Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired. He apparently made several attempts to get whichever Tolkien runs the estate now that Christopher is dead to read it, but his attempts were rebuffed/ignored. Now he claims the Amazon show ripped off his book and he’s suing Amazon, Bezos, and the Tolkien estate. End summary of the video. Per the telling in the video, it sounds veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery much like he was trying to get it read to lay the groundwork for a future copyright suit. (Which is why people who write fiction for a living will usually not read some rando’s draft of something.) Since the plot of the show, from what I’ve read, is mostly invented by the show, with a couple of signposts from the LOTR appendices, it wouldn’t be ludicrous for it to be similar to some non-Tolkien fantasy story, and not out of the realm of possibility that somebody was in fact plagiarizing some other source … but (again as framed by this video), this sounds like a bogus attention-getting stunt.
Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired.
Well, self-publishing had a good run, but it’s time to wrap it up.
It’s not just “inspired” by LOTR, it’s a direct sequel in the Middle Earth setting featuring characters created by Tolkien. I’m not sure why this guy wanted to get countersued for copyright infringement. I mean, he obviously thought that he could drive up sales of his fan fiction with the attention he would receive from suing Amazon and the Tolkien estate, but whatever money he gets will just be sent straight back to the Tolkiens when they win their countersuit, and this dummy’s writing career will be over before it begins. Just so, so stupid.
Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired.“Tolkien-inspired”? Here’s the blurb for his book (or the first part of the blurb, it goes on a bit): Long before Sauron, the original Rings Of Power were forged by the Elven Lord Celebrimbor and Dwarven smith Narvi in Eregion, near the Misty Mountains. These first magic Rings were far more powerful than those that came after and were corrupted by Sauron to be fought for in the War of the Ring.I don’t know what this guy thinks he’s doing, but he’s gonna get counter-sued to hell and back.
Here’s a synopsis of the book, as sold on Amazon. Frankly, I’m rather shocked the Tolkien estate hasn’t sued this guy already – I don’t think you can publish this kind of fan fiction for profit:
“Long before Sauron, the original Rings Of Power were forged by the
Elven Lord Celebrimbor and Dwarven smith Narvi in Eregion, near the
Misty Mountains. These first magic Rings were far more powerful than
those that came after and were corrupted by Sauron to be fought for in
the War of the Ring.
Elanor, daughter of Samwise, is nervous
before her debutante party in the Shire. In the 22nd year of the reign
of the High King Elessar, the Blue Wizards return from out of the East
bearing grave and perilous news: the rest of the Rings of Power have
been found and they are in deadly danger. Thus begins the War of the
Rings to End All Wars of the Rings. Before it is over Elves, Hobbits,
Dwarves, Men and magical races long forgotten or never seen before will
join the Quest to find Celebrimbor’s originals and the last of Sauron’s
corrupted Rings of Power.
Elanor, two Hobbit friends, the Crown
Prince Eldarion, his Elvish uncles Elladan and Elrohir join the Wizards
Alatar and Pallando in a war across Middle-earth fighting for their
lives. If they fail, they will witness the return of the Vala Morgoth,
the source of Evil and former Master of the long-defeated Sauron. With
all the Rings of Power at his command, Morgoth will enslave the whole of
Middle-earth – forever.”
That’s….nothing like the series. Is he going to sue them over character names? It’s not even the same time period. I guarantee there’s a ton of fan fiction that’s closer to the show than that. There are probably official D&D modules that are closer.
That is quality writing right there that is. The War of the Rings was started after the Blue Wizards returned and Elanor got nervous about a party. Cause and effect, baby!
My god, this book has so much potential for terribleness I’m almost tempted to read it. My big question is whether he’s the kind of bad writer who uses Elanor’s debutante as a recurring part of the narrative (perhaps to emphasize how feminine she is) or if he’s the kind of bad writer who tosses out that kind of characterization and then forgets about it once the wizard shit starts.
I’m not sure I can make it past the dedication to John Ruel Ronald Tolkien (the lesser-known cousin of the world-famous author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien?).
I patently REFUSE to watch a video that won’t play if I click anywhere outside of that window. I’ve got too much to do and this video ain’t worth my undivided attention. Yeah I know the time it took for to write this comment (also – while not playing the video) is counter-intuitive to my argument but screw this platform. I will not be engaging again.
Because the current AVClub staff wants you to hate yourself for watching it and pine for the days they used to be a website and not just a bunch of bloggers scraping the web for entertainment related stories.
43 Comments
Is there a text version of this? I’m not pivoting to video.
It’ll be back as a slideshow tomorrow.
https://radaronline.com/p/jeff-bezos-jrr-tolkien-estate-sued-250-million-writer-lord-of-rings-amazon-series/
Thanks, I will give my clicks to a site that respects its readers
Honestly the video was less trouble to get through than that terrible site (but neither are great).
Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired. He apparently made several attempts to get whichever Tolkien runs the estate now that Christopher is dead to read it, but his attempts were rebuffed/ignored. Now he claims the Amazon show ripped off his book and he’s suing Amazon, Bezos, and the Tolkien estate. End summary of the video. Per the telling in the video, it sounds veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery much like he was trying to get it read to lay the groundwork for a future copyright suit. (Which is why people who write fiction for a living will usually not read some rando’s draft of something.) Since the plot of the show, from what I’ve read, is mostly invented by the show, with a couple of signposts from the LOTR appendices, it wouldn’t be ludicrous for it to be similar to some non-Tolkien fantasy story, and not out of the realm of possibility that somebody was in fact plagiarizing some other source … but (again as framed by this video), this sounds like a bogus attention-getting stunt.
Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired.
Well, self-publishing had a good run, but it’s time to wrap it up.
