tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post7400410426233247478..comments2024-03-29T00:12:08.466-07:00Comments on Oldenhammer in Toronto: Reading along with The Lord of the Rings: A Long-Expected Partymatthewjksullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08126108200355039621noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post-76843081630842210722020-12-06T13:57:25.498-08:002020-12-06T13:57:25.498-08:00Earlier it had been said that bilbo had dwarves ma...Earlier it had been said that bilbo had dwarves made lot of quality gifts for children on his birthday to give. Since they are now close friends, probably invite some of them for the party and the gifts. And since he was planning to go another adventure, what could be better company than his old dear friends dwarves?<br /><br />Five years late for this adventure but im in. On chapter 3 right now.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12868137130149491140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post-66924065202575670972015-07-26T14:07:26.421-07:002015-07-26T14:07:26.421-07:00As my dad, the amateur pin-up photographer, always...As my dad, the amateur pin-up photographer, always said; "It's not what you reveal, it's what you conceal that makes the picture interesting!"Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14996350912869829140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post-39746136054335951302015-07-09T20:56:13.642-07:002015-07-09T20:56:13.642-07:00Arg!? Why am I not writing a chapter-by-chapter co...Arg!? Why am I not writing a chapter-by-chapter commentary on Gormenghast! Now that is a work that deserves a lot more love and attention. Alas, mine is a wasted life...matthewjksullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08126108200355039621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post-14189480840368359382015-07-06T10:12:05.018-07:002015-07-06T10:12:05.018-07:00I have always been skeptical of Chekov's Gun. ...I have always been skeptical of Chekov's Gun. It makes sense in playwriting where you have an audience with rapidly numbing buttocks waiting for your story to resolve. But in novels or series where your space is practically infinite imparting more than the minimum level of detail is an option, not an error. It's even more important for fantasy and science fiction: as you said (and George Lucas demonstrated), a fantasy story should never explain away or make use of every detail of the world we're in.<br /><br />An even more striking example of this is Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Something like 75 per cent of the details in the books could be cut without ruining the main plot, but richness of the world, and the identification of the reader with characters crushed under centuries of social rules and pointless rituals, would be lost!Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04703561248939486456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874877056919928739.post-52463048506731917312015-07-03T01:26:37.808-07:002015-07-03T01:26:37.808-07:00You're quite right that rereading LOTR always ...You're quite right that rereading LOTR always unearths some of these details one never noticed before. It's one of the reasons I regularly reread chapters - although not in the correct order anymore ;-)<br /><br />I recently reread the Silmarillion, and I had the same impression -- these are stories of a much larger world, undiscovered to us.Phil Dutréhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13607941040736764291noreply@blogger.com