September?! Seriously?

Apparently so. Life has been quiet on the Tolkien front as I finished off my MSc, so now I have some free time and energy to get back to reading and writing without feeling guilty for what I’m not doing!

I’ve not been entirely idle though — the wonderful Clare Moore and I have been on two podcast episodes this summer, both talking about our co-edited issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research on asexual readings of Tolkien. The first was with Kenny and Sam at the Entmoot Podcast where we chatted about why aspec readings of Tolkien, or indeed any literature, fantasy or otherwise, are really awesome and important. They asked us some great questions about our articles, as well as some of the others in the volume, and we had a really good time!

Second up was our appearance on a forthcoming episode of Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast with our pals Leah, Grace, and Alicia, where I was also apparently their first repeat guest?! This one focused a little more on the process of actually editing the journal issue and some of the issues around that. I also learned, for the first time, that my first appearance on Queer Lodgings 3 years ago with my now-fiancé was what got Clare to invite me on as co-editor, so we had fun with that wee full-circle moment! I’m not sure exactly when that’s coming out, but I’m excited for when it does.

For the next while, I’m hunkering down to write stuff! I know I keep saying I will, but I really don’t have any excuses now my degree is over. I’ve been looking forward to having the time to chase all the weird rabbit-holes I’ve set up for myself, write my paper for the German Tolkien Society seminar in October, and start developing some new research ideas. I’m also getting going on PhD applications for next year, fixing up some health stuff, and forging ahead with plans for the Alliance of Arda!

Onwards and upwards, then, I feel like all I’ve done this year is sporadic updates and it’ll be lovely to dive in on Actual Tolkien Stuff again!