In Which I Make “An ANNOUNCEMENT”

Note: All interested in the Tolkien Club (now officially The Wordstapas) are referred to this page, wherein they may find all information regarding the society. The links regarding the Tolkien Club and the information session in the following post are no longer live. Should any questions arise, contact Nicole here.

I shall not keep you long, he cried. 
Cheers from all the assembly. 
I have called you all together for a Purpose.¹

Friends,

I have indeed called you all together for a Purpose, and I need not tell you that this Purpose is that “tremendously exciting announcement” which I have been hinting at for the past few weeks.

Friends, I am starting a Tolkien club!

For some time now I have been pondering how I can share more of my love of mythology and languages with you and others of like mind.  So much is going on in my head, so much sparked by topics I have only begun to write about on Remembered Lore, so much stirred by discussion with fellow Story-lovers.  Remembered Lore simply can’t hold it all.

Thus my desire to begin a society for the reading and discussing of mythology and the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien.  I am so excited to start this, friends:  to open dusty volumes, begin deep discussions, ruminate on poetry over candlelight and by firelight, think forgotten thoughts, and be tossed into the same high-rolling, rime-cold ocean of Story which tossed Beowulf and his companions.

I will lay forth here a few particulars to sedate your watering mouths, but most of the information can be found on the new Tolkien Club page in the header.

Firstly, members will meet online once per month, but I will encourage them all to keep in regular contact between meetings, sharing new-found thoughts and treasures.  The club will run on an academic term schedule, that is, from September through December, and again from January through April (possibly May).  The first meeting will be in January 2022.  However, on November 26th at 7pm MST, I will be holding an information session online where I will talk more about the Tolkien Club and answer any questions (I also have a mind to read a portion of The Hobbit aloud during the evening).  You can register for that here.

And speaking of “Tolkien Club” brings me to another point.  I need a name for this little fellowship.  I hesitate to call it “The Tolkien Club” because the readings we shall be traversing are less from Tolkien’s own pen and more from those anonymous scribes to whom we owe our trove of myth and legend.  I would like to open the floor to you all on this point.  Please, share with me any names or name ideas you have.  I do not promise to use them, but I do promise to slide them into my simmering pot of thoughts and let them brew something.  Read this blog post and the Tolkien Club page and allow ideas to form.  I welcome all thoughts—unrelated, obscure, nonsensical, obvious, mundane; words invented, words compounded, words from the ancient, the modern, the in-between.  Those of you fortunate enough to dwell in merry England and her sister isles, have you any dialectal words you can offer me?  I will hear them all.  Leave your musings in the comments below or slip me a personal note here.

One last thing.  Please do share this news on all your blogs and social platforms (if your topic lends itself to the subject) and with any you feel would be interested.  I’ll be preparing a graphic of sorts for Instagram soon, so if you would like a copy, let me know.

Friends, I warmly invite you to join me on this adventure.  You can click the link below to register if you’d like.  Feel no pressure.  I would love to have you.

Note:

¹J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 1