We have finally had the perfect opportunity to sit down with our good friend Tom Hillman!

Longtime friend of the hosts and supporter of Tolkien Experience Tom Hillman is finally on the podcast! Tom was the first person to submit hs Tolkien Experience Project entry, and we thought that  the publication of his book later this year gave us the perfect excuse to have him on the show! Please watch for his book Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many later this year!

We start our newest season with an interview with a well-established artist: Donato Giancola!

Donato has been an avid fan of Tolkien's work for a long time and creates artwork based on Tolkien's world when he gets the chance. Known for his work on Magic the Gathering, modern science fiction and fantasy covers, and a plethora of other venues! You can find prints of Donato's work on his website, or purchase his most recent art book Middle-earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend. We are so glad he had the time to talk with us!

For this episode, we were excited to welcome the resident of Tolkiendil, the French Tolkien society: Laura Martin-Gomez! Laura received her PhD in 2020, and her research interests include fandom studies and Tolkien's texts. Her thesis examined fan groups in the US, UK, and France to parse out the similarities and differences in these groups from the 70s until just before internet fandom became more influential. We were very eager to have her on the podcast, and grateful we could work out a time during this busy season. We hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we enjoyed recording it!