And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

  My two favourite fantasy trilogies are The Riddle Master by Patricia A. McKillip  and The Lord Of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien's work has been a big part of my life and imagination since my teens. I have a a couple of books concerning Tolkien's experiences in World War One and how they may have influenced his writing currently waiting on my Kindle. I also loved his illustrations and recently used Christmas Gift cards to purchase the book Tolkien:The Maker of Middle-Earth by Catherine McIlwaine, about a 2018 exhibition covering the life and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien that was held at the The Bodleian library. 

A link to the exhibition is here.
https://tolkien.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

I have been reading Megan N Fontenot's great series on the People of Middle-East running on Tor.com and really enjoyed the essay.   

The People of Middle-earth: One Ring to Rule Them All
https://www.tor.com/2019/09/19/the-people-of-middle-earth-one-ring-to-rule-them-all/

I have enjoyed it enough that I am considering looking for the History of Middle-Earth which runs to a rather daunting 12 volumes. But the basement renovation continues and many books have been boxed so I will probably wait until I can see what I already have. We did discover a couple more electrical outlets as we moved stuff so the process has sped up.  

There have been a couple of significant deaths in the Tolkien universe in 2020, as I am sure you are aware. His son Christopher, who was responsible for the bulk of his father’s posthumously published work passed away January 16th.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/20/christopher-tolkien-obituary

And Barbara Remington, the illustrator who created the most widely recognized covers for J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” passed away on January 23rd. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/15/books/barbara-remington-dead.html

Alan Brown on Tor.com published a lovely essay on these editions and you can read it here. 

https://www.tor.com/2020/01/03/how-tolkien-and-the-lord-of-the-rings-changed-publishing-forever/

I know that when I first saw the Ballantine Editions with the covers inspired by Tolkien's illustrations I was drawn to them. (I certainly need to dig out the hair-
dryer and take the stickers off) However as I have become more interested in book covers and illustration, some editions just strike me as being such an important part of the history, not just of the author's work itself, but also of the genre and the period that I may change my feelings about them. Remington's covers are possibly the greatest example of this, for me personally, which is why I was so taken with Brown's essay. 

"The Road goes ever on and on 

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet."

Betty Ballantine, Who Helped Introduce Paperbacks, Dies at 99

 Yesterday Doug let me know that Betty Ballantine, who with her husband Ian began Ballantine Books, a huge publishing presence in science fiction had passed away at 99. The New York Times published a nice tribute.  "They started Ballantine Books in 1952, publishing reprints as well as original works in paperback.

While Ian Ballantine, who died in 1995, was the better known of the publishing duo, Betty Ballantine, who was British, quietly devoted herself to the editorial side. She nurtured authors, edited manuscripts and helped promote certain genres — Westerns, mysteries, romance novels and, perhaps most significantly, science fiction and fantasy.

Her love for that genre and knowledge of it helped put it on the map.

“She birthed the science fiction novel,” said Tad Wise, a nephew of Ms. Ballantine’s by marriage. With the help of Frederik Pohl, a science fiction writer, editor and agent, Mr. Wise said, “She sought out the pulp writers of science fiction who were writing for magazines and said she wanted them to write novels, and she would publish them.”

In doing so she helped a wave of science fiction and fantasy writers emerge. They included Joanna Russ, author of “The Female Man”(1975), a landmark novel of feminist science fiction, and Samuel R. Delany, whose “Dhalgren” (1975) was one of the best-selling science fiction novels of its time.

The Ballantines also published paperback fiction by Ray Bradbury, whose books include “The Martian Chronicles” and “Fahrenheit 451”; Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote “2001: A Space Odyssey”; and J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Hobbit” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy."

full obituary here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/obituaries/betty-ballantine-dead.html

When I moved from reading science fiction to collecting science fiction as well, Ballantine Books, with top notch writers and wonderful covers by Richard Powers were favourites. So I decided to pull some of the books from Ballantine's first two years (1953-1954, pre me even) from my shelves with a few comments. I will only attribute the covers if they are not by Richard Powers. Search the Sky is the first book I remember my buddy Doug and I discussing, possibly before we even started our reading project. We both enjoyed it. I love the covers where Powers combines his surrealist flourishes with realistic elements. 

Brain Wave is an old favourite with both of us, ah! nostalgia and I love the chimp with the inexplicable device. I looked for years for a reasonably priced copy of More Than Human with possibly my favourite Powers cover of all time.

Out of the Deeps better known as The Kraken Wakes is my favourite Wyndham and my favourite "cozy catastrophe" lots of favourites in this post. The Space Merchants was I believe the first novel we tackled on our reading project. And I think I can say we were both impressed. It covered a number of SF tropes, including one of the first examples of meat grown via cell culture in this case "Chicken Little"

So I have a lot to be grateful to the Ballantines for, without this opportunity for authors to find paperback markets outside the pulps who knows what gems we would have missed.  

https://www.nextnature.net/2013/10/the-sci-fi-prehistory-of-victimless-meat/

Also I will include a couple links from ISFDB of some of the full wrap around covers.

Out of the Deeps

http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/9/9a/TFTHDPS1953.jpg

Star Science Fiction Stories

http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/8/82/STARSFS1953.jpg

Brain Wave
http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/c/c4/BRNWAVE1954.jpg

The Space Merchants
http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/5/5f/THSPCMRCHN1953.jpg

Shadows in the Sun, cover uncredited