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Tales from beyond the mirror
1. “I saw something in the mirror that shouldn’t have been there. Now, I’m afraid it’s after me.” It was the last thing Hans told Ursula. The last words she heard from him before his disappearance. She remembered it clearly, what she had ignored back then, because she did not know what to make of Hans’ rambling. She had thought it the beginning of a story, some idea Hans wanted to run by her before he set it on paper. Hans often did that, offering snatches of half-formed
Simina Lungu
16 hours ago16 min read


The curious incident of the Harfoots in the Second Age
My apologies for the nerdy title, but “The Harfoots were not mentioned by Tolkien in the Second Age” seems to be a recurring refrain...
Simina Lungu
Oct 124 min read


Book Review: Shards of Earth
it’s the humanity of these characters that makes them interesting. They might be aliens or enhanced humans, yet their motivations and reactions are understandable and real. They make jokes, they panic, they form connections. There is life in them, and this is something that I always appreciate in a book.
Simina Lungu
Oct 64 min read


Love poems
Explanation November 2006 You are a candle burning bright Lit by the gods inside my heart. You...
Simina Lungu
Sep 203 min read


Sacrifice in season 2 of Rings of Power
Sacrifice is a frequent motif in Tolkien’s works, and season two of The Rings of Power offers us many examples of sacrifice, both...
Simina Lungu
Aug 299 min read


Snippets from a love story that wasn't
1. He played the piano in a cabin by the sea. She lived in a cottage in the mountains and painted wild landscapes with gaping precipices...
Simina Lungu
Aug 128 min read


A Plea for Friendship
Walk with me this shore: How can I struggle on my own? How can I breathe if I’m alone, And if I hear your voice no more? So please,...
Simina Lungu
Jul 301 min read


Exploring the themes of The Rings of Power: Identity
The Rings of Power has done a great job exploring many of the common themes found in Tolkien’s works –light versus darkness, hope, the...
Simina Lungu
Jul 2510 min read


In Praise of "Rings of Power" or the hidden gem I nearly missed
Warning: This article contains a few direct references to events from the TV series Rings of Power . If any of you have not watched the...
Simina Lungu
Jul 175 min read


The Seasons Suite
The Seasons Suite....or a love story in five acts. The end of winter February 2006 The...
Simina Lungu
Jun 233 min read


The Cursed Town
When the green creeping things crawled from the forests on the hill towards the town below, there was only one thought in the townsfolk's...
Simina Lungu
Jun 1619 min read


Trees
Standing tall, we’re watching you As you tread this shadowed land With green grass and flowers blue – Standing tall we’re watching you In...
Simina Lungu
Apr 251 min read


THE HOUSE THAT COMES ALIVE AT NIGHT
“There is a thing about houses. You feel it as soon as you walk in – especially if it’s an old place. But any house that’s been lived in...
Simina Lungu
Apr 48 min read


The Final Love Story
We were young, love, when the end of the world came. In a country of brown autumn leaves, we were the flowers of spring. The final notes of
Simina Lungu
Feb 146 min read


The Council of the Goddesses
Note: In 1981, a set of female-shaped clay statuettes was discovered in the village of Poduri, Bacău county, Romania, dating from around...
Simina Lungu
Dec 31, 202410 min read


LOCATION AND ATMOSHPERE: THE INSPIRATION FOR RUST-CITY
Rust-city is not a real place. There is no equivalent for Deirdre Morgan or Sebastian Cadwalder in my life. The situation in the book is not
Simina Lungu
Dec 21, 20243 min read


BRINGING RUST-CITY TO LIFE: FIRST ATTEMPTS AND THE SHIFT FROM FANTASY TO SCIENCE-FICTION
It’s 2017. The Last Survivors isn’t published yet, although its publication is becoming more and more of a reality. I have a lot of other...
Simina Lungu
Dec 9, 20243 min read


LIGHTHOUSE OF SOULS
1 It was a tradition with us. We would gather on the terrace in front of our offices every Midsummer Eve as the sun slowly went down...
Simina Lungu
Oct 31, 202416 min read


Letter from a distant shore
December 20th 2121 (Earth Year)/Month 7 Colonial year 2 (Mars Colonial Time Measurement) My dear, I have been sitting for three hours...
Simina Lungu
Sep 21, 20247 min read


BETWEEN THE WORLDS
There were once two sisters who knew the way to travel between the worlds. They lived on an island with forests and tall mountains.
Simina Lungu
Aug 15, 202427 min read
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