Tom
@alas-not-me.bsky.social
Always heard a different drum.
Happy to talk about Tolkien on podcasts.
'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many.'
Finalist for The Tolkien Society's Best Book Award 2024
@KentStateUPress
Happy to talk about Tolkien on podcasts.
'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many.'
Finalist for The Tolkien Society's Best Book Award 2024
@KentStateUPress
Pinned
Tom
@alas-not-me.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Now through the end of 2024 my book (as pictured below in the Rose Reading Room of the NYPL) is 30% off at the Kent State University Press website. Just enter the code ENJOY30 at checkout.
Full title is "Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many."
ISBN: 978-1-60635-471-1
Full title is "Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many."
ISBN: 978-1-60635-471-1
@sanders.senate.gov I don't know whether, as an independent, you would be eligible to take Schumer's place. But someone with guts and conviction needs to take his position away from him. Now more than ever. So much is at stake.
November 11, 2025 at 1:35 AM
@sanders.senate.gov I don't know whether, as an independent, you would be eligible to take Schumer's place. But someone with guts and conviction needs to take his position away from him. Now more than ever. So much is at stake.
Can we start a drive to have this letter graven in atone?
The problem was never that Boris Johnson studied classics...
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
November 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Can we start a drive to have this letter graven in atone?
In the 1st version of Túrin's story, in the Book of Lost Tales, the inscription on his tomb adds the name Níniel, referring to his sister by the name she had as his wife. This version dances along the edge between horror and denial.
November 7, 2025 at 8:53 PM
In the 1st version of Túrin's story, in the Book of Lost Tales, the inscription on his tomb adds the name Níniel, referring to his sister by the name she had as his wife. This version dances along the edge between horror and denial.
Is everybody in the US ready to lose their 394 pounds in the next year (that's 178 kg for those countries in the 21st century).
November 7, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Is everybody in the US ready to lose their 394 pounds in the next year (that's 178 kg for those countries in the 21st century).
Reposted by Tom
Come join us with as we discuss feasts and food in Tolkien's legendarium at our next Carrock Smial meeting.
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Come join us with as we discuss feasts and food in Tolkien's legendarium at our next Carrock Smial meeting.
I am not David Bowie, but I approve this message.
🎵we can be Heroes, just for one day
November 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I am not David Bowie, but I approve this message.
A new post, much shorter.
Númenor: the Downfall is in the Details
alasnotme.blogspot.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
A new post, much shorter.
Reposted by Tom
Perfectly amazing things from people like @prancingponypod.bsky.social, @tolkien-in-jena.bsky.social, @teawithtolkien.com, @jrsoundscapes.bsky.social, @alas-not-me.bsky.social, @miriamellis.bsky.social, @file770.bsky.social and more...
November 3, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Perfectly amazing things from people like @prancingponypod.bsky.social, @tolkien-in-jena.bsky.social, @teawithtolkien.com, @jrsoundscapes.bsky.social, @alas-not-me.bsky.social, @miriamellis.bsky.social, @file770.bsky.social and more...
Reposted by Tom
Dragons are trying to convince us the problem is the hobbits. There's your fucking Tolkien metaphor.
November 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Dragons are trying to convince us the problem is the hobbits. There's your fucking Tolkien metaphor.
A long post from something I am working on for my next book, which will treat the Great Tales and (what I think of as) the Great Themes, Death/Immortality, Fate/Free Will, Divine Justice/Problem of Evil in the years before Tolkien began The Lord of the Rings.
alasnotme.blogspot.com/2025/10/from...
alasnotme.blogspot.com/2025/10/from...
From a Gift in Death to the Gift of Death: Túrin and the Doom of Men
alasnotme.blogspot.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:46 AM
A long post from something I am working on for my next book, which will treat the Great Tales and (what I think of as) the Great Themes, Death/Immortality, Fate/Free Will, Divine Justice/Problem of Evil in the years before Tolkien began The Lord of the Rings.
alasnotme.blogspot.com/2025/10/from...
alasnotme.blogspot.com/2025/10/from...
"Problems for [Tolkien's] listeners would be compounded by his tendency to pursue lines of thought like a fox dashing from covert to covert, as he does in all versions of ‘On Fairy-stories’."
- @johngarthwriter.bsky.social in the latest Journal of Inklings Studies. 15.2 (2025) open access.
- @johngarthwriter.bsky.social in the latest Journal of Inklings Studies. 15.2 (2025) open access.
October 28, 2025 at 8:11 PM
"Problems for [Tolkien's] listeners would be compounded by his tendency to pursue lines of thought like a fox dashing from covert to covert, as he does in all versions of ‘On Fairy-stories’."
- @johngarthwriter.bsky.social in the latest Journal of Inklings Studies. 15.2 (2025) open access.
- @johngarthwriter.bsky.social in the latest Journal of Inklings Studies. 15.2 (2025) open access.
I never made any of this bumper sticker I designed, but I still like it
October 26, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I never made any of this bumper sticker I designed, but I still like it
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency."
-Rebecca Solnit
I don't generally see Jack Torrance as a figure of hope, but if an ax can be a metaphor for hope, times can change.
-Rebecca Solnit
I don't generally see Jack Torrance as a figure of hope, but if an ax can be a metaphor for hope, times can change.
October 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency."
-Rebecca Solnit
I don't generally see Jack Torrance as a figure of hope, but if an ax can be a metaphor for hope, times can change.
-Rebecca Solnit
I don't generally see Jack Torrance as a figure of hope, but if an ax can be a metaphor for hope, times can change.
Trigger Warning. This post speaks of the deaths of 3 people, two of them children.
A sad tale of Milton Waldman, to whom Tolkien wrote a famous letter
alasnotme.blogspot.com
October 18, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Trigger Warning. This post speaks of the deaths of 3 people, two of them children.
Group of friends on subway, talking.
W1: I have honestly never dated a guy who knew anything about sports.
M1: So, I'm having another superbowl party this year.
W1: I have honestly never dated a guy who knew anything about sports.
M1: So, I'm having another superbowl party this year.
October 17, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Group of friends on subway, talking.
W1: I have honestly never dated a guy who knew anything about sports.
M1: So, I'm having another superbowl party this year.
W1: I have honestly never dated a guy who knew anything about sports.
M1: So, I'm having another superbowl party this year.
It is always a desperately sad moment when you realize there is no more macaroni and cheese.
October 15, 2025 at 4:55 AM
It is always a desperately sad moment when you realize there is no more macaroni and cheese.
ftw
Dracula is never rebooted, merely revamped
October 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
ftw
What Stuck With Me From All Those Years In Catholic School
alasnotme.blogspot.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Reposting this from a few years back because it's got a fun story about Tolkien and the Classicist Maurice Bowra.
Of Kubla Khan in Greek, Tolkien in his Cups, and a Boat of Melted Butter.
alasnotme.blogspot.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposting this from a few years back because it's got a fun story about Tolkien and the Classicist Maurice Bowra.
If the Vanyar had a favorite flavor of ice cream, it would be called Vanilla Bliss.
October 10, 2025 at 5:33 PM
If the Vanyar had a favorite flavor of ice cream, it would be called Vanilla Bliss.