Crowdfunder To Raise Money to Establish a Tolkien Museum

Credit: Pixabay

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I have some Tolkien news this week. But first I want to apologise for missing last Wednesday’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. (Alex, if you’re reading this, I personally apologise for missing.) With the Thanksgiving four-day weekend, I was a little disoriented in my sense of time of the week and forgot that the first Wednesday of the month had arrived. That’s the first time I missed an IWSG post and I’ll do everything I can to make sure it’s the last. One thing you can count on (unless an absolute emergency comes up which I’m not expecting one), I’ll have a post here for the IWSG next year, which is also next month. 

Tolkien Museum Fundraiser

The close of this year has been seeing big plans for commemorating authors with landmarks. I mentioned a few weeks back, that there were plans for a Harlan Ellison library. Only this past week, December 2nd, did a group of fundraisers launch a crowdfunding campaign, named Project Northmoor, to save a house that fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien lived in and to make it into a museum in his honour. The group includes stars from Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of Tolkien’s trilogy of books, “The Lord of the Rings”, and award-winning novelist Julia Golding. The LOTR actors involved in the project include Sir Ian McKellen who played the wizard Gandalf, and John Rhys-Davies who doubled up on the roles of Gimli and Treebeard. 

According to a press release at the project’s website, the house at 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford, England is where Tolkien and his family lived for 17 years beginning in 1930. The press release also says it’s where he wrote “The Lord of the Rings” and its prequel, “The Hobbit”. The purpose of the fundraiser is to purchase the house and make it into a literary facility in honour of Tolkien, to promote his work and gather fantasy writers and artists to learn and create, and to preserve the historical house for future generations. According to the campaign video, besides the plan to restore the garden Tolkien loved to relax in, there is the possibility of building on the property an underground house or hobbit “hole” like the ones the hobbits of the books lived in. The facility would also have an interactive online presence for those who are not able to travel to Oxford.  

This may be the very first facility devoted to Tolkien anywhere. Rhys-Davies says, “Unbelievably, considering the importance, there is no centre devoted to Tolkien anywhere in the world . . .” And he does not underestimate that importance. Tolkien is the 20th century author whose work influenced and popularised high fantasy as we know it today. Fan clubs have been dedicated to his work. Memorabilia--such as artwork, calendars and games--has grown out of it. Animated films have been based on it and finally there were Jackson’s movie adaptations.  

As McKellen announced, the campaign group is asking Tolkien fans to donate to the project. “We cannot achieve this without the support of the worldwide community of Tolkien fans, our fellowship of funders,” he says. Anyone interested in donating can do so by visiting the project’s website. The campaign will run through March 15, 2021.

Credit: Pixabay

Although I don’t read high fantasy as much as I do sci fi and horror, I do read some. I’ve read “The Hobbit” twice and am reading “The Fellowship of the Rings”, the first book of the LOTR trilogy, for the second time. Out of all high fantasy that I’ve read, Tolkien’s is my favourite. I don’t only like it for the fascinating creatures such as dwarves, hobbits and elves; I don’t only like it for its mighty wizards; nor do I only like it for the terrifying but awesome monsters such as Orcs and dragons. But I also like it because, along with “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” together is a myth that I can live by, as the late mythologist Joseph Campbell would have put it. This means they are the stories that I reflect on when I’m sorting out my own life’s events and challenges. 

Patreon Page and Upcoming Holiday Sales

I’ve made a few slight changes to the benefits at my Patreon page. One of those changes are reduced membership prices which you can read more about on the post there. Speaking of reduced prices, a holiday sale on at least one of my books may be coming up as we get closer to Christmas. But if you can’t wait then consider purchasing one of my books now either at Smashwords (“Fool’s Illusion” ebook version) or Amazon (FI and others)! 

So, what do you think of a Tolkien museum being established? Do you think the world’s due for one?  

Until next time . . .