In 1965 or 66 I bought the Ace editions of the Lord of The Rings. I bought the second two books, but the Fellowship was backordered and I had to wait a month for it. My friend, neighbor, and fellow reader, Randy, borrowed The Two Towers and, to my horror, read it without first reading the Fellowship. When I finally received the first book, I rushed through the three paperbacks in less than a week. I will always regret that I did not read the trilogy that first time slowly, enjoying the flavor of Middle Earth.

During the month that I waited for Fellowship, I remember looking at the covers by Jack Gaughan and trying to imagine what the books would be like. By the time I started reading, I had a clear idea in my head of what the story would be. I, of course, was very wrong. Today, when I look at the books (I still have them), I get a glimmer of the world that I invented to match those Jack Gaughan covers.

Recently, I have made several outlines of stories for each of the covers. I don’t know if I will ever find time to write any of them, but these are images that have stayed with me for nearly 45 years and they need to be put into words.

I challenge you, my several and varied readers, to write a fragment, poem, or flash to go with these pictures. If you do and it is not marketable send it to me and I’ll post it here. Do not send me work for which there is a remote chance of being paid for as I cannot pay you.

The covers: