“Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly.”
― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

“When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold, Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold;
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

We have been blessed.

Truly blessed.

For Spring in the Midwest, at least the small patch of it that I call “home”, was present in all her changing glory for the entirety of days designated to her by the Roman calendar.

We had warm days and cool, bright sunshine and varying degrees of Spring rain.

I often find myself on June 21st lamenting the Spring we did not have…not this year. It is almost enough to make me welcome Summer unreservedly.

Almost.

With the calendar’s announcement of Summer’s arrival comes the end of this year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge, our eighth in a row together.

It was a very different event for me personally this year, with much of my reading time being taken up with the fairy tale that was Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 3.  A fairy tale for me in that I still have a hard time believing I was able to be a part of the event to the degree that I was able to take part.  So much of Once Upon a Time VIII for me was reveling in the visual side of fantasy, fairy tale, mythology and folklore.  But not all of it…

During the event I enjoyed reading/looking at Mark Schultz’s Carbon, experienced the fantasy/sci-fi blend that is the entirety of the Saga series up to the current issue, was disappointed story-wise, if not art-wise, by Charles de Lint’s Jack in the Green, and was enthralled by Mary Rickert’s debut novel The Memory Garden.

In fact, I would have to say that The Memory Garden alone was worth hosting/participating in this year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge.

During Once Upon a Time I featured artist after artist in the various alphabet lists promoting guests and exhibitors at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live (this last post contains all the various links).

I am also sad to say that I completed the final missions of the last downloadable content in Skyrim.  I’m sure it is not the last time I’ll visit Skyrim, as I have some side quests I can yet attempt, but that bittersweet feeling at ending a game that I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing is nevertheless very present.

One of my most enjoyable Once Upon a Time-related discoveries this year has to do with J.R.R. Tolkien.  It is no longer surprising to any of you who know me that I immerse myself in things Tolkien-related often throughout the year.  During this year’s challenge I re-watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, read more of The Fellowship of the Ring aloud to Mary (we are nearly done), became the owner of two more One Rings (this one an anniversary gift from Mary, this one a gift to myself), watched some of the extras on The Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, and made the discovery mentioned earlier.

That discovery is:

The Middle-Earth & J.R.R. Tolkien Blog by Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez is an author who has written extensively about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and is, from what little I’ve read on his site, a knowledgeable and thoughtful Tolkien scholar.  Among other things his blog hosts a series of questions posed to him by others that he answers with interesting, well-reasoned and highly sourced answers.  I’ve learned and been reminded of so much.  The site thrills me and I wanted to be sure to share it with you.  Just reading a few articles reminds me of how rich and detailed is Tolkien’s creation.  It makes me ache to read The Silmarillion once again.

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Of course, the greatest joy of these challenges is the participation by you.  I am sad that I was less present this year than in the past, but am happy to see that many books were read, challenge-related things watched, and that we had so many first timers with us this year.  I do hope you’ll return again, and find a more present host the next time around.  If you are a fan of mysteries, gothic fiction, horror stories, thrillers, detective fiction or anything that is semi-related to these I hope you’ll join us for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (or R.I.P.) beginning September 1st and ending October 31st.  This is the oldest challenge that I’ve hosted…we will be in our 9th year this fall.  Wow!

I would love to know what you read/watched/experienced during Once Upon a Time VIII, so please share in the comments, or if you are doing a wrap-up post of your own, please share the link below.

Before saying goodbye, let me once again thank artist Melissa Nucera for the use of her art for this year’s event.  You are a dear for your generosity.  Thank you!

And thank each and every one of you!  You truly are wonderful people and I feel honored to be your host.  Hope you had a great Spring and I wish you an even more memorable Summer.