Percy Ficathon

Whew. 44 of 70 emails sent.

Sorry, those of you who've tried to respond. I've had to send these from my Outlook account, and the Spam filters are set to stun.

I did the best I could with these pairings/requests. I have one more switch-around and then I'll send the rest. *collapses*

An Audience With The King

Something I wrote long ago... on www.barrowdowns.com. I've always meant to compile the work we did on that story, Pat and I. But the friendship didn't survive. Only the writing.

The lead, Gramil (I did not pick the names) is a black man, a trader of Harad, in his fifties, pulled out of retirement for a business venture that became something more.

Al-Gareth, well, he's another story. He's the likely leader of the men of Nurn (just south of Mordor), a country enslaved by Sauron, cut off and distrustful of the outside world, where the overlords simply took over and grew wealthy on what used to be sent as tribute to the Dark Lord. Its people were abandoned to their fate by the men of the West, but when trade with Harad was inexplicably cut off, Harad began to ask why.

( Lord of the Rings, original characters of Harad. There, I just guaranteed no one would read it. Worse yet, this is the final scene. )

I used to craft my stories like this, taking care to preserve Tolkien's lofty tone.