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In spite of weariness and stress, Tyelperinquar (a.k.a. Celebrimbor) hosts a gathering in his home:  a supper followed by what we might call a salon for the elite of Ost-in-Edhil. Musicians, rival poets, and lively conversation among the guests, which includes Erestor, the visiting emissary from Gil-galad's realm, provide the evening's entertainment.  An elven poetry slam causes Tyelpo to become immersed in deep memories  -- some poignant, some painful, and one dark and strange yet vaguely familiar.

MEFA 2011 Winner:  First Place, Elves, General

A tale of belatedly requited love, with a dose of politics, set in the period immediately preceding the foundation of the city of Gondolin. Written in response to Slashy Santa 2007 request by Talullah Red. (Beta: the ever-generous Ignoblebard.)

Honorable Mention - MEFA 2008

(New: see illustration by Robinka, added as Chapter 12.) This is a sequel to my first tale, (Maitimo and Findekáno), in my cycle of stories recounting the life-long relationship between Fingon and Maedhros. It occurs after the definitive fracture between the Houses of Feanor and Fingolfin and the flight of the Noldor to Middle-earth. Beginning immediately after Fingon’s rescue of Maedhros from the cliffs of Thangorodrim, it tells of how Fingon and Maedhros reunite and together resolve to heal the divisions among the Noldor. (Slash.)

MEFA 2008 First Place, Longer Works: General
MEFA 2007 2nd Place, Elves: Incomplete

A tale of Beleg's beginning: You are children of starlight, the water sang, the fairest and most favored of Ilúvatar's design. Great deeds will you bring forth upon the world. And he smiled and listened still, but in his heart, though born of starlight and culled from dream and song, he was a son of the wilderness who wist no sire but the wood, and he cared little for great deeds.

The story of Eönwë, Maia of Manwë, and Mairon Aulendil after the War of Wrath. A tale of darkness, light, love and betrayal over the Ages of Eä.

Tolkien simply told us that [Sauron] fell back into evil, for the bonds that Morgoth had laid upon him were very strong. But this line is unsatisfactory on so many levels that it became a challenge to create a plausible background story for Sauron's fall, from the time Eönwë returns to Aman to face the Valar over his decision to free one of Morgoth's most dreaded minions to Sauron's final fate, long after the destruction of the Ring.

B2MeM 2011 and 2012 participant 

MEFA 2011 1st Place - Incomplete: Drama & Smaug's Treasure (but complete since then!)

A alternate universe version of the infamous dogfight at Tol-in-Gaurhoth, featuring a female version of Sauron, a conflicted Luthien and a valiant Huan. 

The Númenórean King Ar-Pharazôn thinks he has won an easy victory when Sauron surrenders to him and becomes his prisoner. But the march back to Umbar with the conniving Dark Lord turns out to have many unanticipated twists and turns through a nest of politics and intrigue, including Sauron's attempted seduction of Ar-Pharazôn's favorite male courtesan.

This is volume I of a planned trilogy. An epic tale of political intrigue, the desire for immortality and love, sorcery, hubris, loyalty, lust, and catastropic amounts of water.

MEFA 2009 First Place winner in Genres: Longer Works: Incomplete  (Vol. I is now complete)

This fic was recommended in USA Today, May 20, 2015! (They have a fanfiction section. Who knew?)  Thank you to Uvatha the Horseman for the rec!

Ar-Pharazôn, the mighty King of Númenor, thinks he has triumphed when his powerful enemy, Sauron, surrenders, and the King carries him back to his glorious island kingdom. However, Sauron’s greatest power lies not in his armies, but in his capacity for guile and seduction. A drama with many players.

Rating: M overall, although, no doubt, future chapters will have explicit content.

Sauron recounts his discovery of the fell beasts to Finrod, who visits the former Dark Lord during his imprisonment in the Halls of Mandos, in a tale of adventure and a bit of the macabre.

Pandë!verse-centric.  A little gory, some coarse language, mild sexual references.

Chapter 2 added:  Over tankards of ale, served in the replica of a familiar inn, Sauron continues his tale to Finrod:  his instructions to the Lord of the Nazgûl (who receives a disagreeable task); his uncertainties concerning the wisdom of leaving Mordor; and his journey to Layla’s homeland, where the Forbidden Valley lies.

