PUBLIC MARKS from micah with tag tolkien

Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this "great, original fantasy" is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam.

The Encyclopedia of Arda is a personal project - a tribute to and a celebration of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The site is intended to evolve into an illustrated hypertext encyclopedia of Tolkien's realms and peoples.

In 1931, Tolkien wrote an essay about the somewhat peculiar hobby of devising private languages. He called it A Secret Vice. But in Tolkien's case, the "vice" can hardly be called secret anymore.