Tolkien spin-offs

I wrote about Tolkien in my last post here and got to thinking about - what else (this guy is predictable!) than tie-ins and spin-offs? There seem to be no Tolkien spin-offs, with the exception of some role game books. Or that's what I thought at first.

As for the Tolkien role game books, I bought one at the children's library sale. It was only out of curiosity, since I've always thought that role playing is a waste of time (hey, c'mon guys, you could write about tie-ins in your blog! come out of that forest and take off your stupid helmets!). The book is called, hm, I can't find the actual title anywhere. It's perhaps "Darkest of the Dark/Thieves and Crookes" or something like that (hey, this is a double book!).

The book was designed by Margaret and Dan Henley and Matthias and Karen Brinker, whoever they are. The first story/game is set in Briimaa (what's it in English?), east of Shire, and the lead characters are men. This is pretty difficult to read if you don't want to play.

It seems that there was a role game already on the LoTR itself. Which I didn't originally know.

Heck, I don't know anything about this genre! I only wanted to say, with a slight wonder upon my face, that no one was assigned to write an abridgement of LoTR after the Jackson film. It would've sold millions. (At least I think so. Maybe that's why I wouldn't be a successful publisher.) There were some how-the-film-was-made books and some such. And where are the spin-offs? I can see the trilogy "The Further Adventures of Merri and Pippin", or "What Gandalf Did Before Getting Acquainted with Bilbo Baggins", or "Saruman the White and the Gold of Opar". Don't you the see possibilities?!

But then I got to thinking that Tolkien did the spin-offs himself. There have been dozens of collections of unfinished stories by him, even one with Sauron rising from the shadows (scary thought, that one). But then again, why doesn't someone finish his stories? They would make some serious money. I mean, millions and billions of dollars. Isn't anyone listening?

And at the same time, someone's writing these stories without getting paid. I'm talking about Tolkien fan fiction. Just check out this one. It's actually an enormous industry!

Hey, this one sounds like a pulp story: "Chingo, Princess of Mirkwood."

***

Kauto is almost talking. He's on the brink of realizing how to make meaningful sounds. He knows - we are both sure about this - what "kukka/flower" and "lintu/bird" are since he can point them out in the tapestry we have in the bedroom. I've been repeating the words for him ever since he was two weeks old.

He also says "hi"! He lifts his (usually right) hand and shouts something like: "Jjoi!" He does this even to strangers.

Time to go. Have a nice weekend! We are off to my friend Markku's dissertation party. Markku did his enormous dissertation about Norman Mailer's fan fiction - oops, spin-offs! no, it was about his tie-ins.. hmm, maybe I should go to sleep. It's about Mailer's non-fiction and it's very interesting. The book is available here. Check it out!

(Is there Norman Mailer fan fiction? The sequel to "The Naked and the Dead", written by Neena79?)