October 2014 Newsletter Posted

[dawn_felagund]

The SWG newsletter for October has been posted (yes, before it is even officially October, at least on my half of the world! :)

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/news/october2014.php

We have quite a lot of site news this month. First and foremost, if you have not heard, the Henneth-Annun Story Archive will be closing at the end of the year. This has obvious implications for authors who have work archived there, but it also represents a major loss of stories and fandom history for the fandom as a whole. HASA is twelve years old, and many of its authors aren't active anymore; furthermore, many of their stories are only available on HASA. Because of this, the SWG along with the archives Many Paths to Tread and Faerie is working to identify the stories at greatest risk of being lost, save them, and contact the authors for permission to archive them elsewhere. HASA is home to thousands of stories, so this is a huge job, and any help would be most welcome. Here is a post about the project:

http://silwritersguild.livejournal.com/245284.html

Several archives have offered to assist authors who want to move their work from HASA: the SWG (of course!), Many Paths to Tread (genfic R-rating and below), Faerie (everything Tolkien!), and the Faramir Fiction Archive (Faramir gen, het, and slash). All authors need to do is grant their permission to the admins of these groups, and they will move your stories for you to the site(s) of your choosing.

We are also looking for a volunteer to help us to manage our blog on Tumblr. Full details are available in the newsletter or on our tumblr. The Silmarillion (re)reading also continues this month with two new chapters: "Of Turin Turambar" and "Of the Ruin of Doriath." We also have announcements and articles from groups outside of the SWG in our Around the World and Web section.

This month's edition also includes a character biography of Arvedui, written by our esteemed biographer Oshun. Arvedui is one of those characters who occupies the gray area between The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. The last king of the Arthedain in the north, Arvedui attempted (unsuccessfully) to unite the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, an accomplishment that would not be realized until Aragorn took the throne after the Ring War.

Finally, if you are looking for something to read, we had twenty-one works added or updated on the archive last month; check out the list of September's stories and poems to find something to suit your tastes. Looking for something to write? We have two challenges ongoing at the moment: Traditions, about the oral tradition in Middle-earth, and Season of Change, about the theme of seasons in Tolkien's works.

Many thanks to those who contribute the content for our monthly newsletters: Oshun, Rhapsody, Russandol, and Angelica! I hope everyone enjoys the new edition.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Dawn, for all the work on the newsletter. And thanks for the request for more help on the HASA Rescue project! It's a big job and many hands would make the work lighter. I will be back doing what I agreed to do on it tomorrow now that I have the character bio finished.

Not as though I have nothing else I would like to do, but fandom history is important to me. I remember with great fondness all the wonderful stories on HASA that first got me so excited about the different ways in which one could appreciate and enjoy the canon. I'd like for new people who come around in the future to see where their favorite fanon, tropes, and interpretations were first used.

[dawn_felagund]

You're welcome! I have the most mindless job, I think, in the whole process: a lot of copying and pasting and proofing and adding HTML code. I'm on auto-pilot by now. :)

I'm going to press the issue of volunteers for the HASA rescue soon. About 2,000 stories are not being worked on by anyone. I'm almost done my first set, and I'll claim another 200 as soon as I am, and so on, but I feel like this isn't something we want coming down to the wire.

Not as though I have nothing else I would like to do, but fandom history is important to me.

Ditto. Exactly the same for me. I have a ton I could be doing instead (should be doing instead, at times!), but this is too big a loss to just sit by and let happen. Like you, I do truly believe it is important.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

How safe would you say Open Scrolls is? I had a story that was on there, but I don't know the archive so I copied it anyway.

[dawn_felagund]

I'd count OSA as safe. They've been around forever and appear to be still quite active. We'd know if they were going under because Rhapsody is active there.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

Thank-you! I had an idea it had been around for a long time, but I thought better safe than sorry.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

Some-one told me Library of Moria looked inactive, as if it had not been updated in ages. What do you think? I've never posted or read there, either, so I have no idea if it's considered a safe archive.

[dawn_felagund]

The most recent update was June '14. It looks like a batch of stories was added then. (IIrc, the admins add all stories to the site?) It looks like things have been slowing down there recently for sure. I don't know that I'd consider it unsafe yet--they are another site that I'd like to think couldn't just disappear without someone noticing or remarking about it--but it certainly looks worrisome. :^/

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

I'm in the process of checking the spreadsheets - I'll see if I have any LOM links. I am not sure I do -- maybe one.

[hhimring]

I saw a comment by Tallulah recently, who seems to be one of the mods. She said things had slowed down a lot on LoM, but I didn't get the impression that it was about to be shut down.

[dawn_felagund]

I saw it mentioned on Tumblr as well, by a user remarking on its longevity and how its mods are still invested after all these years. I feel like certain sites (LoM, OSA among them) won't just disappear in the night. Or that is my hope. There are too many people invested in them, kind of like HASA. And if they do, we are collecting links for all the HASA stories, and it will be relatively easy to identify those that were archived there and would be lost if the site closed.

But I have hope that that won't be the case and that they will be around for many, many years yet to come. :)