*tear*

.

This makes me so sad.

But what makes me even sadder is the incredibly snide and nasty comments I've been reading about it. Brainwashing isn't funny, people, and nobody deserves it. Do you know anybody who deserves to be sucked into some soul-destroying cult that'll drain away all his energy and sanity and life? That'll turn him into a nonsense-spouting loon? That'll have the whole world laughing at him?

You know, if this had happened to some high-handed asshole like Jerk Nicholson, I might be in there with the snark, too. But by all accounts, this guy has never been an asshole. I've yet to read or hear any stories about him being nasty to fans, or underhanded in business dealings, or violent or alcoholic or any flavor of psycho. He's handsome, charming, damn hard-working, and seemed to have a chamed life. But apparently he had enough insecurities and self-doubts that this FUCKING HIDEOUS CULT managed to get their hooks into him, and that's all she wrote.

And make no mistakes, that's exactly what they do. You can roll your eyes and sneer all you want, but anybody can be vulnerable to people like this. Once they sniff out your weaknesses, you're prime meat to them. Believe it, baby.

The whole thing just makes me so sad. *sigh*

So what about dese here...whattaya call 'em...books?

This evening, Spike and I were having one of our animated conviviala, as we are wont to do. (That woman is Discussion Gold, by the way - a conversation with her is never wasted time.) And we were commenting on the fact that, were it not for the Tolkien family Old Guard sitting on the canon like a cop defending his donut, there would doubtless be literally scores of books written in Middle-Earth by now. If not before, then certainly after the films had begun to come out; I imagine that the New Line suits are fairly annoyed at not being able to get in on the publishing action, and with such a ready and willing pool of potential providers, who could blame them?

( Ruminations on the phenomenon of Published Fanfic )

Step right up. The microphones are on.