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"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne."
Readers who pick up Simon Tolkien's new mystery, "Final Witness," may notice a shortage of Elven-kings and Dwarf-lords, though mortal men doomed to die are evident enough.
Tolkien is not only the grandson of the famous storyteller who gave us "The Lord of the Rings," he is a practicing barrister who first saw his first book on sale when it reached St. Louis bookstores. But his connection to this city runs deeper.
What brings Tolkien to St. Louis? The short answer is business and in-laws.
"I'm 44. I met my wife 20 years ago at Oxford in a university creative writing course," he said.
Tracy Tolkien, the former Tracy Steinberg, now lives in England, but she still misses home (Webster Groves, then Clayton, where she went to high school). Today, she runs a vintage clothing store called "Steinberg and Tolkien" in London. A lot of the items she sells, she noted, come from St. Louis. Her customers include "celebrities like Nicole Kidman or designers like John Galliano and Tom Ford, who use period pieces for inspiration." Her brother, Mark Steinberg, is a partner and scouts estate sales, thrift shops and auctions for items of interest to the business.
Tracy also writes and has published three books of her own - all of her titles are nonfiction.
So, between business and relatives, Simon Tolkien visits St. Louis frequently. More important, a visit to the city was the turning point in his decision to take up his pen: "I never wrote a word (before). I kept a diary, but I thought, 'I can't write fiction.' It was here on the Mississippi on millennium night - I began writing on Jan. 1, 2000, in St. Louis."
But the initial results were not entirely encouraging. "I was working without a plan. My first novel was a black comedy. It didn't work because I didn't plan carefully. In the second novel, I spent an enormous amount of time planning." Was his grandfather's example part of his decision to write? Tolkien actually believes his grandfather's fame may have inhibited him from writing for a long time.
If J.R.R. Tolkien's eminence put a damper on Simon's writing ambitions, it helped open a few doors when it came to marketing a new book. But the assistance was useful only up to a point, and Tolkien is comfortable with the influence of his name now that his own work is in print.
"This is my second novel. You have to go through a literary agent with a new book, and it was a struggle (to place the manuscript)." A classic courtroom drama, "Final Witness" is about a teenage boy who accuses his stepmother of murdering his mother. The narrative is an even-handed exposition that keeps the reader wondering until the last pages. The author noted that the agents "were more prepared to look at my work, but they rejected (the first one). That leads me to the view that while I could get through the door on my name, it was the (second) book itself that earned me a place at the table. I found that reassuring." Tolkien said he turned to writing because he "wanted something of my own. I've done 100 trials. You spend the weekend working on a closing speech, then it's over. Your client gets marched off or acquitted. Writing would have some permanence."
Perhaps because of his familiarity with the United States, Tolkien said he "set out to write a book that would sell in America. I intended to make England accessible to an American audience."
For inspiration, Tolkien turned to the venue he knows best - the British courtroom. But modern society is a bit rougher (in some ways) than the mythical world created by his grandfather. Does Simon think that the elder Tolkien would approve of his efforts?
"The book is a page turner," he said. "One of the best things about 'Lord of the Rings' is that it is a really great story. I think that my grandfather would be pleased that there is another storyteller in the family."
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Published by St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 30/03/03.
Tolkien is not only the grandson of the famous storyteller who gave us "The Lord of the Rings," he is a practicing barrister who first saw his first book on sale when it reached St. Louis bookstores. But his connection to this city runs deeper.
What brings Tolkien to St. Louis? The short answer is business and in-laws.
"I'm 44. I met my wife 20 years ago at Oxford in a university creative writing course," he said.
Tracy Tolkien, the former Tracy Steinberg, now lives in England, but she still misses home (Webster Groves, then Clayton, where she went to high school). Today, she runs a vintage clothing store called "Steinberg and Tolkien" in London. A lot of the items she sells, she noted, come from St. Louis. Her customers include "celebrities like Nicole Kidman or designers like John Galliano and Tom Ford, who use period pieces for inspiration." Her brother, Mark Steinberg, is a partner and scouts estate sales, thrift shops and auctions for items of interest to the business.
Tracy also writes and has published three books of her own - all of her titles are nonfiction.
So, between business and relatives, Simon Tolkien visits St. Louis frequently. More important, a visit to the city was the turning point in his decision to take up his pen: "I never wrote a word (before). I kept a diary, but I thought, 'I can't write fiction.' It was here on the Mississippi on millennium night - I began writing on Jan. 1, 2000, in St. Louis."
But the initial results were not entirely encouraging. "I was working without a plan. My first novel was a black comedy. It didn't work because I didn't plan carefully. In the second novel, I spent an enormous amount of time planning." Was his grandfather's example part of his decision to write? Tolkien actually believes his grandfather's fame may have inhibited him from writing for a long time.
If J.R.R. Tolkien's eminence put a damper on Simon's writing ambitions, it helped open a few doors when it came to marketing a new book. But the assistance was useful only up to a point, and Tolkien is comfortable with the influence of his name now that his own work is in print.
"This is my second novel. You have to go through a literary agent with a new book, and it was a struggle (to place the manuscript)." A classic courtroom drama, "Final Witness" is about a teenage boy who accuses his stepmother of murdering his mother. The narrative is an even-handed exposition that keeps the reader wondering until the last pages. The author noted that the agents "were more prepared to look at my work, but they rejected (the first one). That leads me to the view that while I could get through the door on my name, it was the (second) book itself that earned me a place at the table. I found that reassuring." Tolkien said he turned to writing because he "wanted something of my own. I've done 100 trials. You spend the weekend working on a closing speech, then it's over. Your client gets marched off or acquitted. Writing would have some permanence."
Perhaps because of his familiarity with the United States, Tolkien said he "set out to write a book that would sell in America. I intended to make England accessible to an American audience."
For inspiration, Tolkien turned to the venue he knows best - the British courtroom. But modern society is a bit rougher (in some ways) than the mythical world created by his grandfather. Does Simon think that the elder Tolkien would approve of his efforts?
"The book is a page turner," he said. "One of the best things about 'Lord of the Rings' is that it is a really great story. I think that my grandfather would be pleased that there is another storyteller in the family."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published by St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 30/03/03.