Mystical Realms Newsletter for February, 2012

[Jef]

Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for February, 2012! Please feel free to
forward this to anyone you think would be interested in keeping up
with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, please drop me an
email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurray.com )
or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms . Notices of
events and items of interest are at the bottom of this email.


Pitchers ===============

IMPORTANT! I will soon be repatriating my Middle-earth themed
paintings and sketches currently held in the UK. As a result, I would
like to offer my UK and European friends a unique opportunity to
purchase some of these items before they leave the continent.

Effective immediately, and continuing until midnight on Mardi Gras
(February 21), we are holding a one-time-only half-price sale of all
framed and unframed paintings and sketches currently held by ADC Books
(see www.adcbooks.co.uk). Please note that the sale includes all
10”x16” and smaller canvasses in the ADC Books catalog as well as all
unsold framed and unframed sketches, including original sketches for
Black & White Ogre Country: The Lost Tales of Hilary Tolkien. The sale
also includes a few wooden “cutout” dragons!

Please take a look at the ADC Books catalog. If you have a question
about a work, please don’t hesitate to contact Andy Compton directly
at an...@adcbooks.co.uk or phone 07785-110512. If you are unable to
reach Andy, feel free to contact me and I should be able to help.


Ponderings ==============

The bell on the front door of the shop rang. The Dwarf peered through
the curtain separating the storefront from his workspace.

"Ah, it's only you," he said.

Eyebrows bristled over a broad nose and his beard was shot through
with strands of silver. He pushed aside the drapes and emerged from
behind the jewelry counter.

The tall visitor smiled and bowed. "Yes, only me."

Gabriel wore an oilskin riding coat that was spotted with melting
snowflakes. Outside the jeweler's window, flocks of white flakes
surged through the streets, softening the hard edges of the dingy
downtown door stoops. Two sparrows huddled on the lamppost just
outside the shop door.

"What do you want this time?" asked the Dwarf. “You know I have no new
Mithril trinkets; they are too dangerous to harbor. And I can't
imagine you've come to purchase a Valentine’s Day gift...."

Gabriel smiled, but the jeweler showed no indication that he had
attempted a joke.

The Dwarf looked past Gabriel and scowled. The tall man turned and saw
a young woman approach the doorway. She hesitated as she glanced
inside, and then turned away.

“Were you expecting someone?” asked Gabriel.

“No,” said the Dwarf. “That’s my secretary. She’s a fool and worse
than useless, but she knows better than to interrupt me if I’m
speaking with a customer. You aren’t a customer, though, are you?”

“No, my friend, I’m not. I’ve come to ask you a favor.”

“I don’t do favors. I’m a businessman, not a charity.”

“I’ve come to hire you for a service, then.”

The jeweler scowled once more, but turned around and motioned for
Gabriel to follow him back behind the curtain. Gabriel recognized the
oilcloth-covered table and the cabinets in the darkened workshop. As
usual, tiny pairs of pliers, hammers, and rolls of silver and gold
solder lay haphazardly on the table surface; the only light came from
an ancient oil lamp that swung from the low-beamed ceiling.

The Dwarf perched upon a high stool and motioned for Gabriel to take a
seat. He did so, and then surveyed the jeweler’s face closely. The
Dwarf avoided his gaze, and looked down at the tabletop, pushing a
golden chain he had been working on out of the light.

“Mistrustful still, I see,” said Gabriel.

“The world is full of fools and dastards, and even if you aren’t
exactly like other men, I’ve no more reason to trust your motives than
anyone else’s,” the Dwarf said. “Plenty of people hate me and my kind;
why should I give them any opportunity to take more advantage than
they already do?”

Gabriel frowned. “But, Dvalin, surely over your many years you’ve
encountered some who gained your trust?”

“Yes, I have. And every one of them betrayed it. But…we’ve been
through all of this before…”

“Yes, we have,” said Gabriel, shaking his head, “And I’m sorry for
you. Short of a miracle, I can think of no way to help you overcome
the bitterness you feel toward the outside world.”

“I don’t need your help, and I don’t need your pity!” growled the
Dwarf, “and if that is the ‘service’ you wanted from me – to become a
soft-hearted fool like yourself – than save your pennies, your piety
and your platitudes. I’ve no use for any of them!” Dvalin glared at
Gabriel and made as if to rise from the table.

“No, no. Stay! That is not the ‘service’ I sought; put your mind at
ease. And hear me out.”

Dvalin remained seated.

