A message to the Tolkien Estate.
Dear Tolkien Estate, I have no wish either to besmirch the literary legacy of your illustrious and eponymous forebear or to steal revenue out of your own pockets. Passion led me to write this story, not profit. I have written it as well as I could, and I believe that it burnishes your ancestor’s reputation rather than otherwise. I encourage you to read it with fair and open minds, and to judge for yourselves.
Let me propose something. I would be very willing — an word inadequate to capture my sense of the honour conferred — to engage in a joint publication, with explicit recognition of J R R Tolkien’s status as progenitor of this epic tale. Would it not be a glorious thing to see the following title flying off the bookshelves?
