In our twenty-sixth episode, we delve into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, exploring the origins of The Lord of the Rings and how Tolkien’s imagination laid the foundation for modern fantasy storytelling.

In this episode we reference the following:

•  J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter 
• The Prancing Pony Podcast: https://theprancingponypodcast.com/
• Zach Rider The Lord of the Rings audiobooks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSvzrLtkGgwuyYOyCH6Ep4g
• A Brandon Sanderson interview that credits Tolkien as the progenitor of epic fantasy and highlights The Lord of the Rings as the first fully realized "secondary world" in fantasy literature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z3JelPiBcc#:~:text=if%20you%20look%20at%20the%20early%20heroic,secondary%20world%20even%20though%20it's%20Middle%20Earth.

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Introduction music featured by Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, B. 179 "American": I. Allegro ma non troppo (1893), performed by the Cleveland Quartet (Telarc, 1991).