres, ships and ratings, and all canons that fall under the Tolkien fandom umbrella. This includes movieverse (i.e. the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies), lesser known works by Tolkien (such as The Father Christmas Letters), and/or other works with a clear link to his life or creative output (for example, Tolkien’s translations and academic texts, the 2019 Tolkien biopic, fan-made films like Born of Hope, and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online). Crossovers between two or more Tolkien canons are permitted.
When we started this event, one thing we absolutely agreed on was our desire for maximum inclusivity. In practice this means that:
- We encourage participation from all sections of the Tolkien fandom, whether you prefer bookverse, movieverse, game canon, smaller canons, or Tolkien’s academic papers.
- Fan creators should ALL feel safe and able to join in, regardless of experience levels or perceived ability. This means that everybody is welcome, whether they’re a professional artist/writer or a complete beginner, whether they’ve been a fan for decades or fell in love with the films last weekend.
- As far as practically possible, all styles of art and all types of fic are permitted. We do not set restrictions on genre, style, rating or ship, although we do keep NSFW art submissions behind a lock, for the safety of our younger participants.
Above all, the event is supposed to be fun. Fandom should not be a place of difficulty, conflict and stress. With this in mind, we ask participants to be kind, inclusive, respectful and welcoming at all times.
Schedule
March 17 – 2023 Gallery Opens
The Gallery for 2023 is live at last! Enjoy all the beautiful pieces created for last year’s TRSB!
March 24 – Suggestion Form Opens
This form gives potential authors (or anyone else who wants to play!) the opportunity to suggest characters, places and scenarios they would like to see in the submitted art. We will post a link to the form on our Tumblr blog and here on the website. The answers will feed into a publicly available spreadsheet listing the ideas submitted; artists can peruse this to get inspired!
April 14 – Sign-ups Open
We post links to our sign up form on all the usual platforms. You can then sign up as an artist, an author, a beta, a cheerleader, a pinch hitter, or as two or more of these. Please see the ‘Signing Up’ section of the FAQ for more details on what these terms mean.
May 5 – Artist Sign-up Deadline
May 10 – Discord Server Opens
May 13 – Art Draft Due
Participating art submissions must be sent to the mods by this date to be eligible for the Claims Gallery.
For more details on how to do this, see the ‘Art Submissions’ section of the FAQ. Artists may submit up to two pieces of art, for claiming by two separate authors.
May 17 – Art Preview Opens
Our online gallery will be visible to signed up participants only. Signed up authors can browse the artworks and see which pieces appeal to their muses!
May 18-19 Discord Art Talks
Repeating the fun from last year, these will be live chats on discord with mod presence – start times to be announced – where we go through the beautiful gallery and admire the work of our artists.
May 20 – Author Signups Deadline
May 25 – CLAIMS – 17:00 UTC
Authors submit a ranked list of the artworks they would like to claim to write fic for. Claims are on a first come, first served basis. One artwork will be allocated to each claiming author in the first instance; the mods will email you to confirm which piece you have successfully claimed and how to get in touch with your artist. See the ‘Claims’ section of the FAQ for more information.
TBA – Additional Claims
If a number of artworks are left unclaimed, we may allow authors to claim second and third pieces of art to write for. However, we don’t know until after claims night whether this will be needed, so this is likely to be announced at short notice – keep an eye on the blog and on your emails to avoid missing out.
June 7 – Post-Claims Check-in
The mods will email each artist/author pair to ensure that you have successfully established contact – even if you are not planning on a close collaboration, it is polite to check in with your partner, say hello, and make sure you’re both clear on must-haves and do-not-wants. One person from your pair must respond and confirm that you have done this!
June 16 – Free Rein Art Due
We know some artists like to give their authors as much creative freedom as possible and we have a dedicated collaboration option for this (see ‘Art Submissions’ FAQs). However, this means we require these artists to provide finished art to their authors much earlier than artists who are prepared to be more involved. See ‘Completing the Artwork’ in the FAQs for more details on how this works.
June 28 – Check-in #2
The mods will email each pair to ensure everything is on track. One person from your pair must respond – see ‘Check Ins’ in the FAQ.
June 26 – Check-in #3
The mods will email each pair to ensure everything is on track. One person from your pair must respond – see ‘Check Ins’ in the FAQs.
August 9 – Final Art Due
Artists should share a copy of the final art to their authors – but don’t post it yet!
Don’t email it to the mods.
August 16 – Final Check-in (#4)
Deadline to abandon your fic to a pinch hitter. There will be no penalty for dropping out on or before this date.