The life story of a certain fallen Maia, told from his perspective. Dark, or rather will be.

Glorfindel’s violent death has left incurable mental wounds behind and his memory only consists of very small fragments. Thoughts of how he had failed to protect the White City and its inhabitants trouble him to such an extent that Námo seems incapable to cure him. He is released from the Halls of Waiting to reside in Irmo’s gardens to aid his recovery, because: sooner or later, he has to return to Middle-Earth. However, his state remains unchanged and in his desperation, Irmo consults Manwë for guidance how to proceed with the grieving elf in his care, without being aware of their own fateful history.

This story tells their very own and special history and touches Glorfindel’s motives to leave the Blessed Realm behind, and explains what troubles him to such an extent that he fights against the help of the Valar. Can they reconcile and finally forget what had happened between them millennia ago?

" ...And Beleg and Túrin were companions in every peril, and walked far and wide in the wild woods together." Six vignettes of Beleg and Túrin, on the marches of Doriath and beyond.

A man with a perilous mission arrives at the shores of Númenor, where he meets two strangers.

A (most likely AU) crossover between my own Chasing Mirages and elfscribe's novel Elegy for Númenor.

Day 24 – B2MeM 2009, prompt: “Choose your favorite line or quotation from a non-Tolkien source.” This is a story referenced more than once but never developed in my short novel A New Day. Inspired by Dawn Felagund’s ficlet “Hatred,” it is an account of a low point in the relationship of Maedhros and Fingon before they left Valinor.

2009 MEFA - Second Place - Drama: House of Finwë 

A walk along the river reveals poetry.

A series of contributions for Akallabêth in August 2009 in response to the following prompts: 1) Sauron fortifies Mordor; 2) Sauron begins to afflict Númenórean settlements to the south; 3) Sauron convinces Ar-Pharazôn to break the Ban of the Valar; 4) storms from the West strike Númenor; and 5) Sauron returns to Middle-earth.

MEFA 2010. Winner, First Place; Genres: Character Study: The Silmarillion.

Stories written within the same universe and story arc. The featured characters are Fingon and Maedhros but also includes at various points most of the Finweans and their descendants. (Many, but far from all, of these stories include mature themes. Please see individual stories for ratings.)

Newest Chapter: 8 - "Promises and Negotiations." This is the story of the events of the Feast of Reuniting. A continuation of my interpretation of the tales of the Noldor in the First Age, focusing principally, but not solely upon Fingon and Maedhros. (See Maitimo and Findekáno and A New Day, which precede this one in the story cycle.) I'd like to thank the writers of the Lizard Council, including IgnobleBard, Elfscribe, Erulisse, Russandol, Hallbera, Lilithlessfair, Surgical Steel, and particularly Pandemonium. Also, want to thank Spiced Wine for her ongoing support of this story.

MEFA 2009,  First Place - Elves: Incomplete

There are any number of unnamed women in Tolkien's canon who surely played important roles behind the scenes. One of these women is Elendil's wife, the mother of Isildur and Anárion. She figures as a supporting character in my WIP, The Elendilmir, but this strong woman is taking on a life of her own. So, to keep the bunnies from gnawing my ankles raw, I have been writing ficlets about Isilmë, some of which may blossom into full-fledged stories in the future.

MEFA 2008: Second Place, Times, Second and Early Third Age, General.

A biased account of the leadership qualities of Maedhros written by a die-hard supporter. Some might call this piece the epitome of the literary form of the unreliable narrator. This is one follower's reflections upon Maedhros. Since The Silmarillion is filled with events in the life of Maedhros, one may draw their own conclusions, but remember that history is written by the victors.

Maedhros reminisces, though he would rather not. An insight into how one deals with the day to day after the loss of a loved one.

For Huan, consenting once more to be her steed, had borne her swiftly hard upon Beren's trail.

 A grittier and more macabre version of the 'fairystory'. Warning: Contains some rather grotesque imagery.

This is a place for short contributions or graphics (mostly but not all from Back-to-Middle-earth Month 2012). The title is from "He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats. Some are serious and some are silly.

Added "Death of Arvedui" graphic.

"Now they begin their new lives."

A rigid society on a distant planet imprisons free thinkers.  A vast ship transports prisoners across the galaxy to their new home colony.

