Reviews (140)

Author's reply

I'm honored, Lume! Thank you so much! Am so glad you like this. But in my imagination the storytellers are Bilbo and Frodo, and I wanted for the Shire to have its own memorial to Frodo in this role. Thanks again!

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Oh, I'm so glad you appreciate it, Grumpy! I, too, felt it was most appropriate. So glad you took the time to read this.

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Am so glad you appreciated it, Kitty. And am glad you find the thought given to how and what I write appropriate, and that it answers questions well as you see it. Thank you for appreciating my stories, my lady. And hope you continue to like them!

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Yes, Ruvemir has managed to supply a memorial for Frodo for the Shire itself; and this is indeed how so many will choose to remember him after all. So glad you approve!

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Yes, I think it did take those six years with Will hanging on as Mayor before the Shire was ready to accept Sam as Mayor; and I suspect he was one of the best they ever had. And I do think he'd feel at home in Buckland at last, now that his travels throughout much of the rest of the known world had prepared him to appreciate how much of his own land he remained in ignorance of.

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Kitty, I've had the laptop, the desktop AND the server all go down; and then had Trojans and viruses attack the renewed system before I had a chance to install my antivirus, popup blockers, and spyware blockers, one of which was limiting my online time to mere minutes. Am so willing right now to send targeted attacks on such hackers, believe me. I can't imagine what pleasure they get out of causing hassles to folk such as you and me. I, too, have had nothing but frustration for weeks. Two out of three computers fixed, and am awaiting the return of the desktop. Anyway, Yes, I think Will would particularly appreciate what Frodo faced in his term as deputy Mayor, particularly the sorting out of the would-be villains from dupes and puppets; and in setting up proper programs to sort out complaints and other issues. Dorno is only just beginning to realize that there is indeed a place in the Shire for administrators and examiners. I, too, find myself glad Frodo gave Dianthus that book. She truly wanted to understand what Frodo was choosing, where and why he went, and why he couldn't return again. This book will be well-beloved indeed by Dianthus and her family, I think.

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Oh, thank you so much, Tedicus. I'm sorry I missed it the first time around. Will do my best to correct it right away. Have been fighting continuing problems with computers on three sides at the same time. I may eventually get my desktop finished so I can get updated finally. Am SO very tired of not having proper access to the computer at home. The last program I've faced appears to have been virus and Trojan related, and would so like to get some of the hackers who create such things into a room together and lock them away for some time so they can better appreciate how much sheer hatred they generate in innocent folk who want only to be able to get online and find the information we please without constant interruption and damage to our computers and how they work. Author Reply: You were right, and I humbly apologize for my flippancy. I need to rest more, I think, before writing replies. Thank you for your patience. The latest spyware sweeps have appeared to fix my problems, so hopefully there won't be too many more problems such as the last one. Thanks for aiding me to police my own writing.

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Thanks for the appreciation of how I try to make all the stories work together. It's not always easy; but it's something I appreciate in reading the works of others, I've found. I always loved the linking of so many of Rosemary Sutcliff's stories through the flawed emerald signet ring intaglioed with a dolphin, after all. Where I live is nine miles from the nearest town. Each year they push broadband links further our way; they now reach to about three miles from me, I think; but when they will bridge the last three miles to allow those in my vicinity to do high-speed internet access by something other than satellite connection I have no idea. But the satellite provider I use doesn't give its patrons anything. Well, now have two computers up and running; still have the desktop to get back online. It is SO nice to finally be able to communicate again!

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Yes, Sam is learning more about his Master, and coming more to terms with what he now is and will become as time passes. And all are better appreciating Frodo's final choices.

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Can you give me some more indication of what you find odd here. When sitting with my family in our backyard or around the picnic table as a child I had MY spot to sit; but when I wanted total privacy I'd head out to certain places in the woods or elsewhere about the property where I'd hide out until I felt better able to go back and make it up with whomever I'd quarreled with, and so on. How would you suggest I rewrite it to make this better or more clear?

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So glad so many appreciate the statue and the manner in which it was introduced and in time kept surrounded by athelas and Elven lilies, with each reading into it what he or she pleases, but all able to see the enjoyment and love expressed in it. It is in the sharing of stories so much of our cultural identity is passed from one generation to the next and then expanded upon. That Frodo would come to symbolize this truth in the Shire I felt right and fitting. Thank you so much for your feedback, and for your appreciation of not only what I've written but how I've written it. The next story will begin shortly. Need to go down and get the next disk.

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I managed to skip chapter ten and had to slip it in after the fact, which was frustrating. Oh, well, such is life. And I, too, am glad Will realized the potential he had here in Sam for a successor and decided to follow through on it. And I'm so glad you appreciate the statue. A quiet way for those who honor Frodo to remember them, and for all others to remember that continuing the passing of traditions is important. Thanks so very much for following this, Bodkin.