As per other check ins, except the mods will be providing instructions about promotional posts (see ‘Promotional Posts’ FAQ for more information). We will also ask you:
- Whether you have discussed posting logistics with your artist (if you’re embedding art in your AO3 story, for example)
- Whether you have specific posting needs re publicizing date/time frame (e.g. not wanting us to reblog your art/fic on Shabbat as you will be unable to respond)
August 26 – Art Can Be Posted
August 30 – Final Fic Due In Collection
Authors should post their stories in our AO3 collection with the artwork embedded or linked. (If you are writing a last minute pinch hit we can be a bit flexible with this deadline.)
TBA – Discord Art Reveals Event
September 6 – COLLECTION REVEALS
September 13 – Staggered Tumblr Reblogs Begin
September 20 – Gallery Submission
October 6 – Discord Server Closes
Other Links
- Rules
- Sign-Ups
- Frequently Asked Questions
- TRSB on Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram | Dreamwidth
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 (i.e. art, fics, gifs, etc) - but don't worry, there are no deadlines. Pick and choose whatever prompts you like, and be sure to tag the @acorns-and-oakleaves blog on Tumblr so we can share your Bagginshield creations!
Monthly prompts for the Year of Bagginshield can be found here.
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
Year of the OTP 2023
Year of the OTP is an event designed to encourage participants to make more content for a particular ship they love and end 2023 with twelve new fics for an OTP. The goal is to make one fanwork featuring a ship for each month in 2023, and each month features multiple prompts.
Year of the OTP 2023 AO3 Collection
Prompts
January
first kiss | mission fic | fake dating | “whenever I look at you…” | snow | historical au
February
valentine’s day | pollen/fear gas/truth serum | established relationship | “if i kiss you, will you shut up?” | different | mermaid au
March
fresh starts | road trup | getting back together/mutual pining | “make me” | acceptance | fairytale au
April
pranks | canon divergence | (seemingly) unrequited love | “no, i’m not dating your brother” | peace | university au
May
flower language | sick fic | pet/child acquisition | “who are you” | sunshine | fantasy/medieval/dark knights of steel au
June
wedding/proposal | saving the world | (accidental) love confession | “you aren’t what i expected” | downpour | soulmate au
July
vacation together | power swap | enemies to lovers | “batman won’t like this” | stars | coffee shop au
August
au of your choice | time travel | meet cute/blind date | “you’re the only one i could turn to for help” | storm | vampire/werewolf/dc vs vampires au
September
high school/college sweethearts | hurt/comfort | meeting the family | “i wrote this for you” | flood | shifter au
October
couples costume | test messaging | identity shenanigans | “you can’t bench me!” | lightning | sports team au
November
life changes | de-aging | secret relationship (reveal) | “be careful what you wish for” | growth | music/band au
December
holidays together | crack treated seriously | moving in together | “that’s my favorite thing about you” | forgiveness | tattoo parlor/flower shop au
Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology XIII
This year will be the thirteenth and final Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology. For one last time, we'll be collecting short lady-centric podfics by different readers in different fandoms to release as an anthology and as a collection of individual files.
The submission deadline for podfics is February 14th, and we will post the anthology on February 28th.
The theme for this year's anthology is transition. It's optional—all podfics are welcome as long as they follow the rules laid out in the Submission Guidelines—but feel free to let it inspire you if you'd like.
If you are not familiar with this project, you can see the previous anthologies here.
To Podficcers: Interested in participating? We'd love to have you. This should be a low-stress project, even for people who are new to podficcing, due to the word-count: 1500 words or less (with many being as short as 1-2 minutes). If you'd like to record something for this anthology, please fill out this quick google form and we'll send you the link to the spreadsheet where we'll be keeping track of all the podfics. If you would prefer to interface via email instead of using the form/spreadsheet, you can email klb at sekritproject@gmail.com, and she will reach out to get you set up.
Here are some good places for finding short fics about female characters:
-The Women Being Awesome, Female Characters, Female Character of Color, POV Female Character, and Female Relationships tags at the AO3, limited to word counts of 1500 or less.
-The Misses Clause Challenge from Yuletide
-Femslash Minis
-Awesome Ladies Ficathon (original LJ ficathon deleted, but these works crossposted to AO3 remain)
-Real Women Fest
-Female Character Trope Fest
-The Bechdel Test Comment Ficathon
-The Bechdel Test Comment Ficathon II
-Where No Woman: Un-erasing the women of Star Trek and Women of Star Trek
-Femslash Kinkmeme
-The Femslash February Collection
-Focus on Female Characters Collection
-Purimgifts
Since this project has a relatively quick turnaround time, you may want to refer to this database of authors who have posted blanket permission statements and/or install this browser extension that highlights all blanket permission authors from that database in green.
