September 2015 Doings and Things

Dragon*Con 2015 will be this weekend and I have been scheduled to participate in five sessions so far. I am keeping the details updated on the Middle-earth and Tolkien Blog. I have 1 panel on Saturday (Game of Thrones fans will want to see that one), "Middle-earth vs. Westeros". It falls to me to speak of death in two literary worlds.

Of Tolkien and Halloween and Conventions and Things

It has been a while since I was last able to participate in any conventions.  It seems like this year I will be participating in three.  First up is Tolkien Moot 2015, which will be held in Spokane, WA this weekend.  Tolkien Moot is for gamers who want to get together to play games inspired by Middle-earth.  My friend Hawke Robinson, who runs and funds the event out of his pocket, has been broadcasting these events over the Internet for years.  Technically, most "attendees" are "tune-inees", people who watch over wire.  I will be participating in two online panels remotely.

Where do Fandom and Cults Differentiate Themselves from Each Other?

The almost insane curiosity that science fiction and fantasy fandom direct at their favorite books, movies, television shows, and radio dramas (or comic books, art, etc.) has been compared more than once with cult-like devotion to religious leaders and icons.  In fact, the word "cult" itself has many meanings, and is related to words like "agriculture", "culture", and "cultivate".
We do appear to worship the Star Wars universe in many ways.  Some fans are so devoted to the Star Wars experience that they meet regularly in costume and ... and, well, do things like the Tolkien fans and the Star Trek fans and the Pern fans and the Hunger Games fans.  And it goes on and on.  Millions of people have identified with the science fiction way of life.

Remembering Andre Norton Ten Years Later

There have been few days in my life where sadness overwhelmed me.  March 17, 2005 was one of those rare days.  I had long been expecting it but when the moment came and a close friend told me that Andre Norton was gone, I just wanted to rip everything off the Web and put up Andre Norton memorials.  She was the first science fiction and fantasy author to stir real passion in my heart as a reader.  Her stories, often said to be written for young adults, touched me when I was a young teenager but I could not stop reading them when I reached my twenties and thirties.  Her craft was that good, that I could return to the same stories over and over again.

December is the Season for Interviews and Books

'Tis the season for gift-giving and we have information about a couple of gifts we hope you will share with family, friends, and yourselves. First up is news about the recently published book Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand. The author, Robert Mellette, originally became known to fans of Xena: Warrior Princess in the 1990s as Xenastaff. He was was the admin for the official MCA/Universal Web Forum for the show.

Billy Bobble is, according to Mellette, targeted at the entire family. We were invited to interview him earlier this year as part of the pre-release promotional campaign for the book but schedules got in the way, excuses presented themselves, and we dropped the ball. Sorry, Robert. Still, you can now read Part One of "An Interview with Robert Mellette" on Xenite.Org and Part Two of "An Interview with Robert Mellette" on SF-Fandom.