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Thank you, Baggins Babe, for your expressions of appreciation and your comments, as such keep me writing. There had to be a moment when Will began to appreciate just how proper it would be to have Sam as his successor, and it was fun imagining it. So glad you appreciated the statue. Frodo as I've always envisioned him has always been the Storyteller; and now the Shire will have that image before them ever. So glad you also feel it was hobbity and sensible. And again, being compared favorably with the Master is the greatest compliment of all. Thank you!

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I finally got my "new" used satellite modem today, and so am finally back online at home, after three weeks of no access save from the office. As I work as an itinerant, going from client's home to client's home and working in a supervised apartment complex where there is no internet access, not having my computer at home is a frustration, particularly as I often get to the office only once a week if then. Now I can actually post from home again, and I'm SO relieved! Considering that all three of the computers in my home decided to go on strike one after the other, two of them overlapping, I appreciate the frustration you've been experiencing. So glad you appreciate the trip to Buckland and the acceptance by Will he now has a worthy successor at hand, and am so glad so many appreciate the statue. I may take the BBC version with me to work over the next week or two and reread it again. I love the final confrontation with Gollum in that one, myself. If I can get the radio switched out, though, I'll take the Rob Inglis reading with me and read it instead, as I have that on CD and the new radio accepts CDs as the current one doesn't. I'm glad you approve of me trying to have Aragorn come to bid Frodo, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and others he knows who accompanied his adar farewell. I do think he'd have at least tried. Sounds like you're spending a good deal of time on the motorway. Drive safely, and give my love to your folks and to Jet.

Author's reply

Oh, dear--you keep THAT in your pocket? Then you do indeed follow both Frodo and Bilbo, don't you? How old is your little Smeagol brother? I've even indicated Frodo sewed loops in his vest pockets to anchor the chain he used to safeguard the Ring so that it couldn't escape as it did with Gollum. So glad the Stationery Box is serving positively in your experience. I know writing things out has helped me more than once. I must go downstairs and get the disk for the latest story now. Hope you appreciate it!

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What is a saint, Antane, but one who does precisely what you have indicated? They rarely know why they're acting at first, save in response to a command spoken in their hearts or as a result of being moved by compassion. And often even in their best times they can still be insufferably self-righteous and still require someone to correct them from time to time. Peter was already a saint, and yet had to be reproved from time to time by Jesus to stop trying to tempt Him from doing what He knew needed to be done. Yes, this is, in spite of the fact it's a fantasy, one of the realest stories and tales available. And I hope I do manage to add to the world and the tale without changing it too much! Namarie.

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I'm so glad you find it feels right, Antane. This is how I'm certain Sam in the end would feel about his master's removal to Tol Eressea, the hope that Frodo would find restoration and more. Thanks so much for your response.

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Of course Legolas and Gimli were part of the party--you're right--they'd insist on such a mission. And I do hope Frodo himself would appreciate this statue. And it was fun to put Cyclamen into it as well. They may recognize Cyclamen, but how many will truly recognize Frodo, though? Well, the Shire needs its own memorial, as you say, even if it's only in honor as most see it of tradition. I think that Aster would be proud to name her new daughter after Frodo's mother, who after all is a relative. And I'm certain that she will one day know the origin of her name and the full story behind the statue and her sister's favorite, prized book of tales. So glad you appreciated this so, Dreamflower. Am going to have a difficult time catching up over the next few weeks, I fear. Three weeks off, basically! Aargh!

Author's reply

Yes, at last Sam is able to see where Frodo spent much of his childhood and to get a true feel for that period of time before Sam himself knew him (or at least before the time he would have known him well, I think). Now Sam is finally becoming a citizen of the Shire at large as well as being a citizen of the world beyond the Shire's borders. It's amazing how few people know little about the region in which they live. I know that I grew up rarely leaving a thirty-mile radius around my home, although I knew the route well from our home on the west coast to my grandparents' homes very well from regular visits there. I knew more about the topography and geography of other states than I did of the state in which I myself lived, which of course is ridiculous. Marrying a husband with wanderlust finally gave me the chance explore much of my home state, and my own children saw far more than just our state, and indeed had an intimate knowledge of much of British Columbia and had traveled in Europe and England as well as all the states on the coast. I hadn't considered a story about Sam being drafted by Will as his successor; but certainly Sam's first day as Mayor is addressed in my next (VERY short) story to begin posting tonight, I think.

