What I crave most are stories that are set in a Tolkienesque world but don't steal his plot points. Each time they did bother to give us one, whether Sword of Shannara or the Iron Tower trilogy, it sold very well, so why assume now that another such book wouldn't sell well?Īlso, these mentioned stories weren't just derivative of the type of world that Tolkien did, but stole plot points directly from him.

However, I feel the publishing industry is ignoring the fact that there still exists a large base of fans who crave more stories centered around a Tolkienesque world. I appreciate how many people feel the way you do about works derivative of Tolkien. To read the rest of this post, visit The Black Gate website. After a solid start it descends into full-on Tolkien-clone, which probablyĮxplains why it’s largely forgotten today. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe tacked The Lord of the Rings with the framing device of Unquestionable Tolkien-Lewis quality about it, if by spirit one means rewriting Spirit of the Inklings.” Red Moon and Black Mountain has an In 1972 the Mythopoeic SocietyĪward upon the novel, denoting it as a work that best exemplified “the Well-written, not hackwork by any stretch. Take Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain (1970). Influence of The Lord of the Rings 30-40 years ago must have To have a lot less patience for them these days, even though I understand theĮnvironment in which they were written, and can appreciate that avoiding the Willingly read many of these works back in the day and occasionally still do.īut decades later many of the Tolkien clones haven’t aged all that well. Wasn’t all bad it filled a need and offered a safe, enjoyable formula. Of them all and one that literally provided more of the same. Tower trilogy, the series showing the clearest Tolkien “influence” That patternĬontinued into the 1980s with the publication of works like Dennis McKiernan’s Works like The Sword of Shannara met that demand.

In theġ960s Frodo lived and the reading public was hungry for more, and derivative The shadow of The Lord of the Rings is long, indeed.

Red moon and black mountain