Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

How...HOW did I not know about this before?!

Apparently every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R.Tolkien’s children. Inside would be letters from Father Christmas to the Tolkien household, all written in spidery handwriting with beautifully colored drawings.

Of course, Tolkien himself wrote the letters... because leave it to him to think of Santa writing to children instead of the reverse. Thus we have the book Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R.Tolkien, filled with "wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining-room; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house!"

How this book's existence eluded me all these year and why I have never seen it in book stores I have not a clue, but in my mind the Lord and Founder of Modern Fantasy just got even more amazing.

Quote of the month

"Each of you is a separate, individual you. You are a unique person, with wild ideas about what's truly important. Each of you has a gift that only you can bring to the world. A way you can help that others couldn't. And the way you express that gift is to hear this: trust yourself. Trust your gift." - Chandra Nalaar

Fire Emblem Heroes: Book IX

Remember when Askr's Order of Heroes defended itself from mortal armies? Me neither. Jokes asides, after dealing with the Vanaheimr gods and Gullveig, followed up by the Yggdrasill family, looks like the Ásgarðr gods have dropped in again and are not playing anymore.

My father and I just finished The Lost Fairy Tales, Book Two of Anna James' Pages & Co. series

My father and I just finished The Lost Fairy Tales, Book Two of Anna James' Pages & Co. series.

We all know and love fairy tales... but Little Red Riding Hood wielding a giant axe (a woftcutter instead of woodcutter, as it were)? Prince Charming being anything but and Rapunzel not needing or wanting rescue? Obviously something is wrong with fairy tales, and things are not much better at the British Underlibrary. Leaving Tilly, Oskar, and the rest of the Pages & Co. crew to sort out plots both literary and otherwise. But tis the two blended that is the real threat to book magic and British bookwandering, and when things take a turn for the worse it is time to find help. Fortunately, that is what maps are for, and Britain's is hardly the only Underlibrary out there.

I have started The Silver Gryphon, book #3 of The Mage Wars Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

I have started The Silver Gryphon, book #3 of The Mage Wars Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

Time passes and those heroes who do not die in a blaze of glory retire basking in it, leaving and training the next generation to take up the reigns. So, two millennia hence, it will be with Kethry and Tarma training Keth's granddaughter Kerowyn; so did Talia raise Elspeth from royal Brat to Herald-Mage. Mercedes Lackey has always been excellent at these time shifts, and now, twelves years after the Eclipse Ceremony that brought Haighlei and k'Leshya together, Tadrith Skandrakae and Silverblade – children of Skandranon & Zhaneel, Amberdrake & Winterhart – seek to escape their parent's very long shadows. After all, what can possibly go wrong in an isolated outpost weeks away from home? Certainly no magical disasters or nameless terrors possibly unleashed or formed by the Cataclysm in the unexplored jungles of the south. Oh no.

 

I have finished The White Gryphon, book #2 of The Mage Wars Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

Winterhart, Lady and trondi'irn

I have finished The White Gryphon, book #2 of The Mage Wars Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

If it is not sadist-mages it is sadists working with mages, and in a time of change both magical and cultural for the Haighlei Empire that is a dangerous combination. Particularly if you are Skandranon Rashkae and Amberdrake and families in a foreign, alien court where you have to learn the rules before you break them and your enemies are quite, quite insane. But against the Black Gryphon few can stand, and justice tends to find those who deserve it. Of course, it is the time of change and that goes far beyond custom for Haighlei and k'Leshya alike, for the impact of the Mage Wars is far from over.

6th-grade Riddle Masters

My students are eating my riddles for breakfast this year. Seriously, I have NEVER seen such skill; what has in the past taken people weeks if not months they solve in less than a day. (If this sounds like bragging, so be it. Teachers are permitted to feel vain about their students.)