One of the reasons why I’ve been so quiet on this blog lately is that I’ve been working on Xenite.Org. Launched in 1997 to serve as a central repository for several hobby sites I had created in late 1996 and early 1997, Xenite has proven to be an ever-growing science fiction and fantasy resource. We spun off the SF-Fandom forums in 2001 and other sites have grown out of the Xenite network along the way.
But it seems like there is always a need for something new at Xenite.Org itself. Our Lord of the Rings Movie News site was the first continually updated site, existing from January 1998. In fact, I was ever only able to find one older site, launched in late 1997, but after announcing itself that site never updated again. Among the many firsts we enjoyed was breaking the news that Peter Jackson had signed with New Line Cinema on the Saturday before Harry Knowles announced it. Alas! Due to heavy traffic the server crashed soon after the story went up, but Ain’t It Cool News had the larger audience anyway.
Xenite has nonetheless worked with several small film studios and stage productions through the years to help keep fans informed of science fiction and fantasy events, but I have to admit that I just don’t have the time or staff available for all that work any more. We used to have 30 volunteers helping with forums, fan fiction, news, and more. The forums still have a great volunteer team but they are all that remain.
All of which is a long-winded way to say that it was way past time for updating the LoTR movie news site, which had not really been redesigned since 2005. I’m pleased to announce that our new Hobbit Movies News site now looks much better, offers far more news than ever before, and has several new archive sections that will preserve the news headlines we’re carrying.
As 2011 (the projected release year for Guillermo del Toro’s first of two “Hobbit” films) approaches, it becomes increasingly imperative that Xenite return to its roots and help fans stay on top of as much Tolkien-related news as possible. So to that end I’ve added two new sub-sections to the Hobbit movie news section, and each of the three main topics now has its own archive.
In addition to the main focus of the site (Hobbit Movies News), we’re now covering J.R.R. Tolkien News and Guillermo del Toro News.
You might ask why I even bother, and all I can say is that I’m just not yet ready to throw in the towel. Besides which, I’ve been wanting to try out these ideas for a long time.
You can browse the new archives, which are updated daily, through these links:
What I think is most interesting about all this is that you CAN still find fresh news about J.R.R. Tolkien, whose son Christopher (along with The Tolkien Estate and The Tolkien Trust) continue to publish JRRT’s work decades after his death. Tolkien-related news doesn’t just concern the author and his heirs, however — there are other events, research, and many topics that fall under the broad category of “Tolkien News”.
So, I hope you’ll find the expanded site useful (and easier to use than the previous version). I’ll also appreciate your sharing it with your friends. I have put a LOT of work into updating the various sections of Xenite.Org.
Thanks for all the support through the years.
SF-Fandom is a fan-run moderated Web discussion community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. Founded in 2001, SF-Fandom is part of the Xenite.Org Network of science fiction and fantasy Web sites.
