Walking Tree Publishers has certainly kept busy lately! They’ve brought out some ten books in just the past two years, and what’s more, their books have generally set the bar pretty high for Tolkien studies. I’ve contributed to two recent Walking Tree collections myself, Tolkien and Modernity (Volume 1) and The Silmarillion: Thirty Years On. Please note that I intend no deliberate or implied connection between “setting the bar high” and publishing an essay by me! It’s just coincidence. ;)I have just read a new CFP from Walking Tree. The planned publication comes with a pair of editors, Friedhelm Schneidewind and Heidi Steimel, and will be published simultaneously in English and German (by Walking Tree and the aptly named Stein und Baum). I presume that contributions submitted in one language will be translated into the other by the editors; the CFP makes no mention of any prerequisite knowledge of both. The subject is Music in Middle-earth — I wonder if the editors are aware of Brad Eden’s forthcoming collection on the same topic? It would seem not, given their confident statement that “[t]hough numerous melodies for his poems have been composed, sung, played and recorded, secondary literature on Middle-earth hardly mentions the subject.” [Update: I have just come across another book on the subject, published last August: Projecting Tolkien’s Musical Worlds: A Study of Musical Affect in Howard Shore’s Soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings, by Matthew Young. This book sounds interesting! Has anybody seen it?]
I refer interested parties to the Call For Papers (PDF format) for more details, including possible topics, the deadline for proposals, and so forth.
Hi! I just found your entry on the planned upcoming book(s). Yes, Brad Eden contacted us and may even contribute to our book if he has time and material that he doesn't need for his own. No, neither he nor we knew in advance of the other(')s' planning; it just seems to be a case of a topic which is ripe for publication. We do hope that our subjects will be different enough to make both books worthwhile reading - and buying! ;)
ReplyDeleteHello Heidi. Thanks for dropping in. Good to hear a little more about the project. Also, since writing this post, I have gotten hold of a copy (well, a PDF from the publisher) of Matthew Young’s book. No danger of overlap between his work and yours, I’m happy to say. :)
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