“I have a different request to make, one I think you alone are
trustworthy enough to fulfill.” Gabriel reached into the pocket of his
coat. He withdrew his hand and stretched it out, into the light.

In his palm lay a silver ring bearing a large, dark stone. It
glittered in his hand. “This is Linya.”

“Not Mithril,” said Dvalin, eyeing the ring closely.

“Can you tell so quickly?”

Dvalin didn’t answer, nor did he reach out to take the ring. “Tell me
what you know of it before I touch it. Nothing you carry, I’ll wager,
would be entirely safe for anyone else to handle.”

Gabriel laughed. “That is your professional experience speaking, and
you are not unwise in your caution. Linya is not safe. But neither is
she malignant. She is incapable of causing harm; indeed, Linya can
bring only good to her bearer.”

“Not one of the Great Rings,” the Dwarf said, looking up. “I know all
of their devices and ornaments, and this one is new to me. Can you
assure me that it will cause me no harm to touch it?”

“It will do nothing to you unless you place it on your finger. Go
ahead, look as closely as you’d like.”

Dvalin gingerly plucked the ring from Gabriel’s palm and screwed a
jeweler’s loupe into his eye. He studied the surface of the ring
closely, and then gasped when he glimpsed the stone.

“Sapphire!” he exclaimed, “an exquisite stone! A natural gem, yet with
such color!!”

Astonished, he removed the loupe and turned the ring over in his hand.
“Such a piece would be worth a fortune on the open market, even if it
had no…other qualities. There is some ornamentation, but not the
emblem of its maker; delicately made and of fine workmanship, but of
simple silver. You know its history…?”

“Indeed, I do, but we have not the time for that long tale. I came to
ask you to hold the ring for me. Where I am traveling I do not wish to
expose Linya to danger. Can you keep her safe until I return?”

“Untouched?”

Gabriel smiled. “I knew you’d be curious about her…powers. Let me just
say that I expected you would be unable to resist trying the ring on.
But, I cannot predict the consequences other than to say she will not
harm you. That is different, of course, from saying that she will not
change you.”

“Change me? How?”

“That I cannot say. The ring’s power varies with each new master, and
she brings different gifts to each bearer.”

“But, is the ring safe to keep? Is it stolen? Or is anyone seeking for
it? I will not put myself in danger for anyone’s sake!”

“No, no, my friend. No one even knows that Linya exists in our day.
And all who have worn her in the past are no longer living.”

“Then they were killed by the ring?!” The Dwarf put Linya back on the
table and shrank away.

“Not at all! They all died natural deaths – and happy ones, I might
add. It is just that knowledge of Linya and her maker has faded, and
those who inherited her never understood her virtues. Indeed, none of
them even tried on the ring. And I doubt if she was ever written of in
the ancient texts; as you observed, she is not one of the Great
Rings.”

“How long do you want me to keep her?”

“Until I return. More than that I cannot say.”

“And if I am not here when you return? You know I often move shop.”

“I will be able to find Linya, regardless of where you take her. All I
ask is that you keep her safe and guard her closely in the meantime.”

“I will, of course, charge a fee upon her safe return to you.”

“Of course. I will leave the fee entirely to you, and it can be
whatever you deem just, up to the value of the ring itself.”

Dvalin looked at the ring, then slyly back up at Gabriel, then again
at the ring. The oil lamp sputtered above them and in its flickering
flame, shards of ultramarine and cobalt light flashed from deep within
the ring’s stone.

“Done. I’ll keep her. But, aside from the fee, I may want a favor in
return some day.”

“Certainly.” Gabriel smiled. “If you wish it.”

The two rose and returned to the storefront. Gabriel bowed to Dvalin,
bid him good evening, an then left the shop, disappearing into the
thickening snow.

Dvalin stood behind the counter with the ring clenched in his fist,
frowning as pedestrians hurried by. He recognized most of those who
passed his shop window: many owed him money for jewelry or repair
services; others he considered cheats, only interested in gouging him
for the tools and materials he needed for his work; still more were
competitors whom he considered grasping and unscrupulous. His
secretary, too, he mistrusted, even though she had been with him for
several years and had always done her best to please him.

“Too nice,” he muttered aloud. “She isn’t paid enough to fawn the way
she does.”

He looked at Linya. “Might as well get this over with,” he said,
slipping the ring onto his finger.

He felt nothing but a slight tingling sensation. He looked around him.
The storefront had not changed, nor had his reflection altered in the
mirror behind the counter. The hands on the store clock still read
5:30. Outside, the snow thickened further, but now dusk was falling.

