Unfinished Tolkien work to be published

AP via Yahoo ^ | Mon Sep 18, 12:17 PM ET | Unknown

[Ready4Freddy]

NEW YORK - An unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a completed work and will be released next spring, the U.S. and British publishers announced Monday.

Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of "The Children of Hurin," which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and other works, have been published before.

"It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the `Children of Hurin' as an independent work, between its own covers," Christopher Tolkien said in a statement.

The new book will be published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and HarperCollins in England.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" has sold more than 50 million copies and was also adapted into a blockbuster, Academy Award-winning trio of films. A stage version is scheduled to open next year.

[2Jedismom]

Update.

New Tolkien book to be published next month: report
[Sunday 25-March-07] 2 hours, 52 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070325/ennew_afp/entertainmentbritain


LONDON (AFP) - An unfinished book by "Lord of the Rings" author
J.R.R. Tolkien, which was completed by his son, will go on sale on
next month, a newspaper said.

"The Children of Hurin", which Tolkien began in 1918, will be in
bookshops on April 17, the Independent on Sunday added. The author's
son, Christopher, spent 30 years completing the story from the many
drafts produced by his father.

Publisher HarperCollins is keeping exact details of the story under
close wraps but its description as "an epic story of adventure,
tragedy, fellowship and heroism" will be familiar to the legions of
Tolkien fans.

Artist Alan Lee has provided 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings
for the book.

Lee won an Oscar for art direction on Peter Jackson's "The Return of
the King", the third blockbuster film based on the "Lord of Rings"
trilogy that brought the stories to a worldwide audience.

"The Children of Hurin" is the first "new" Tolkien book since a
collection of his works -- "The Silmarillion" -- was published
posthumously in 1977, four years after the writer's death. It was
also edited by Christopher Tolkien.

The chairman of the Tolkien Society, Chris Crawshaw, was quoted by
the Independent on Sunday as saying: "It ('The Children of Hurin')
would probably make a very good movie, if anyone can secure the film
rights."