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A Small and Passing Thing  by Lindelea 4 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 4/21/2023
The hypnotizing power of Saruman's voice needs eradicating from Freddy's mind. Poor lad!

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 16 on 2/12/2009
Isn't it wonderful to hear in these chapters Frodo laughing! Thank you! *hugs you*

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: Oh, yes, I'd hate to think of Frodo as dragging himself around and moping from the time he returned from the South until he left from the Grey Havens. I don't think he did, actually, because Sam didn't seem to notice anything much wrong with him until they were on the way to the Grey Havens, as I recall.

Namarie and g'night, and may He richly bless you as well.

BeruthielReviewed Chapter: 16 on 8/26/2004
"Well done, cousin," Freddy said, applauding.

How can he applaud with a broken hand?

Author Reply: Excellent point. I'll have to look into this! Perhaps he banged his good hand on his knee?

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 16 on 10/7/2003
Tolkien said something about the power of the voice of Saruman, that some who hear it remain ever afterwards in its thrall. Freddy is physically stronger, and mentally much closer to the real world, but Saruman's voice is still eating away at him inside, like an apple with a worm at its core. His hold on the ground he's gained is precarious. I'm hoping Frodo figures it all out, before it's too late.

Frodo seems a bit more comfortable with his title of Mayor, now that he's realized he doesn't have to do anything. There won't be too many banquets for him to preside at, for the short term, and an edict or two isn't too hard. I'm still enjoying seeing him take a part in the byplay between the hobbits. None of them have really settled back into normal life yet, but there's a hint of relief at being home (except for Pip). I wish it could last for Frodo.

I like the feast with legs that moved from room to room, and the song. Is it original, or a folksong?

Author Reply: I am comfort-reading in an old story. I started reading while looking up a detail to try to jog the Muse into spinning more tales, since SoA has been renewed for a couple more years, and ended up reading on for my love of Frodo in this story (though I do say so myself, at the risk of sounding full of myself... I had forgotten the easy banter between the cousins, the closeness of the relationships that made perfect sense to me at the time - explaining the fierce loyalty of the Conspirators, some of whom followed Frodo to the ends of Middle-earth and back - and still makes sense to me, even though I had forgotten the tone of the conversations that lingered in the back of my mind as I wrote this one. I love seeing Frodo as he might have been before the cares and trials settled upon him, and I do think that he must have enjoyed a respite before that fateful illness in March, seeing how his departure to the West came as such a surprise to his fellow Travellers).

Also, a friend tells me that the new Amazon series may rekindle an interest in LOTR fanfic. Though I currently have little interest in the Second Age, apparently the teasers hint at hobbits. Perhaps there might be some scope for fanfic related to early hobbits, and perhaps it might even be possible to cajole the Muse to add to Shire: Beginnings after all...

In any event, reading old reviews along with reading old chapters, I came across this one. I was sure I answered every review I saw, years ago, and yet, to my chagrin, I see one review after another without a reply. (And that keeps happening when I revisit old stories. Argh.) I feel terrible about that.

Anyhow, with no way of knowing if this will ever reach you, I wanted to answer your question. Back in the early years of writing, I posted on Henneth Annun and Fanfiction dot net. I don't remember HA's TOS anymore, but I do remember that FF deleted stories that included copyrighted material, so I wrote all my own songs for my stories. We hosted a website at the time, and I got permission to borrow a small piece of the website to upload the midi files there. That website is long gone (and unlamented, actually), and I have no idea how to make the files available now, even though my spouse discovered them recently on a thumb drive in the back of a drawer. I had thought them forever lost (except in my memory) on a long-ago corrupted hard drive, but somehow we were lucky enough to have made a backup of my music before that nearly-dead computer died altogether, though the thumb drive subsequently went missing for more than a decade and only came to light last Christmas (what a lovely Christmas present, in retrospect!).

I must confess that, because of my spouse's extreme caution regarding online safety in those early years, I tried not to reveal our location or identifying details in online interactions in those years. I might have given (or even tried to convey) the impression of being British. It wasn't hard, having married one (LOL), and becoming accustomed to refer to (automobile) boots and windscreens and flannels and biscuits and such. Moreover, my oft-visited UK editions of LOTR and works by other UK authors made British spellings feel more natural than the US spellings. Insomnia helped, too; I sort of kept Greenwich Mean Time without meaning to, simply because one of the byproducts of ADHD is apparently completely off-kilter biorhythms. I apologise/apologize for supporting that misapprehension.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your insights. I have enjoyed our discourse immensely. Your thoughtful responses brought out details that were worth building on and pointed out inconsistencies that I was able to correct because you made me aware of them.

Blessings to you and yours.

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