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Fredrik Ekman:

Allow me to congratulate you on yet another fine issue of Other Hands. The artwork of #13 is excellent, the articles show vast amounts of knowledge and the lay-out is a wonder to behold. The one thing I would wish for is some adventures. I also had some difficulties in taking Martin Baker's "New Middle-earth" article seriously. After all, I can see that some people would want to set their campaigns in the Fourth Age, but the Fifth and Sixth Ages? Not I anyway. (Well, there was this MUSH (an on-line computer game) set in the Fifth Age, but with Robo-hobbits and Cyber-orcs that one did not even try to take itself seriously, so it was kind of different.)

And many thanks to Mark Thorne for the feedback on "Digital Hands." Indeed, Mr. Thorne's criticism (or perhaps rather foreboding) has been a major concern of mine when deciding on what to include in the column. The problem, however, is not so much that nothing new happens (with new MUDs coming on and off-line with a rate of several each year there is little risk of that) but rather that I, as a collector and computer gaming old-timer, am personally very interested in the older games. In the light of this, some historical pieces will be unavoidable. OH 15, for instance, will include an interview with Philip Mitchell, author of The Hobbit and several other classic games, and in the distant future I plan an article about Moria and Angband (the latter of which is still being developed, by the way). All these are, however, games which have been very influential on the entire computer games industry, and I feel that documenting their history is important.

I would like to argue Mr. Thorne's point about "games no one plays anymore." With the current rise of a very strong community of people using emulators to play their old favorites from the eighties on Pentiums, Macs and the like, I think it is safe to say that The Hobbit and other oldies are far from dead. I realize, of course, that the emulator aficionados are probably not the same people that read Other Hands, and I will act accordingly.

In conclusion, I hope to make "Digital Hands" vital, entertaining and appealing to as large an audience as possible. To those ends, feedback such as that from Mr. Thorne is invaluable and I hope to hear from others as well with suggestions for improvements.

Ryds Allé 3:106
S-584 35 Linköping
Sweden

Christina Scull:

I would like to comment on the remarks made by Martin Baker about literary dogmatism and intellectual snobbery in some Tolkien organizations. Such organizations, and publications such as Other Hands, vary in the way they approach Tolkien studies. Just as one would not expect long literary articles in Other Hands since it is 'The International Journal for Middle-earth Gaming', so one does not subscribe to the more literary societies for long gaming articles, spin-off fiction, or wide-ranging speculative articles not substantiated by the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Mythopoeic Society, which is 'an international literary and educational Organization devoted to the study of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams', does not print any such articles in its journal Mythlore, though there are many less literary events at its annual Mythcon. The (British) Tolkien Society is less rigid and does publish a few such articles, but necessarily it must concentrate on the more literary aspects since it is registered as a Charity (which gives it several financial advantages) only by virtue of the educational aims enshrined in its constitution: 'The Society shall seek to educate the public in, and promote research into the life and works of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. . . .' The Charities Commission has been keeping a closer check on such educational charities.

I think that the range of interests in Tolkien and his works is probably wider than for any other literary figure, and it is difficult for any one society to cover all aspects fully�gaming, spin-off fiction, Middle-earth Studies, Tolkien Studies (to use the useful distinction made by John Ellison between those who want to treat Middle-earth as a 'real world' and enlarge on what Tolkien wrote or fill in gaps, and those who want to study Tolkien and his literary creation). Some people are interested in the whole range, others in only part, and over the years groups and magazines have been started to cater to specialist interests. For instance, when a long article on Tolkien linguistics appeared in the Tolkien Society's journal Mallorn c.1980 (the first such), there were so many protests from those not interested in linguistics that a special group for linguists was founded, with its own magazine Quettar. I produce The Tolkien Collector for those who collect books by and on Tolkien and other relevant items, but I would not expect a general Tolkien magazine to print the detailed descriptions and extracts from dealers' catalogues which I include.

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