Meditations on Middle-Earth: New Writing on the Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien
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Overview
Hugo Award Nominee: George R. R. Martin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, Harry Turtledove, and others reveal how Tolkien inspired and influenced them.
When J. R. R. Tolkien created the extraordinary world of Middle-earth and populated it with fantastic, archetypal denizens, reinventing the heroic quest, the world hardly noticed. Sales of The Lord of the Rings languished for the better part of two decades, until the Ballantine editions were published in America. By the late 1950s, however, the books were selling well and beginning to change the face of fantasy . . . . forever. A generation of students and aspiring writers had their hearts and imaginations captured by the rich tapestry of the Middle-earth mythos, the larger-than-life heroic characters, the extraordinary and exquisite nature of Tolkien’s prose, and the unending quest to balance evil with good.
In Meditations on Middle-earth, writers share details of their personal relationships with Tolkien’s mythos, for it inspired them all. Had there been no Lord of the Rings, there would also have been no Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin; no Song of Ice and Fire saga from George R. R. Martin; no Tales of Discworld from Terry Pratchett; no Legends of Alvin Maker from Orson Scott Card. Each of them was influenced by the master mythmaker, and now each reveals the nature of that influence and their personal relationships with the greatest fantasy novels ever written in the English language.
A Locus Award Nominee
When J. R. R. Tolkien created the extraordinary world of Middle-earth and populated it with fantastic, archetypal denizens, reinventing the heroic quest, the world hardly noticed. Sales of The Lord of the Rings languished for the better part of two decades, until the Ballantine editions were published in America. By the late 1950s, however, the books were selling well and beginning to change the face of fantasy . . . . forever. A generation of students and aspiring writers had their hearts and imaginations captured by the rich tapestry of the Middle-earth mythos, the larger-than-life heroic characters, the extraordinary and exquisite nature of Tolkien’s prose, and the unending quest to balance evil with good.
In Meditations on Middle-earth, writers share details of their personal relationships with Tolkien’s mythos, for it inspired them all. Had there been no Lord of the Rings, there would also have been no Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin; no Song of Ice and Fire saga from George R. R. Martin; no Tales of Discworld from Terry Pratchett; no Legends of Alvin Maker from Orson Scott Card. Each of them was influenced by the master mythmaker, and now each reveals the nature of that influence and their personal relationships with the greatest fantasy novels ever written in the English language.
A Locus Award Nominee
- Title: Meditations on Middle-Earth: New Writing on the Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien
- Authors: John Howe, Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Haber
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781429974738, 1429974737
- Resource ID: LLS:9781429974738
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-21T17:53:00Z
Karen Haber is the art book reviewer for Locus, and profiles artists for both Realms of Fantasy and Galaxyonline. She is co-editor, along with her husband, Robert Silverberg, of the Bantam/Spectra science fiction anthologies, Universe 1 & 2.
John Howe is universally considered to be the foremost Tolkien illustrator (along with Alan Lee). He is currently hard at work with director Peter Jackson on the art design for the upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy.