The Elusive Hilary

While browsing John Garth's "Tolkien and the Great War," I was struck by how few references there are to Tolkien's younger (and only) brother Hilary. Hilary was in the same unit as a number of JRRT's friends and acquaintances (the Salford Pals). Yet there is almost no mention of him in the book. An internet search came up with nothing about him besides his date of birth and that he did enlist in the army. No mention of marriage, children, date of death, education, or occupation. [Edit: I searched an electronic copy of Tolkien's published letters and came up with a single reference to Hilary.] Given the importance of kinship (and especially sibling relationships) in Tolkien's work, this struck me as odd. I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Was he somehow seen as a discredit to the family? Did he and JRRT have a falling out?

BMEM '08: Enemy of Progress

David Brin, over at salon.com, discusses Tolkien's reactionary worldview in J.R.R. Tolkien--Enemy of Progress. A thought-provoking and amusing essay.

Newsflash: Lord B. writes a fic!

After four years of suffering through reading my fic, Lord B. has taken pen in hand! He liked an idea we had been discussing and decided to write his own fic (probably a good idea given the rate that I have been going through my plotbunny heap...) This was his first creative writing that did not involve computer code in about 30 years. :)