You can buy the book on Amazon ($11.99 on Kindle). The publication date is this past January, three months after the show debuted. The best part of the listing is the “about the author” section which leads me to believe that Demetrius Polychron is George Santos’ pen name.https://www.amazon.com/Fellowship-King-War-Rings-Book-ebook/dp/B0BSHCST4C?ref_=ast_author_dp
Just… incredible. Uncredible.
He looks a lot like Oscar Isaac.
Thanks, AV Club should hire you, instead of this video stuff
It’s not just “inspired” by LOTR, it’s a direct sequel in the Middle Earth setting featuring characters created by Tolkien. I’m not sure why this guy wanted to get countersued for copyright infringement. I mean, he obviously thought that he could drive up sales of his fan fiction with the attention he would receive from suing Amazon and the Tolkien estate, but whatever money he gets will just be sent straight back to the Tolkiens when they win their countersuit, and this dummy’s writing career will be over before it begins. Just so, so stupid.
The Two Kingships of the Fellows . . . and Their Towers
Someone who writes under what I have to assume is the pen-name Demetrius Polychron published a fantasy novel called, ahem, The Fellowship of the King, which he admits is very Tolkien-inspired.“Tolkien-inspired”? Here’s the blurb for his book (or the first part of the blurb, it goes on a bit): Long before Sauron, the original Rings Of Power were forged by the Elven Lord Celebrimbor and Dwarven smith Narvi in Eregion, near the Misty Mountains. These first magic Rings were far more powerful than those that came after and were corrupted by Sauron to be fought for in the War of the Ring.I don’t know what this guy thinks he’s doing, but he’s gonna get counter-sued to hell and back.
I’m actually suing all of them for ripping off my premise that I clearly created in The King’s Two Towers, due out this summer.
Jeff Bezos & J. R. R. Tolkien’s Estate Hit With $250 Million Lawsuit Over Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series (msn.com)
Here’s a synopsis of the book, as sold on Amazon.
Frankly, I’m rather shocked the Tolkien estate hasn’t sued this guy already – I don’t think you can publish this kind of fan fiction for profit:
“Long before Sauron, the original Rings Of Power were forged by the
Elven Lord Celebrimbor and Dwarven smith Narvi in Eregion, near the
Misty Mountains. These first magic Rings were far more powerful than
those that came after and were corrupted by Sauron to be fought for in
the War of the Ring.
Elanor, daughter of Samwise, is nervous
before her debutante party in the Shire. In the 22nd year of the reign
of the High King Elessar, the Blue Wizards return from out of the East
bearing grave and perilous news: the rest of the Rings of Power have
been found and they are in deadly danger. Thus begins the War of the
Rings to End All Wars of the Rings. Before it is over Elves, Hobbits,
Dwarves, Men and magical races long forgotten or never seen before will
join the Quest to find Celebrimbor’s originals and the last of Sauron’s
corrupted Rings of Power.
Elanor, two Hobbit friends, the Crown
Prince Eldarion, his Elvish uncles Elladan and Elrohir join the Wizards
Alatar and Pallando in a war across Middle-earth fighting for their
lives. If they fail, they will witness the return of the Vala Morgoth,
the source of Evil and former Master of the long-defeated Sauron. With
all the Rings of Power at his command, Morgoth will enslave the whole of
Middle-earth – forever.”
That’s….nothing like the series. Is he going to sue them over character names? It’s not even the same time period. I guarantee there’s a ton of fan fiction that’s closer to the show than that. There are probably official D&D modules that are closer.
That is quality writing right there that is. The War of the Rings was started after the Blue Wizards returned and Elanor got nervous about a party. Cause and effect, baby!
My god, this book has so much potential for terribleness I’m almost tempted to read it. My big question is whether he’s the kind of bad writer who uses Elanor’s debutante as a recurring part of the narrative (perhaps to emphasize how feminine she is) or if he’s the kind of bad writer who tosses out that kind of characterization and then forgets about it once the wizard shit starts.
If you want to read it without rewarding the bad (criminal?) behavior of the “author”, there’s a big chunk of it here: https://books.google.com/books?id=iH6iEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
That is… something. Yes. It’s certainly… something.
I like the idea of a sequel in which the Blue Wizards show up and are like, what did we miss? But this probably isn’t that.
Thus begins the War of the Rings to End All Wars of the Rings.This… this is amazing.
I had to go to Amazon to see that for myself.I’ll give the guy this: he’s got balls. He’s not smart, but he’s got balls.
I downloaded the free Kindle sample of the first book. Made it through one paragraph before losing the will to live.
Apparently my library has it available through Hoopla.
Do it. Do it!
I don’t know, I might want to write something someday. If there’s any evidence I that I may have read it, he could sue me.
Coward.
Noel?
More like POOPLA, amirite? You know, because the book is shit.
God I’m so tempted, but what if it just sits in my Kindle library?
I’m tempted to purchase a physical copy. Might be worth something after the Tolkien Estate sue the pants off him.
I’m not sure I can make it past the dedication to John Ruel Ronald Tolkien (the lesser-known cousin of the world-famous author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien?).
The lesser-known cousin is far and away the most litigious member of the family. This dude is fucked.
One self-publisher to rule them all and in their bad writing bind them.
THOUSANDS of years ago…
And here’s a list of this guy’s grievances.
I patently REFUSE to watch a video that won’t play if I click anywhere outside of that window. I’ve got too much to do and this video ain’t worth my undivided attention. Yeah I know the time it took for to write this comment (also – while not playing the video) is counter-intuitive to my argument but screw this platform. I will not be engaging again.
Why is this a fucking video?
Advertising.
It was kind of a rhetorical question.
Because the current AVClub staff wants you to hate yourself for watching it and pine for the days they used to be a website and not just a bunch of bloggers scraping the web for entertainment related stories.