To the Podcurious: If you have ever thought you might like to create podfic, this is a really great starting place. It's low pressure, you might get listeners you wouldn’t otherwise reach, you're contributing to a cool fanwork that celebrates our love for female characters, and it's not too intense of a spotlight, because your piece is in the company of many other voices.
To Everyone: Feel free to comment with links to other fests or specific works that you think would be a good fit for this anthology. Additionally, we are looking for beta listeners who can absolutely commit to at LEAST two hours of beta listening between February 17th and 24th. Please let us know if you'd be available and interested; we'd be very grateful!
To Authors: We've had some awesome authors get involved in the past, in pod_together style, to create short female-centric pieces for the anthology in collaboration with podficcers. If you’re an author who’s interested and is seeking podficcers to work with, feel free to comment below. Podficcers who would like this sort of collaboration, please reply directly to the authors.
See this post for the rules and submission guidelines. If you have any additional questions, please let us know!
Gore Swap 2023
Gore Swap is an exchange for fanworks that include significant gore content, meaning described/pictured violence, injury and/or bloodshed. The minimum requirement is 500 words or a nice sketch on unlined paper. The 2023 schedule is as follows:
Nominations: Jan 15-22
Sign ups: Jan 24-31
Assignments out by: Feb 3
Assignments due: March 12
Work Reveals: March 24
Creator Reveals: March 31
You can find more at Gore Fest's AO3 Collection or the complete rules.
Teitho January/February Challenge: Starting Over
Teitho is a bimonthly Tolkien fanfiction contests. You can find full information and rules for Teitho here. Our challenge for January and February of this new year is Starting Over, a prompt that gives our creators options for both beginnings and endings.
Will you tell us a tale of the first Elves leaving Cuiviénen for Valinor, stories of the hosts of Fëanor and Fingolfin journeying to Beleriand, or Luthien and Beren’s time in Tol Galen?
Perhaps your story will follow Sauron after the War of Wrath. Or the Men who became the Nine.
Shall you tell us of the survivors of Erebor and their new dwellings? Or Samwise and Frodo, when they return to the Shire? Or cross the sea to the West?
Perhaps you will share the story of Gandalf's time in Lorien, after he defeated the balrog and became Gandalf with White? Or Glorfindel coming back to Middle-earth from Valinor in a new body?
“How do you pick up the threads of an old life?” Frodo asks, in Peter Jackson’s film version of The Return of the King. “How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back.”
The start of a new year is a chance to start again. Where will you take us with this prompt? We can’t wait to see!
Please submit your stories before January 31, 2023, to teitho.contest@gmail.com
B2MeM 2023: Spies in the Shadows
Save the dates! Back to Middle-earth Month (B2MEM) returns this March for the 18th running of the annual event. This year’s main event is titled Spies in the Shadows: A Middle-earth Mystery (team event) and The Rogue Spy (solo event), and all events will culminate with a two-day mini virtual convention hosted by the Spring into Arda team in mid-April. (All events, with the exception of the classic prompt board, will use Discord as the main place of contact and communication. MellonCon (April 14-16, 2023) is currently seeking volunteers to help with traffic and host events. It also offers a unique ‘call for papers’ opportunity for residents of Arda.)
Info about Spies in the Shadows & Classic Prompt Board
Sign-up for Spies in the Shadows (now through February 15 for team/through March 31 for solo)
Info about MellonCon & Middle-earth Masquerade
The SWG's Discord server also hosts the #b2mem channel for discussion and questions related to B2MeM events.
Drawesome January Challenge: BIPOC Diversity in Fantasy
Drawesome is a Dreamwidth community of fan-artists who enjoy drawing. We hope to inspire and motivate each other to practice and hone our drawing skills in a stress-free, supportive environment. For January's challenge, create visuals of BIPOC as fantasy creatures, such as elves and other traditionally "fair" folk, fairies, mermaids, dwarves, etc.
Additional Notes:
For our challenge, the term 'POC' or People of Colour in the acronym 'BIPOC' refers to people who are non-White or not of European descent.
- Please note that BIPOC are often relegated to villainous roles in (Western) Fantasy settings, or are sometimes completely absent from these worlds. Therefore, the purpose of this challenge is for artists to go beyond the "default" standard of beauty as seen in the Fantasy genre, and expand to portraying BIPOC in more diverse roles. eg. a Black mermaid, a brown-skinned elf, a person of Asian descent as a wizard, etc.
- Since the focus is to feature BIPOC visually, please note that blue/green-skinned creatures would not qualify as "diversity of skin colour" for this particular challenge.
