A well-known biographer, Michael White, has been approached to write a new biography of Tolkien due out this November [More]
Day: July 9, 2001
Recently we were contacted by a Michael White, a writer who’s preparing a new biography of Tolkien. In his words, “I’m just writing to let you know that I’ve been approached to write a biography of Tolkien for global publication in late November this year. I’m working flat out on the book for delivery in mid-Sept. The book will be published by Alpha in the US and my regular publishers in a collection of territories around the world.
“I know some of you will be aware of the very good biography by Humphrey Carpenter, but I hope mine will be a little lighter and right up to date. I am of course a huge fan of Tolkien and have been for a quarter of a century and I intend my book to be a respectful and entertaining tale. Watch this space!”
His name might ring a bell for some of you. He is the author of twenty books: These include the international best-seller, Stephen Hawking – A Life In Science which has been translated into 15 languages; Einstein – A Life in Science and Darwin — A Life In Science (with John Gribbin). Early solo efforts included a collection of biographies for teenagers – Newton, Galileo, Lennon and Mozart and a biography of Isaac Asimov – Asimov – The Unauthorised Life (1994). Since then he has written the internationally best-selling: The Science of the X-Files (1996), an alternative biography of Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer which concentrates upon Newton’s obsession
with magic and alchemy. This was nominated by four British newspapers as ‘biography of the year’ in 1997 and was awarded ‘Book of the Year’ in the science category by Bookman Associates in the U.S, an honour he shared with Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. He followed this with Life Out There – a detailed look at the question of extraterrestrial life and Super Science, a continuation of the theme begun with The Science of the X-Files.
Ian wrote to say “In case you don’t already know, the UK’s august edition of “Starlog” is now out in shops with a piece on LotR [pp30-34,] including a new (to me) orc pic and a lot of chat with Barry Osborne [LOTR producer.] Thanks Ian!
Anyone out there with a scanner, you know what to do!
Well, spikes are in the news again thanks to that report from Garth over at DarkHorizons. Who knows if there is any truth to the rumor, but my mailbox is full of speculation, theories and anger over this whole debate. [More]
Well, spikes are in the news again thanks to that report from Garth over at DarkHorizons. Who knows if there is any truth to the rumor, but my mailbox is full of speculation, theories and anger over this whole debate.
Alot of people are bringing up the ‘Saruman on the Spiked Wheel’ photo that was all the rage last October. Some people are speculating that the DarkHorizons’ spy is getting Sauron and Saruman mistaken. That could be the case, it has not been un-common for spies to get their wizards and dwarves crossed.
From the early two-script draft that PJ and Fran Walsh wrote a few years back, we DO see a different end of Sauron than that which occurred in the books, but it’s nothing like this recent rumor about him falling on a spike.
The last theory has this scene taking place during a flashback scene from the Last Alliance. While this never really is documented in LOTR or any other books that chronicle the Last Alliance, this could be a scene we see during a flashback. Who knows.
And, of course, like we always do, I take everything that isn’t from a trusted spy as a RUMOR (unless PJ calls me himself and says ‘yes Mike, it’s true’). So there we have it. I’m tired and I want to go to bed…
Ringer Spy Ataahua sends along wrd from the NZ Herald, some interesting stuff in this small blurb, like WETA has scanned over a million images from the films, cool stuff. [More]