From HarperOne’s blog on C.S. Lewis: “Did C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien collaborate on a project that was never published? It is well known that the two were close friends and relished each other’s praise and criticism. However, there is little evidence that the two intended on working together on any manuscript. Steven A. Beebe, professor and chair of communication studies at Texas State University, believes he has found a fragment of an unpublished work. CSLewis.com recently interviewed Dr. Beebe to get more insight on his findings. More…

J.R.R. Tolkien’s newest posthumous work lands in retail today. The body of the non Middle-earth tale is told in two narrative poems told in the form of Norse mythology with a Tolkien lecture and an introduction from his son Christopher. Tolkien was a master of the forms of Old Norse and Old Englsih poetry while for most of us, that brilliance is likely to go unappreciated, there is still treasure to be gleaned in understanding the author and the traditions that led him to construct his own cosmology.

The Guardian in the UK published a faxed interview while while reviews are popping up like mushrooms. Read some here, here, and here.

New Hampshire Ringers interested in learning more about the sources of Tolkien’s inspiration should check out the Poetry Society of NH’s celebration of the Kalevala on October 11. There’ll be poetry, music from the Maine Kantele, and Runeberg’s tarts and other Finnish pastries. It’s at 6PM at Artstream, 56 North Main Street, Rochester, NH. The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact poetrysocietyofnh@gmail.com

Ostadan writes: Parma Eldalamberon #17 is now available from the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship. This issue is a commentary by Tolkien from the late 1950s and early 1960s concerning the words and names from his invented languages incorporated into The Lord of the Rings. This includes not only the Elvish languages, but Dwarvish, Black Speech (including some analysis of the words in the ring inscription), and the language of Rohan. It has been edited and annotated by Christopher Gilson, with the permission and guidance of Christopher Tolkien and the Tolkien Estate. This 220-page journal is available for $35. [More]

TORN Staffer Ostadan writes: The Esperanto translation of The Lord of the Rings (translated by William Auld) has been out of print for several years. I was recently pleased to learn that it will be reprinted this year, with some material not translated for the first edition (but, alas, still lacking the Appendices). You can get a taste of the translation at here; the site includes the Riddles in the Dark chapter from The Hobbit (Enigmoj en la Mallumo) which was reprinted in 2005, and two chapters (so far) from Lord of the Rings (La Ombro de la pasinteco, and La Spegulo de Galadriela), with four more to come over the next few weeks; one translated chapter from each of the six books of LotR will appear on the site. Since people have the original English at their fingertips (if not actually memorized), these translated excerpts may prove interesting as a curiosity even to those who cannot easily read Esperanto.

If you’re even casually interested in the languages Tolkien created, you’ll want to join us in Hall of Fire on December 11 at 5.30pm EST when we’ll be joined by Tolkien language expert David Salo for a moderated question and answer session. David was the primary language consultant for Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings. David wrote Elvish dialogue, and created Dwarvish inscriptions for Moria, as well as the inscriptions for Aragorn’s sword – Anduril – and Frodo’s sword – Sting. [More]