While trying to rescue his parents from the clutches of city Enforcers, a young soldier finds himself trapped in a war of ancient powers – and has to find the strength in himself to make a terrible choice. My new novella, ‘The Last Citadel of the Innocent’, is being published on 8 July in the … More Endless Worlds – Volume 2 – now on preorder
Years ago I spent a lot of time with friends playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons™. You know, the game where you rolled dice and looked up a table in a hardback book to find out what happened. After a hard day’s adventuring, slaying orcs, trolls, goblins and so forth the characters would retire for a … More Drinking in the REAL Green Dragon inn, and how it led to the Gods in Twilight
One thing we know about dragons is that they tend to have the kind of breath that makes a furnace in a steel-works look cool. Which is fine and dandy – but how does that actually work? I’ve got a few theories. Hotter on the inside. If we assume dragons to be endothermic, they’re going … More Five ways dragons can breathe fire
Last year my novella ‘Missionary’ was published as part of Endless Worlds Volume I, an anthology by a new Brisbane-based publisher. As you can imagine, where there’s a Volume 1 there is bound to be a Volume 2 – and here it is. The theme of this volume is dark faerie tales – with all … More And now: Endless Worlds – Volume 2
I posted the other week on my visit to the Hobbiton Movie Set – and promised a second part. I took, of course, far too many photos. But then, how often can you visit Hobbiton? For real. OK, it’s the movie set, not the real thing. But heeeeey. The set is laid out in a valley … More A visit to the Hobbiton Movie Set – Part 2
It’s early morning and light rain is falling as we depart our motel for a tour we’ve been planning for years but never got around to. Until now. Hobbiton. When The Lord Of The Rings was being made, my wife and I were living under the shadow of the hills that hosted the Minas Tirith and … More Tolkien made real – a visit to the Hobbiton movie set. Part 1.
In the last few posts I’ve been exploring how Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings became a major part of mainstream culture. The transition began in the mid-1960s on the back of the counter-culture, and the place of Tolkien’s imaginarium was cemented by the mainstreaming of fantasy and science fiction in the 1970s – a … More Has anybody got ‘Bored of the Rings’?
In the last few posts I’ve been exploring the way J R R Tolkien subverted twentieth century literature, creating a whole new form of fantasy – and why The Lord Of The Rings in particular was such a runaway success. Today I’m wrapping the series up with a few thoughts on the way people reacted … More Pastoral folk or Wagnerian metal – which music best suits Tolkien?
In the past few posts I’ve been explaining why Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings struck such chords with the western world, despite breaking all the rules of the twentieth century novel. We’ve seen how, on one level, it ‘broke through’ a decade after being published, on the back of the way the counter-culture identified with … More Deep magic from the dawn of humanity: the real appeal of Tolkien
I’ve been posting about why J R R Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings broke all the rules – yet, ten years after publication, took off commercially to become a defining icon of twentieth century fantasy literature. As a huge Tolkien fan who used to read The Lord Of The Rings multiple times a year, … More Beyond epic – how Tolkien broke the rules and wrote a winner
Matthew Wright 
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