Beards of Middle-earth and Tear-Jerking TV Episodes

To view this email as a web page, go [here.]( [Tor.com Newsletter]( [Forward to a Friend]( ONE BEARD TO RULE THEM ALL [All Your Thoughts About Aragorn’s Beard Are Canonically Incorrect]( How much time have you spent thinking about which of J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters have beards? As discovered in a viral tweet from Alex Perry, a letter her mother wrote to Tolkien in the 1970s is “cited regularly in Tolkien scholarship, due to him answering her question about whether Aragorn canonically has a beard or not…” Discover the answer here! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( WHAT'S YOUR ORDER? [Coffee, Tea, and Camaraderie: Five Fantasy Cafes I’d Love To Visit]( Sometimes, our favorite fantasy characters need a break—and thankfully, fantasy writers have given us lots of comforting, often whimsical cafes. Cole Rush shares five fantasy cafes we can’t help but imagine ourselves enjoying, basking in the ambiance with a lovely warm beverage or two... [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( WE ARE THE WEIRDOS, MISTER [A Readers’ Guide to the Finnish Weird in Translation]( In her 2011 essay “Weird and Proud of It,” Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo coined the term “suomikumma,” or Finnish Weird, to refer to a new strain of speculative fiction being produced by herself and her peers. Since then, the term has enthusiastically been adopted by editors and writers alike. Jonathan Thornton offers a helpful introduction to this unique genre and its history. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( CRY IF YOU WANT TO [Five Tearjerker TV Episodes That Never Fail to Make Me Cry]( Art has a way of urging us to experience real, deeply human emotions while we consume fictional stories. Readers are no strangers to this, and recent years have also seen an influx of intensely personal stories on big and small screens alike. Here are five examples of powerful episodes of television that will bring a tear to your eye—and be sure to add your own examples in the comments! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( MARK AS READ [If I Don’t Remember What I Read, Did I Really Read It At All?]( Even when we don’t remember the whole plot of a book, often something sticks out: a memorable scene, a captivating visual, a feeling you got while reading. The last couple of years worth of reading, though? It’s been hard to remember anything. Did we even read books? Are we sure? In a new Mark As Read column, Molly Templeton digs into the phenomenon of brain fog interfering with our reading experience. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF [Six of the Most Compelling Voices in Fantasy]( Voice is one of those writing qualities where you know when you see it, but it can’t be easily described or defined. You hear it talked about all the time, but rarely does anyone qualify what voice is—because, in a way, you can’t. And yet, it’s one of the most crucial aspects of fiction. Michael Moreci discusses five unique and compelling voices in fantasy writing today. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( FILM APPRECIATION [Revisiting Andrei Tarkovsky’s Cinematic Icon Solaris at 50]( It’s a big anniversary year for Solaris, given Tarkovsky’s version in 1972 and Steven Soderbergh’s in 2002. Musing on memory, humanity, regret, and profound moral questions, Leah Schnelbach revisits the sentient ocean of Stanislaw Lem’s novel and its cinematic adaptations. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( PAYING TRIBUTE [Special Effects Artist Doug Trumbull Made Humanity’s Adventure Luminous]( Douglas Trumbull was more than just an innovative Special Effects technician, whose notable work includes the infinite corridor of lights from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He was an artist in his own right, one whose unique vision altered the world of science fiction filmmaking forever. Dan Persons pays tribute to Trumbull’s vision of the future. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( Follow Tor.com to get updates on all of our original fiction. FOLLOW US: [Follow Us on Facebook]( [Follow Us on Twitter]( [Follow Us on Tumblr]( [Follow Us on Pinterest]( This email was sent by: Macmillan 120 Broadway New York, NY, 10271, US We respect your right to privacy - [view our policy]( Macmillan believes piracy hurts writers, readers and everyone who loves books. Learn more and report suspicious activity [here.]( To subscribe to this or other email communications from Macmillan, please click [here](. Visit our [profile center]( to update your email address and/or other information. If you no longer wish to receive this email communication, click [here]( to unsubscribe.