lotrcrazy sends this in from the Sunday Feb 22 comic strip “Prickly City”.

From AP and our friends at Houghton Mifflin: NEW YORK – An early, long-unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien is coming out. “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun,” a thorough reworking in verse of old Norse epics that predates Tolkien’s writing of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, will be published in May by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. According to Houghton, the book will include an introduction by Tolkien and notes by his son, Christopher Tolkien. J.R.R. Tolkien, whose fantasy novels have sold millions of copies, died in 1973. “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” was written in the 1920s and ’30s, when the author was teaching at Oxford University.

FredO writes: Our local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, publishes a topical cartoon called “Brewed On Grant.” It references the political center of Pittsburgh which is on Grant Street. I’m attaching the February 4, 2009 cartoon. They went LOTR geek about the Steelers win in the Super Bowl. Enjoy!

Gary Hunt writes: I worked on the trilogy and am still at Weta Workshop. I also have my own Pewter miniatures business, www.garyhuntminiatures.com. I’m just dropping you a note that your readers might be interested in: The Weta cave, (Weta Workshop) Miramar, Wellington, NZ now have a selection of my Pewter miniature kits for sale and on display. There are two ranges, my recently released 21st Century Amazons… Sci-fi Fantasy figures in the wargaming 28mm scale, (Girls with guns, and strange insect crosses, Zombies and Feathered Raptors etc) and a collectors scale, 54mm range that encompasses sci-fi and Historical characters and the Duke of Wellington mounted at Waterloo. The figures, as well as looking cool on your mantelpiece or part of a mass battle against aliens can provide some basic modelmaking skills that can lead to converting and sculpting your own characters (this is in fact how I learned to sculpt and gave me the desire to work in film). If you happen to be a long way from New Zealand you can view my Sci-fi, Fantasy and Historical ranges on my Website www.garyhuntminiatures.com and progress photo’s of new sculpts, hopefully i’ll have some of a dragon i’ve started going up soon on www.myspace.com/garyhuntportfolio

Doug Adams
Doug Adams

Doug has announced that John Howe is creating an original illustration for Doug’s upcoming book, “The Music of the LOTR Films“. Doug writes that Howe’s “Melkor’s Theme”…

(is) a stunning work — a vortex of detail that exposes layers of details and nuance with each viewing. Here Howe has depicted…the face of Melkor and the fury of his contact with a dawning world.

Doug also added that another guest contributor would be announced in the next few weeks. “The Music of the LOTR Films” will be released in conjunction with “The Rarities Archive”, a collection of music that was composed for the LOTR films, but not used.