The StrainDustyhobbit writes: I have exciting news for those in the LA area, Guillermo del Toro will be at one of our stores on 2 June for a discussion and booksigning of ‘The Strain’. From the website: The director of Pan’s Labyrinth presents a novel about a horrifying battle between man & vampire that threatens all humanity. Discussion and Signing June 02, 2009 7:00 PM. Westwood Borders (1360 Westwood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90024).

Pre-Order ‘The Strain: Book One of The Strain Trilogy (Hardcover)’ on Amazon.com today!

Fantasy Art Worksop Weta is pleased to host one of the world’s most acclaimed Tolkien illustrators and designers, John Howe, for a book signing at the Weta Cave. Currently visiting Weta Workshop, John Howe was of course also one of the principal designers on Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings. John Howe will be signing two of his fantastic volumes and a postcard. Continue reading “John Howe book signing at the Weta Cave in Wellington”

happy-birthdayTORn’s 10th Anniversary bash keeps getting better and better. Our good friend Magnus from Weta just posted a birthday card to TORn from Weta on in the VIP message thread on our Feedback board:

“Dear Tehanu, Xoanon, Corvar, Calisuri and thousands of other friends, No website has provided such a platform for fandom and creativity across literature and film as TheOneRing.net and for that we salute you! Past, current and future crew at Weta will be forever spiritually connected to TORn and we are absolutely relishing the opportunity to take on future journeys together – there… and back again… naturally.
We have recorded a short tribute at http://www.wetanz.com/torn10bday/  Wink
Where you can also see your card in high resolution glory.”

Check out the high res version of the Weta birthday card (pictured) and the TORn tribute video at the link above. You won’t want to miss it.

The Legend of Sigurd and GudrúnThe folks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt send this bit of coolness to us! They want to whet your appetites for the May 5th release of ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’, take a look at the foreword written by Christopher Tolkien!

Sigurd and Gudrún on Facebook

Pre-order ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’ on Amazon.com

In his essay On Fairy-Stories (1947) my father wrote of books that he read in his childhood, and in the course of this he said:

I had very little desire to look for buried treasure or fight pirates, and Treasure Island left me cool. Red Indians were better: there were bows and arrows (I had and have a wholly unsatisfied desire to shoot well with a bow), and strange languages, and glimpses of an archaic mode of life, and above all, forests in such stories. But the land of Merlin and Arthur were better than these, and best of all the nameless North of Sigurd and the Völsungs, and the prince of all dragons. Such lands were pre-eminently desirable. Continue reading “Christopher Tolkien’s Foreword to ‘Sigurd and Gudrún’!”