Houston, TX — January 5, 2002 — Parma Endorion: Essays on Middle-earth, 3rd edition, has been published as a free eBook by Michael Martinez. The new Parma Endorion features selected artwork by Anke Eissmann and Rich Sullivan and updates essays originally composed for the original Parma Endorion Web site in late 1996 and early 1997.
Covering topics such as “Planning the Middle-earth Wedding”, “The Wonders of Middle-earth”, “What does an Elf do in Aman?”, and “What does a Woodman do all day?”, Parma Endorion’s award-winning essays have been utilized by Tolkien scholars, teachers, librarians, and students around the world. The Web site proved to be so popular it was redesigned for easier use in 1998, and has been translated in whole or in part into Polish, French, and Italian. In addition to new information and corrections, the 3rd edition features fan artwork. The images used represent some of the best noncommercial Tolkien-inspired arwork available today.
Martinez is a highly respected Tolkien researcher and commentator. His work has garnered mentions in TV GUIDE and WIRED magazines, and he has been interviewed by journalists around the world in their coverage of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies. Martinez has been writing a regular column on Tolkien and Middle-earth for Suite101.com since 1999, and in 2000 he self-published a collection of essays as Visualizing Middle-earth. Martinez also directed the Tolkien and Middle-earth programming track for Dragoncon (http://www.dragoncon.org/), North America’s largest fan-run convention, in 2000 and 2001. The author has also provided consulting services for several Tolkien-related businesses.
The current Parma Endorion Web site (http://www.xenite.org/parma/title.htm) was selected by Yahoo! Internet Life for inclusion in its “Great Lord of the Rings on the Net Contest” in December 2001, in the “Best Site for Serious Tolkien Fans” category. The Yahoo! reviewer says, “these pieces don’t play around — Martinez…can quote chapter and verse from Tolkien’s opus” (http://www.yil.com/daily/lotr/index.asp?date=011210).
Artists Anke Eissmann and Rich Sullivan have contributed artwork to popular Web sites such as Tolkien Online (http://www.tolkienonline.com/) and TheOneRing.Net (http://www.theonering.net/), both widely recognized as authoritative resources for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies. The artists were selected from among hundreds of fan artists who have displayed their skills on numerous sites across the World Wide Web.
The Parma Endorion eBook is available for free download as an Adobe PDF file from Free-eBooks.Net (http://www.free-ebooks.net/fan_fiction.html). Free-eBooks.Net is a member of the eBooks’n’Bytes network (http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/). A Spanish-language translation is expected later this year.