He was about to take the ring off again when he saw a figure approach
the shop door. It was his secretary. She peered inside, and seeing him
alone, she gently opened the door and stepped out of the storm. She
looked at him, shivering.

“For heaven’s sake, Cailie, get over to the stove before you catch
cold!” Dvalin’s voice startled both of them. Cailie’s eyes grew wide,
but she quickly stepped toward the wood stove that heated the room.

“Give me that coat,” Dvalin said, stepping toward her. She looked
alarmed, but slid out of her coat and handed it to him. He hung it on
a peg near the stove so that it could dry.

Dvalin turned back toward his secretary. She seemed suddenly small to
him, and vulnerable. She was still shivering. He had never paid her
much attention, but now he noticed how the cold had colored her
cheeks, and how thin she appeared.

“Have you had anything to eat today? While you were out?” he asked.

“N-n-n-no….” She said, still shaking. “And…and I’m so s-s-orry I was g-
gone for so long….”

“Don’t mind that. But for heaven’s sake, girl,” he said, shaking his
head. “You’re as thin as a rail. I can’t afford to have you die of
starvation on me.”

He rummaged in the back room and returned with a loaf of bread, some
cheese, and a bottle of red wine. He placed them on the counter near
her.

“Here, eat something and have some wine. It will warm you up.”

Looking astonished, Cailie slowly sat down behind the counter and
began eating. Dvalin watched her for a moment. What was it she
reminded him of? He recalled a featherless sparrow he had once found
lying helpless on the ground, so many, many decades past, when he was
a boy. He had fed it bits of bread and milk until it had fledged and
flown away.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked, looking up fearfully.

The question startled Dvalin. A scarcely-recognized emotion swelled
within his breast, and as his eyes filled with tears, it occurred to
him that he had never said so much as a kind word to Cailie before; he
had always been too busy, too mistrustful, or too angry about some
perceived grudge that he was nursing.

“I…I just want to make sure you’re alright. What with the snow and
all…” he stammered.

He felt ashamed and looked down at his hands on the counter. Then he
saw the ring, still on his finger. And he remembered Gabriel’s words:
“She is incapable of causing harm; indeed, Linya can bring only good
to her bearer.” He wondered….

“Are you warmer now, my dear?” he asked her, hesitantly.

“Yes. Thank you. I’m much better now.” And Dvalin continued to watch
her as she ate, her pale fingers like the beak of some tiny hatchling,
pecking at the morsels of bread and wine.


Prospects ===================

• I am delighted to announce that I will be appearing as a guest
speaker and presenter at the Bram Stoker Centenary Conference at the
University of Hull and in Whitby, England, April 12-14. Whitby, as
many of you may know, features prominently in Stoker’s classic horror
novel, Dracula. The conference theme is "Bram Stoker and Gothic
Transformations". I was invited as a guest of the university to
present on my illustration work for Gothic novels, particularly "The
Magic Ring" by Fouque, as well as on two new republished Gothic works
including one by Bram Stoker himself. More information can be found
at: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/english/events/conferences/bram_stoker.aspx

• The Middle-earth Network ( http://middleearthnetwork.com )
continues to be the “Go To” place for news about Middle-earth-related
and Narnia-related events and for discussions on its social network,
http://mymiddle-earth.com/ . Plus, the site has just been revamped
with improved functionality and the opportunity to create your own
Blog webpage, absolutely free! Along with podcasts with folks of
interest to Middle-earth and Narnia fans, there are contests, articles
of interest, pointers to intriguing websites, etc. If you’re not a
member yet, you’re missing out on a great community of artists,
musicians, and general lovers of Tolkien and Lewis!

• The Return of the Ring 2012 (see http://www.returnofthering.org/)
will be a huge Tolkien-themed conference and gathering at Loughborough
University on 16-20th August, 2012. I am an invited guest at the event
and am looking forward not only to sharing my paintings and sketches,
but also to participating in panels and presentations. You can book
reservations now online.

• Tolkien biographer Joseph Pearce and I collaborated on an EWTN
TV special on J.R.R. Tolkien that is now available on DVD. The
production includes dozens of my illustrations of Tolkien’s The Lord
of the Rings, and it focuses on the Catholicity of Tolkien’s magnum
opus. You can order the a DVD of the show at:
http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/TOLKIEN+S+LORD+OF+THE+RINGS+A+CATHOLIC+WORLD+VIEW/shop.axd/ProductDetails?x=0&y=0&keywords=Pearce+Tolkien&edp_no=22609