I took the opportunity of the August 2012 Non-fiction challenge at the LotR Community Live Journal to write up some very personal thoughts of my own. I spend a part of every month, trying to write a character biography for the Silmarillion Writers Guild. Those are certainly not free of opinion, but are hopefully written in a more objective and overall more scholarly tone than this one. Anyway, for your kind perusal is this piece, halfway between a rant and a whine, but filled with not only with heart, but references to the texts.

Glorfindel meets his fate at Cristhorn.

An ambitious young Noldorin man of Ost-in-Edhil lands a coveted appointment as an apprentice to the most skilled master smith of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain: Istyar Aulendil. The apprentice's mentor, a prodigy of the Aulënossë, has been sent to Middle-earth by the Valar and has knowledge of exotic and wondrous technology. Istyar Aulendil also has notoriously high standards. The apprentice must meet his mentor's expectations if he is to become a journeyman and work on an important new initiative.

MEFA 2008: First Place, Villains, General.

A young child of Men befriends Sámaril, the troubled master smith of Imladris. The Noldorin craftsman experiences the joy and pain born of friendships between the Eldar and mortal Men and comes to question his people’s values as his life becomes entwined with Isildur’s youngest son and two powerful women of the Dúnedain. A sequel to The Apprentice.

Chapter 38 - The Crow's Nest:  While Elerina establishes her informal seat of power in Gaillond, thus revealing to Sámaril her former role as Isildur's queen,  the elven-smith quickly becomes bored with trade negotiations and resolution of disputes among the local nobility.  The reminders of Isildur continue to exert a negative effect on Sámaril, causing frustration between the couple.  But Sámaril also begins to dream of the Sea, which sparks a desire to take ship out on to the open waters, ostensibly to learn more about the working men of the Númenórean exiles.   He finds the ship on which he wishes to sail and meets its captain.  

A young Elf discovers his body in front of the mirror...

The story of Fingon

Suggested by Dawn's addition to her 'Release the Bonds of Winter' series, Death of Cold, this is the Helcaraxë from an alternative view point to the grim travail of crossing the ice...

While leading his tribe into the deep desert to escape the inevitable war between the Zigûr and the Sea-kings, Sharif finds a woman — injured and unconscious — among the rocks.  He discovers this is not a mortal woman, but one of the immortal demons of the north. He is ready to kill her, but the tribe's priestess stays his hand, warning him that slaying the jinn would bring terrible misfortune to his tribe.  His wives care for the jinn, who recovers and aids the tribe as they journey to the East in search of a mysterious land where they hope to find sanctuary, the jinn no less than Sharif and his tribe as they flee from the Zigûr and the Sea-Kings.

A prisoner in the Halls of Mandos, although grateful to be alive, nonetheless finds his days to be monotonous, that is, until a most unusual person, and one whose life was affected greatly by the prisoner's masterwork, accepts an offer to begin a correspondence.     

How that 'Song of Parting' made it to the public domain... The Himring Codex version.

When the Istyari of Second Age Ost-in-Edhil deny her a place in an important new initiative to be taken up by the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, a young master smith struggles to make her mark in the man's realm of the forges.   An opportunity arrives when the smith is offered a commission that will present challenges of both mind and heart.

Pandë!verse-centric.

Rated Adult.  Specific advisories will be posted per chapter as needed.

Two — count 'em, two — new chapters posted!

Chapter 10, In the Bright Light of Morning

Summary:  The morning after arriving in Ost-in-Edhil, Elrond and Erestor each suffer from the aches and pains of the long road from Mithlond as well as from other sources.

Chapter 11, The Path's Heart

Summary: Elrond finds a nearly comatose Mélamírë in dire straits.  She resists his attempts to reach her through sanwe-latya, until, with her permission, he gives her a bitter medicine that allows them to share a dream, called the lugnolossê by an ancient shaman of the Unbegotten.

Two elves of the Greenwood, a troubled warrior and a prince, confront the shadows from their past in the less than perfect paradise of Valinor. There, a tradition that has been kept every four long-years since the ancient days of the Great Journey is about to take place once more.

Three are one. There are no love songs to encompass what they share save the songs they sing themselves.

Shortly after the arrival of the main body of the Noldor in Middle-earth, Fingon the Valiant sets off alone to rescue his cousin and old friend Maedhros who has been captured by Melkor.

Nominated for the 2011 Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards.