Hands of the King - Complete

It is not all politics with me. No, really! There's family and friends, the new old house I'm renovating, a very busy job and other odds and ends.

For several years, from late 2002 until early 2007, I was writing a fanfiction novel, Hands of the King. After a hiatus to deal with family concerns and to jettison some very annoying and opportunistic fandfom jerks from my life, I wrapped up final edits and posted it on the HASA web site.

For those not familiar with fanfiction, it is nothing more or less than fans of a certain book, series, TV show and/or movie coming up with their own stories set in the world of the original work. It may be a completely new story, with original characters, plots, and locations. It may be a "gap-filler" which tells a story of something that had to have happened (an adult character's childhood) or to flesh out a scene that must have ocurred given things characters or the author says. Finally, the story may be an "Alternate Universe" (AU) where the writer radically changes something (or a lot of things) to presetn something new. Most fanfiction is atrocious, but that's part of its charm. In the Tolkien fandom, the appeal is that JRRT left so much writing lying about, with massive timelines and histories and stories only alluded to and multiple versions of just about everything, that it's an addictive world to write in.

I've written a number of stories (and, yeah, they are probably reasonably atrocious, judged by professional standards), with HotK being the biggest. It's very long at almost 900,000 words and 85 chapters plus appendices. It's a gap-filler, being an account of the courtship and marriage of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, and Finduilas of Dol Amroth.

I began it out of revulsion of the usual Denethor stories of the time (2002). In them, he was usually portrayed as violent, stupid, gay, abusive to his wife and children, into torturing people, immoral, short, socially inept, and just about every other negative you can think of. Finduilas was written as a helpless, hysterical, weak, stupid doormat, either killing herself or being murdered by Denethor. The story lines offended me as both a feminist and a political theorist because of the hackneyed gender stereotypes and the inability of the writers to rise to the occasion and write about fully rounded characters in a time of wrenching cultural and political change. I intended to write a short work, novella length, of about 12 chapters, taking a break from my Shire stories series. Hmm, didn't turn out the way I expected.

I ended up in an argument with Tolkien about faith, humanism and fate. What would it mean to be a humanist in a world where immortal, angelic beings walk the earth with you, openly engaging in divine warfare through the ages? What does it mean to value faith above politics, or to place a divine plan ahead of ordinary lives? It was a challenge to write with and against the grain of Tolkien's body of work, being bound by the limits of the world, but having the main characters contest the fundamental terms of being in Middle-earth. Of course, it couldn't just be exposition. It had to be told through the events of their lives and be something a reader would want to stick with.

It's got just about everything in it - battle scenes, love scenes, mysteries to be solved, babies to be cuddled, an obnoxious cat and more than a few kitchen sinks. It helps if you've read Lord of the Rings, and is even better if you've read the Silmarillion and the Hobbit, but it will (I think) stand on its own. The characterizations of Denethor and Finduilas were unique in the fandom when I began the work and have influenced how others now write them.

Just a little entertainment for those who are interested.

Anglachel

No More HotK

(Edited to be less whiny)

With the most recent chapter, Due, I'm done with public posting of Hands of the King.

I've completed my writing, which is a good feeling. I have put in five years of work on this novel; researching Tolkien, interrogating conventions of fanon, trying to think with and against Tolkien's own meta-narrative of politics, religion, and society, developing plot and characterization, and going over and over the work to catch inconsistencies and errors. I think I've managed to do this and write an engaging tale. What I wanted to get from that endeavor, I have received.

I know I have readers on this story. I get between 600 and 800 page views a week on average. However, aside from my two friends Agape and Fergus, HotK readers have basically stopped providing any substantive responses. Only four people besides Agape and Fergus have posted a comment or sent an author email since January this year, and many of those have been private "You have a typo" in nature. The lack of substantive response aggravates me after having done all of that work. It may not be a reasonable reaction, but it is how I feel.

Maybe the story just isn't as good or engaging as it used to be. Whatever the reason, readers don't want to comment, I can't make readers comment, and I have deal with my frustration over that situation. My way to deal with it is to stop creating the situation in the first place. I have said myself in times past that the author's satisfaction with the work has to be with the work itself, and not done for the sake of squees. I'm happy with the story I have written and I'm not going to blackmail for comments.

Anglachel

HotK - Ch. 66 - Speculation

For the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 66 - Speculation. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

2 of 2 Finduilas POVs. Warning for explicit sex scene.

This is an introspective chapter. Finduilas has had a series of shocks, and is now having to ask what is going to become of her, Denethor and those she loves. She will be thinking more explicitly about the fact that she is a ringer for two other women, and how that plays out as being one of the losers in the drama of Arda. It also is a play on "speculum" and the invasion of her mental and physical integrity by various others - Sauron, Denethor, the mariner, Mithrandir, Boromir, and Thorongil, to name the most obvious. There limits to how much control she has over the use of mind and body by others.

