S3E43 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

Continuing “Tolkien Month”, in today’s episode I spoke with John and Greta Carswell from “The Tolkien Road” podcast, focussing on Tolkien’s work, The Silmarillion.

S3E43: “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road (Download)

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The roadmap for Season 3 is available here.

Time Stamps

00:00:00Introductory music
00:00:11Welcome
00:00:23Introducing John and Greta
00:02:59Drink-of-the-week
00:04:54Quote-of-the-week
00:05:22Patreon Toast
00:05:40John and Greta
00:07:03Discovering Tolkien
00:11:10Loving Tolkien
00:17:17Why start a podcast?
00:22:51How have you changed?
00:29:14John’s books
00:35:14Tolkien Reading tips
00:39:57Reading The Silmarillion
00:45:45Greta’s first impressions
00:50:05Silmarillion Overview
00:58:29Silmarillion Resources
01:03:55LTROnPrime
01:13:31“This vs. That” Quiz
01:23:56The Tolkien Road Info
01:24:26“Last Call” Bell
01:26:09Closing Remarks

YouTube Version

After Show Skype Session

Show Notes

• I shared some biographical details about John, Greta, and their podcast:

The Tolkien Road podcast was Launched in early 2015. On the show, co-hosts John & Greta Carswell journey chapter-by-chapter through The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, as well as Tolkien’s other works…often with the help of a few haikus. John has written several books about Tolkien. He is the author of Tolkien’s Overture, an exploration of Middle-earth’s creation story and the role of music in Tolkien’s tales. He has also written Tolkien’s Requiem, which is a contemplative journey through Tolkien’s most personal and pivotal Middle-earth tale, the story of Beren and Lúthien.

Biographical Details

• Since John and Greta often read haikus on their podcast, I welcomed them with one of my own compositions:

John, Greta, David

An unexpected party

Three is company

Opening Haiku

• My drink-of-the-week was PG Tips tea.

• The quote-of-the-week was road-related and came from Mere Christianity:

If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

• I toasted one of our Patreon supporters:

Daniel, since we’re talking about roads, may you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far…

Toast for Daniel

• To kick things off, I asked John and Greta to tell us a bit more about themselves. I asked them when they first discovered Tolkien and what it is they love about his work.

• I asked about the motivation to start a Tolkien podcast and how doing the podcast has changed their appreciation of Tolkien?

More Tolkien art can be found here.

• John had written two books about Tolkien: Tolkien’s Overture and Tolkien’s Requiem. He suggested that people read his works after they’ve read Tolkien’s.

• I asked them about their general advice for reading Tolkien.

• We then dug into Tolkien’s Silmarillion, it’s background and composition. We spoke about their first impression of The Silmarillion and why so many people struggle with this work. John and Greta gave us an overview of the work, so we can understand Tolkien’s framework.

• We spoke about tips and some traps we can fall into when reading The Silmarillion.

• John introduced us to the resources he has been working on to help people read The Silmarillion.

• We discussed Amazon Prime’s upcoming Middle Earth offering.

• I then gave John and Greta the “Tolkien Month” Pop Quiz:

  • Tea or Coffee?
  • Elves or Dwarves?
  • Early Bird or Night Owl?
  • Gandalf or Radagast?
  • Call or text?
  • Tom Bombadil: Wonderful or Wretched?
  • iPhone or Android?
  • Pippin or Merry?
  • Shelob or Nazgul?
  • Second Breakfast or Elevenses?
  • Boromir or Faramir?
  • Balrogs: Wings or wingless?
  • Bagels or croissants?
  • The movies or the book?
  • Arwen or Eowyn?
  • Rivendell or Lothlorien?
  • Gollum or Jar Jar Binks?
  • Tolkien or Lewis?

• More information at the Tolkien Road website. You can find out more Tolkien’s Overture and Tolkiens Requiem.

• I closed the episode with another haiku:

Tolkien and Lewis

Lovers of myth and legend

A great fellowship

Closing Haiku
Posted in After Hours Episode, Podcast Episode, Season 3 and tagged , , , .

After working as a Software Engineer in England for several years, David moved to the United States in 2008, where he settled in San Diego. Then, in 2020 he married his wife, Marie, and moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Together they have a son, Alexander, who is adamant that Narnia should be read publication order.