The Other Side's Version of Middle Earth

Not only have I been immersed in all the coverage about "The Hobbit" movie and the first joint appearance of the main cast, but I've started to listen to an audio-book of the unabridged version of the tale in my car. (Unfortunately not read by Richard Armitage...but maybe in the future?)

So searching for new news I stumbled upon this article in Salon.com about a different version of the events in "The Lord of The Rings".  What if the other side, the dark side, the evil side, wrote their own version of the story:

That's the philosophy behind "The Last Ringbearer," a novel set during and after the end of the War of the Ring (the climactic battle at the end of "The Lord of the Rings") and told from the point of view of the losers. The novel was written by Kirill Yeskov, a Russian paleontologist, and published to acclaim in his homeland in 1999. Translations of the book have also appeared in other European nations, but fear of the vigilant and litigious Tolkien estate has heretofore prevented its publication in English.

 To read the entire article in Salon.com click HERE.

Of course it's understandable that Yeskov's book is apparently also controversial with Tolkien fans. No one wants to see their heroes destroyed.

But thanks to the Internet, these days there's always someone that will make the information available to the curious, and so it was that last year Yisroel Markov posted his English translation of the "The Last Ringbearer". To go to his site and read his version of tales from the Mordor side, click HERE