Major scenes with Denethor, Luinil, and Laanga.

Anglachel

HotK - Ch. 65 - Recovery

For the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 65 - Recovery. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

1 of 2 Finduilas POV. Small warning for discussion of uncomfortable topics.

The story picks up from Finduilas's POV on the same afternoon as the previous chapter ended with Denethor.

There is a lot of recovery going on. Recovering from a season of war, from Thorongil's departure, and from the threat of civil war. There is also recovering lost ground, usurped territory, and over-extended expectations. Most of all, there is recovering from the damage that this has inflicted on the hearts and psyches of the survivors.

The story within the story, of the downfall of Numenor, makes a significant reappearance. Finduilas's horror of the east has a deep foundation.

Major scenes with Brandir, Laanga, Denethor, Luinil, Adrahil, and Ecthelion. Minor appearances by many others.

HotK - Ch. 64 - Forgive

HotKFor the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 64 - Forgive. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

2 of 2 Denethor POV. No warnings.

The shock of Umbar and Thorongil's departure are receding, while civil war has been averted. Denethor has time to reflect. How do you know if you love the right thing?

This is a quieter chapter than the previous few. It answers the question of what is in the last letter Thorongil sent to Denethor. It also puts in place a layer in Denethor's psychological foundation to create the person we meet in LotR. Both Laanga and the mariner have tried to warn him, but Denethor refuses to hear.

Significant scenes with Beregar, Laanga, Aiavale, Imrahil, Halmir and Ecthelion.

HotK - Ch. 63 - Abandoned

HotKFor the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 63 - Abandoned. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

1 of 2 Denethor POV. Warnings: Not work safe. Violence, threats of violence, graphic sexual content, several distrubing scenes.

Denethor tries to come to terms with Thorongil's departure.

Anglachel

HotK - Ch. 62: Steal

HotKFor the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 62 - Steal. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

1 of 1 Finduilas POV. No warnings.

Tensions rise as Minas Tirith awaits news of the attack. Maiaberiel makes her first move. Denethor has knowledge of things he cannot speak of. Finduilas takes several matters into her own hands. Sometimes victory is the wost possible outcome.

Major scenes with Denethor, Ecthelion, Borondir, Laanga and Imrahil. Major scenes with other characters that would be spoilers to mention.

Ang

HotK - Ch. 61: Umbar

HotKFor the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 61 - Umbar. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

1 of 1 Denethor POV. Moderate warnings for violence.

Denethor and Thorongil set about securing their greatest desire despite the warnings. One exchange is all that stands between them and Doom. If only...

Scenes with Ecthelion, Finduilas, Thorongil, Brandir and other characters.

Anglachel

HotK - Ch. 60: Time

HotKFor the fanfiction readers, I just posted a chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 60 - Time. Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.

1 of 1 Finduilas POV. Mild warnings for grief and a little gore.

All of the signs and portents of the last six years are coming to a head. Thengel had died, Umbar looms, and choices must be made. Time is all that remains, but it is going quickly, and Doom is at hand.

I have wrapped up my alpha writing and completed most of my beta edits. I hope to publish one chapter per week from now until October.

Anglachel

Five Years in the Making

Last night, I posted the last alpha chapter of Hands of the King for my betas to start taking a whack at. It was a strangely deflating feeling. This is something I've been writing for about five years, having begun it in September 2002.

I'm not done yet. I still have rewrites and edits to do on the last twenty or so chapters which are pretty rough, then I will post one chapter per week until they are all out there. That should take me until sometime in late September/early October.

But it is odd to wrap up a work that has been a part of my life for so long.

Anglachel

Sigh, Have to Upgrade

I've been trying to avoid upgrading to the new Blogger system. Not because I think it's bad but because it's just another damn thing I have to do. Today, they wouldn't let me log in to the old pages and forced an upgrade.

I haven't been blogging much lately because:

• Trying to get the final chapters of HotK written. I'm 3/4 of the way through the last chapter. Then I do my rewrite of the unpublished part and post that sucker. Go me!
  
• Helping an ill parent, who had a bad health scare but is doing better
  
• Big projects at work, all hitting full-speed at once. Just call me the queen of multi-tasking.
• Nasty infected tooth. It was pulled today (I have all the pieces!) and I'm on some serious pain killers.
• Political news hasn't needed much commentary. Instead, it has been popcorn munching time as the Dems begin to use their majority status to methodically expose Rethuglican corruption.
• House buying continues apace. Still looking, have a back-up offer in, the market in San Diego is insane.
  

When the story wraps up, I intend to get back to more regular blogging.

Anglachel