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I hadn't intended to do three chapters at once, but accidentally managed to leave out chapter ten. I can't believe I did that! So had to carefully reinstall it, as it were. And I can appreciate wanting to deal with all three together. So you, too, are finding yourself with a worry stone of sorts in your pocket. I fiddle so with almost anything I carry, particularly when I have coins in there, rearranging them constantly. I have to halt myself when I carry disks, for fear I'll open the cover over the media disk and corrupt it. Have done that a few times by accident. I hope I'm not corrupting you somehow--first your Stationery Box files, and now fiddling in pockets! (Grinning!) In many places in the Missouri-Mississippi system there are flood plain areas where folk built cities, only to find that after years of growing they've experienced repeated flooding over the space of a few decades, with the final realization they need to be moved. It's frustrating for the people who have to accept that Nature has her own ideas of what should be done with the land and the proper place to build homes and settlements. It was fun to imagine Primula stubbornly trying to cling to her lovely little hole by the river and having to accept finally it wasn't a good idea and WON'T be a good idea--but you'll see more of that when I post my next story, which is also quite short. Now Sam is finally being groomed for his succession to the Mayor's office, while he's learning how to work Will to the best things for the Shire as Sam sees it. And he's indeed learning more intimately what it was like for Frodo before he came to Hobbiton. So glad you like the statue and the reactions to it. The decision not to let it be known that this was intended as a memorial for Frodo must have been a difficult one in many ways. And am so very glad you appreciated the Author's Notes. Have one person on HASA who keeps insisting I have this or that wrong and need to rewrite, and in some ways I find myself feeling the need to explain why I write as I do simply to forestall that individual's constant criticisms. But if Frodo was indeed a victim of PTSD, there'd be a good deal of minimalizing of his own situation and accomplishments and condition. But we keep coming back the realization that Sam KNEW Frodo was leaving and was okay with it--only becoming upset when he realized the true destination and that he'd not be able to freely visit. I am so grateful for your appreciation of how I draw my subuniverse of Arda, and am honored you have characterized it as "the most real." That is a great compliment indeed, and I do thank you so very much. Will probably post the next story next week, once I finally get the modem in place and back online at home.

Author's reply

I agree about correspondence allowing for an absent individual to interject his own point of view. Now that Frodo's gone, how else will others begin to appreciate why he's done as he's done. And it's the only way for those who've been left behind to fully understand and begin to reconcile with his leaving, I think. And thank you for the praise. I so appreciate that you feel I've managed to do as I intend--to keep the love of Frodo there within the Shire so all realize he's still there for them as he's able to be, and their grief at his immediate absence is tempered by relief that he's receiving what he needs as he can receive it.

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Tolkien himself described death as "the Gift of Iluvatar," and I think that Frodo and Aragorn particularly would appreciate just what a gift it can be. Yes, I agree that he so designated it appropriately. Frodo is almost willing to accept it when he needn't just to be done with the pain, the nightmares, the memories, and I find I can't fault him for it.\ And Bucca, as well as Mina and Will, has his own appreciation for what Frodo did in the war and how vital it is. His children aren't going to be among those who only appreciate the flashy ones or the ones they see replanting; the assault on ideas and truth in the end is the most dangerous assault of all. In The Acceptable Sacrifice I indicated that Frodo was asked to wear a sword at the awakening feast as an indication of how he is one who has been chosen as well as has actively chosen to protect others as he can; on his return to the Shire he continued to protect others--just not by use of the sword he carried. Am so glad you appreciated this. Thanks so much for following it as you have. And hopefully next week I'll be back online at home. Wish me luck. Hate Murphey's Law!

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Frodo doesn't waste time anymore trying to convince those who don't WANT to understand--instead he does his best to make certain those who do have the information they need--as best he can provide it, at least. And Dianthus above all others wishes to understand where Frodo's going and why. Perhaps this is the way Frodo became aware of what going West over the Sundering Sea would mean to himself in the beginning; he certainly appreciates that this is the only way at the moment he can convey it to Dianthus in a manner she can fully understand. She already has realized he was dying; now she realizes he is indeed going so he can live, and as fully as he is able from that point on. And she realizes his own hope is to see her again, when the time is right. Hope you appreciate the epilogue and the Author's Notes.

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Am so glad you appreciate the gifts and the letters, Linda. Hope to catch up with your story soon. Being offline for so long has been a burden.

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Bucca and Mina are truly appreciating what the four Travellers did, I think; and now they're making certain that at least a few of the next generation appreciate what was done and how even the paperwork was important. Probably the least appreciated workers in any organization are those who have to make sense of the paperwork; they aren't out there in flashy uniforms and doing their stuff in front of everyone; they're in the back offices and cubicles trying to check to make certain all is on the up and up, finding out the errors before they multiply or lead to chains of destructive events; checking the figures and doing the cross-indexing. And it is by twisting language so many hope to slip fast ones by us. Having a scholar of languages must have been a godsend to the Mayor's office in catching just how Lotho's folks engineered their takeover and then making certain it wouldn't happen again. Am so glad you appreciate the gifts; and the book was given to the one who most wanted to understand what Frodo had chosen and why, and why it was important he go now. Plus it will motivate her to learn to read and to do so well, I think. Hope tomorrow night I can sneak in again for at least a brief time and post the next chapter. Thanks so much for your appreciation of what I write. Wish I could read more before I have to go to work. Night jobs where there's no internet access is the pits, I find.