- You are welcome to create your own fantasy character, or select a character that is canonically BIPOC, as subject matter for your artwork. Racebending of a canonically white character would also be permitted.
A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of the month on Tuesday 31st January, 2023.
More information about participating in Drawesome can be found on the Introductory Post and Posting Guidelines.
Second Age Week 2023
For the second time we have decided to host this week to show our love and appreciation for the Second Age in all its facets. From proud Númenoreans to deep digging Dwarves, to the last High King of the Noldor, and the Dark Lord of Mordor—this week is dedicated to all of them and more! This event is hosted on Tumblr.
A list of non-mandatory prompts below:
Day 1 Elves - Gil-galad, Oropher, Celebrían and many others - Lindon and Belfalas, Imladris and Eregion, Lórinand and Greenwood. What were the elves doing in the Second Age?
Day 2 Men - On this day of Second Age Week, we explore the race of Men—from proud Númenoreans, through those who would come to be known as Dunlendings, to the Haradrim in the South.
Day 3 Dwarves - From Ered Luin through Khazad Dûm to the Eastern Realms, dwarves played an important role during the Second Age. On this day you can explore their history and culture, events they participated in, prominent characters such as Durin IV or Narvi and more!
Day 4 Sauron and his minions - With his lies and deceits, Sauron spent the Second Age weaving his way across Middle-earth and started a reign of terror from his fortress in Mordor. This day is dedicated to him and his many followers.
Day 5 Worldbuilding - Rings of Power and the White Tree, faraway lands, countless battles—Middle Earth has a rich history and stunning locations to explore.
Day 6 Original Characters - An unnamed wife of a king of Númenor, a guardsman from Lindon—who are they? What are they up to? On this day the spotlight is given to characters outside of the narrative focus.
Day 7 Freeform - Did we forget about something or is there a prompt you want to revisit? Feel free to use this day for any Second Age related content!
The week will run during 9th to 15th January 2023 and will be hosted by @tilions and @armenelols. We will operate in a mixture of queued posts and direct reblogs.
To note:
- Tag your work #secondageweek in the first five tags of your post and tag us @secondageweek so we can find your post
- Should your post not be reblogged, feel free to send us an ask or a message
- The same goes with all problems and questions; the ask box is open!
- All kinds of content are allowed—fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, meta, edits, etc
- For NSFW content and such, please tag your work accordingly.
We are looking forward to your creations!
Screw Yule 2023
You are cordially invited to participate in this year's Screw Yule, a celebration of Elves, Smut, and a New Year's Resolution to toss Laws and Customs right out the window (or, at least, ignore whatever is necessary to appease your muses.)
Screw Yule is a way to kick off the new year with elf smut, and lots of it. There are a variety of challenge options, and infinite combinations between these different options. You can even completely disregard the challenges and just submit whatever elf smuttiness you like, as long as it hasn't been written previously for something else and there's an elf in it somewhere. The only rules are to have fun, and be dirty. [We used to only allow ratings of R or NC- 17/ Adult oriented fics, but if you want to only put one foot in the gutter and not jump in completely, go for it. We just really encourage being totally in the gutter!] This event was previously held in the magical place that was Little Balrog, but following the shutdown of Yahoo Groups in the form that allowed for that, stories will now be shared on AO3.
Participants earn points for writing, commenting, beta'ing, and creating art for the event. See the Screw Yule page on AO3 for full rules and details.
January challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth
The prompts of the January challenge have been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. The thematic prompt is "lantern or lamp" and the formal challenge is Lanterne (a poem of five lines with a syllable count of 1-2-3-4-1).
The two prompts can be filled independently and the prompts can be freely combined with other challenges.
More details at the linked post.
New participants welcome!
2023 Fandom Snowflake Challenge
What is Fandom Snowflake Challenge? Well, I’ll tell you what it is not. It is not to do with winter, or snowflakes really. The snowflake in the title is a metaphor, an image of unique and beautiful, of swirling and bone-deep. A single snowflake is all of us individually; unique and beautiful. But as a group, a snowflake can blanket, can blind against the dark and ugly, can still the world of the mundane.
That’s what we’re going to do in January. We’re going to start the new year reflecting on what makes us rare and beautiful and what makes us as a community mighty and life-altering.
And that’s it for the metaphor. Now on to what is going to happen. On the odd days of January, we will be dropping challenges, some new, some old, some about creating, some about consuming, some about being a great big geek and others about being alive in the 21st century. You can do what you want, and don’t do what you don’t. There are no points, no keeping score, no way of doing this wrong. There is just you, doing this momentous thing, and us cheering you on.
Not doing fandom on LJ/DW anymore? That’s okay, we’re here too: Twitter | Tumblr