Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Howdy folks,
Since jbook's technology is a bit kaput at the moment (and it's hard to edit a zine and be a touring musician at the same time), we're going to try something different for the next edition of the Middle-earth Reenactment Society's Into the Wild newsletter. I'm putting this call out there for anyone who would like to submit something on a subject aligned with our goals--to reflect the cultures, races, and places of Middle-Earth in the most realistic way possible, through the use of 'living history' methods.

For example, a couple of ideas:
-a tutorial for an appropriate crafting project (paging Elleth?...
-a write-up of a period trek, detailing things like persona, gear carried, 'scenario', and any insights gained (what worked or what didn't), &c.
-a review of a book, film, album, academic article &c., focused on its significance to the subject of Middle-earth interpretation.

I'm not going to put a wordcount restriction, but a well-written article in the range of 500-1000 words would work nicely. Of course, there's always wiggle room for quality work!

Alternatively, if there's a topic of Middle-earth life you'd like to see explored but may not have the time or resources to research yourself, you could submit that as well. (think along the lines of Michael Martinez' Middle-earth Q&A blog, but focused on the nitty-gritty 'real-life' details)

Since this will ostensibly be our 'summer' issue, I'd like to get it out there by the beginning of autumn by Shire-reckoning (1 Halimath or 22 August), so I'll pin the submission deadline at August 1st Gregorian. Articles and topics can be submitted via PM.

And as a teaser, I'm contributing an article documenting my quest to identify Tom Bombadil's elusive polebeans!

Thanks in advance!

What a happy coincidence!

I've got a good crafting article on the way.
I just finished the main item and the writeup - I just need to add some accessories over the next week or so and take some photos in the field.

Article enroute, my good sir. Little less than three weeks, if you're planning to contribute!

Whats the done thing so far as newsletter submissions and forum threads? Concise tease here and a full write-up in the newsletter? Vice versa? Never the twain shall meet?

The article Greg has submitted is all-new, and mine is a revision and expansion of material that originated in a thread here. I'm sure a teaser sentence here from you--even just telling us what your topic is--would catch folks' interest and create anticipation for reading the final product.

I suppose we could have a newsletter archive here at some point...perhaps a thread to just dump all forum-member submissions to any newsletters they're submitted in for the sake of making them searchable. It kinda depends on the subject. This most recent article of mine isn't really formatted for a forum like most things are, but a how-to certainly could be duplicated here in full, say, after the newsletter is released to enable questions/further discussion, etc. Problem with the last publication was that a few things were pulled off the forum that were old, so the interested reader-base didn't have much in the way of new material to look at.

Something else I think we'd be interested in seeing someone contribute would be a good review or two of kit items. Extra nice if you've logged some 'trail time' with said item.
I think handmade items from artisans would be great, but not one-off custom commissions...these should be things that are available to the community at large.

Udwin wrote:Something else I think we'd be interested in seeing someone contribute would be a good review or two of kit items. Extra nice if you've logged some 'trail time' with said item.

I could probably whip up a quick review of Bohemond's high medieval shoes - I know there's been some interest in them on the forum. I've only put ~15 miles on them, but over 10 were on gravel, so I've put them through their paces (har har) a bit.

Har har! That would be great!