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Fans can go cruising down the historic baranduin river in "Fantasy Geographic" - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

July 09, 2000 at 16:30:06

Or maybe not. There is no such thing as "Fantasy Geographic" magazine, but perhaps there should be. While travelling to Dragoncon and elsehwere, Michael Martinez was unable to post timely columns to the Tolkien and Middle-earth Topic at Suite101, so to help catch up he has posted an essay written last year.

Written as the key part of a proposal for an anthology to be called "Fantasy Geographic", the book would have emulated the style of the popular National Geographic magazine. Various fantasy worlds would have been explored complete with artwork, folk tales, and ancient lore. Alas, the project never left the ground and the "Historic Baranduin" essay was left incomplete.

Only a few people had ever seen it, and Michael felt now was the time to bring it out. The essay starts out near Annuminas and follows the author south as he ventures along the Baranduin river, revealing details of Tolkien's world which seldom come to light. None of the artwork or sidebars proposed for the article were created, but the sidebar references have been left in to provide an indication of what the article would have felt like for the editorial reader.