TITLE:THE ARCANE ARCHIVES by MERLYN
PALETTE:0223 0779 099b 09a9

                              3THE ARCANE ARCHIVES

                          2by Merlyn of the Magic Guild


The  Arcane  Archives is a new feature in THE MAGIC GUILD's Members Scrolls.  As
fantasy  literature  is  a  well-known  genre  in  literature itself and thus of
hopefully common interest to others besides The Magic Guild's wizards, I've sent
this  epistle  to  my  very  good  friend, fellow Guilder and fan of literature;
MACNO.

The  Arcane  Archives  will hopefully turn into a Series and will primarily deal
with 2FANTASY LITERATURE.
I'll present some of the great names in this niche of Literature.

Let's kick off with the Grand ol' Master Himself; 2J.R.R. TOLKIEN.

Tolkien is generally regarded as the instigator of the fantasy literature in the
world.
A quick (& not too accurate) peep at Tolkien's production shows the following:

                The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two
                                       Towers & The Return of the King)
                Book of Lost Tales Part 1
                Book of Lost Tales Part 2
                Farmer Giles of Ham
                Finn and Hengest
                Mr Bliss
                Poems and Stories
                Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo
                Smith of Wootton Major
                The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
                The Father Christmas Letters (book for children)
                The Hobbit (the book which "led" to The Lord of the Rings)
                The Road goes ever On
                The Silmarillion
                Tree and Leaf
                Unfinished Tales

I've  put  the  most  famous of the lot at the top of the list.  2THE LORD of the
2RINGS2 is probably one of the best-known books ever written!
A  fantastic  (literally)  tale  of Good vs Evil, an epic story dealing with the
eternal struggle between the two great Forces wherever thinking beings live.

LORD  of  the  RINGS specifically tells the tale of FRODO BAGGINS, nephew of the
main character in The Hobbit; BILBO BAGGINS.
Of  Frodo's struggles and accomplishments to gain the Mountain of Doom, there to
destroy the One Ring, which threatens the entire world.
Of  his  faithful companions, the "monster" Gollum, the Black Riders, the Elves,
the  wizard  Gandalv  (familiar  handle?), the hobbits and all the other strange
creatures (even humans!) Frodo encounters on his travels to Mount Doom.

You'll  meet  creatures  both foul and fair in THE LORD of the RINGS.  Fantastic
beings  hardly mentioned in literature before the publication of Tolkien's grand
work.   Some  of  the  creatures  are  Tolkien's  inventions entirely; f.i.  the
hobbits.
Apart  from the tales of the hobbits and all the other races in Tolkien's world,
the  great  author  also  invented lands and myths connected to these lands.  In
fact he actually created Lands never encountered before!
Today's  fantasy  authors  have  taken  up  this  inheritance  of course (see he
DragonLance series by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman f.i.).
Another facet of Tolkien's genius manifested itself in his creation of the Elven
language.   An  entire  new language, invented and worked on by Tolkien until he
lay on his death-bed!

All  in  all THE LORD OF THE RINGS is a fantastic book which is more than likely
to change your life, if any book besides the Bible possibly can.

Of  Tolkien's  other works 2THE HOBBIT1 and 2THE SILMARILLION1 are possibly the best
known.

I  personally  like  THE  HOBBIT nearly as much as I love THE LORD OF THE RINGS,
while THE SILMARILLION doesn't appeal to me at all.  It smacks too much of dusty
libraries and dull research.

The BOOKs of 2LOST TALES, THE ADVENTURES of TOM BOMBADIL and THE UNFINISHED 2TALES1
are  the  other  books  in  Tolkien's  production  dealing  with  the worlds and
creatures akin to the ones in THE LORD of the RINGS.
His  other books are, more or less, a result of his civilian job as professor of
Olde  English.   Interesting  enough dealing with literature based in the Middle
Ages, but rather a long way from the World of the Hobbits.

However  one  may  look  at  fantasy  literature, it's an inescapeable fact that
FANTASY  LITERATURE is the fastest growing, most expanding, reader-cathing genre
in the entire literary world!

So if you're not hooked yet, the best available key to this fantastic, new world
of books is TOLKIEN!

Welcome to me parlor, as the notorious spider said to the fly.