iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

This is what happens when I run across a 15 year old interview on a website that only exists in internet archive form.

Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Rory (they/them) @roryq.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

"Queer people in the UK have it so much better than before, and so much better than elsewhere, you should be grateful for the improvements and not keep whining about being oppressed." A paraphrased quote from a conversation I was in recently. Fuck this. www.thepinknews.com/2025/06/30/k...

thepinknews.com

Starmer says trans bans must be implemented 'as soon as possible'

Keir Starmer has ordered that public bodies to enforce the Supreme Court's controversial gender ruling "as soon as possible".

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

"Perceiving the Perceiver: 'Viewing' Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception" uses Gestalt theory, the Gestalt laws of perception, & the reception theory of Wolfgang Iser to elucidate #Sauron as he appears in #LotR, #RoP, & #Tolkien 's wider legendarium. 🧵/ scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol...

The words "Perceiving the Perceiver "Viewing" Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception are overlaid in white on a slightly manipulated image of the star Fomalhaut and its debris ring as photographed by Hubble (NASA). The image appears to show red and orange lines of light radiating from a central point. The center is cut through with a dark "slit" which looks like a slitted pupil. The light brightens and forms an oval ring (actually the star's debris ring) around the slit and central point. The effect of this is to make it appear as if we are seeing a flaming eye like the Eye of Sauron.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

I am beyond humbled to have my very FIRST peer reviewed paper, “Perceiving the Perceiver: Viewing Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception” published alongside work from such amazing scholars! My thanks to the editors and peer reviewers for their hard work. (As always, JTR is free to read!)

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Thanks for the mention @thetolkienist.com and for compiling all this!

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

My #Tolkien paper from Oxonmoot 2023 is published in JTR: "Wizard, Demon, Cat; Reformer, Satanist, Bureaucrat." I argue Sauron is present in 3 modes in the Legendarium, each reflecting three abandoned characters from The Book of Lost Tales (Tevildo + 2). scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol...

A landscape oriented image. The background is a screenshot from Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" depicting Sauron as the flaming eye. In front of this, and obscuring much of it, is centered a black rectangle in which a title is written in uppercase: Wizard, Demon, Cat; Reformer, Satanist, Bureaucrat:". Below but overlapping the black rectangle along its bottom edge is a second rectangle, this one orange, in which a subtitle is written: "A Diachronic Analysis of Three 'Modes' of Sauron in the Legendarium in Light of The Book of Lost Tales."

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Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast @queerlodgings.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

... And Queer Lodgings will answer! We took a bit of a break because... well... *gestures broadly at everything* But we just had a planning session for our next few episodes, which should include some great guests!

Image of a burning McDonald's sign with text that reads "The beacon is lit, America calls for aid".

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

I've been inactive on here for a few weeks and missed sharing this when it first went live. Go give the most recent Athrabeth episode a listen. @aranelparmadil.bsky.social does a fantastic job breaking down feminist scholarship on Tolkien, past, present, and (hopefully) future!

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Joel Merriner @joelmerriner.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

My book "Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc" has a cover! Featuring artwork by the most excellent Yassen Panov, illustrator of the 1990-1991 Bulgarian #LOTR translation Vlastelinat Na Prastenite. The book is currently scheduled for release on September 18th #Tolkien

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Nick Polk (he/him) @tolkienpop.substack.com · 26/01/2025

The paperback proceedings that contain @cameronbourquein.bsky.social and I’s paper on “Reading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story with the Lens of ‘Con-creation’ and Process Theology” is now available! Get yourself a copy and enjoy some great work from some amazing #Tolkien scholars!

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Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

"What weather they shall have is not ours to rule." Gandalf, "The Last Debate" The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set,, uprooting the evil in the fields we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

One of the best parts of the season, IMO, though I hope we still get full on Celebrimbanner.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Sometimes I get angry at him, but I also love this man. ❤️

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Prof. Dimitra Fimi @dimitrafimi.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Excellent news! I’ve got a chapter in this volume on #Tolkien, folklore, and foxes! 🦊 🦊 🦊 The keynote lecture on which my chapter is based, can be accessed here: youtu.be/rAAYOnkVnwk (Apologies in advance for the ear worm!) @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social

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Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Mercury Natis @mercuryreads.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

My conference paper for the Mythopoeic Society OMS, "Sauron, Seduction, and the Queering Mechanism of the Ring", is finally available in print proceedings! Please keep in mind that this is very much a conference proceedings and not a finalized work, but here it is! dc.swosu.edu/mythpro/vol2...

dc.swosu.edu

Sauron, Seduction, and the Queering Mechanism of the Ring

It has often been argued that Sauron is barely present in The Lord of the Rings, existing as a villainous presence on the margins of the narrative. This paper will argue that Sauron is present through...

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

I want to give a shout out to a recent episode of @resonantarc.bsky.social's podcast for touching on something I talked about at PCA National Conference last year: how the evolution of #FinalFantasy graphics from pixel art to near photo-real 3D changed a LITERARY experience into a CINEMATIC one. 🧵

Pixel art landscape with a low horizon. The sky is a brilliant blue gradient with fluffy white and pink pixel clouds. A band of brown dirt topped with green grass sits at the bottom of the image as if in a section view. Atop the grass on the left is a low grey rock wall, a tree in leaf with a twisted trunk and pink pixels sprinkled through it—likely fruit—and a low shrub with similar pink “fruit.” On the right side a grey mountain range fades into the distance. Most of the middle-top of the image is open sky and in it is centered the words “From Mind to Mind: The Graphical Evolution of Final Fantasy Through Tolkien’s ‘On Fairy-stories.’’” Below the title is a yellow button with a black outline with the word “start” in it.

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Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

I really appreciated this belated obit for Karon Wynn Fonstad, cartographer of the Tolkien Atlas (and the maps for Dragonriders of Pern!) and not only for this killer quote re the Tolkien Atlas, "It was like the Velvet Underground of fantasy mapmaking": www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

nytimes.com

Overlooked No More: Karen Wynn Fonstad, Who Mapped Tolkien’s Middle-earth (Gift Article)

She was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

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Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

People took all the wrong lessons from Tolkien (fantasy race determinism, long-prophesied return of the king, lore coming out your ears) and none of the right ones (subversive heroes who succeed through failure, overwhelming grief at the passing of an enchanted world).

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

The paper that @njspolk.bsky.social and I presented at @mythsoc.bsky.social OMS 3 last year has been published as a part of the conference proceedings! "Reading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story with the Lenses of 'Con-creation' and Process Theology." Link and abstract in 🧵. #Tolkien

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

My #Mairon paper is published (link in 🧵). It was presented at Tolkien@UVM and GIFCon in 2023, and at Oxonmoot in 2024. “Mairon” is what got me back into #Tolkien fandom and scholarship, because what are you supposed to do when you learn #Sauron might have been called “precious”?

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Thanks to Stef and Jude for this awesome recording experience. I had a wonderful time. I’ve enjoyed the Athrabeth podcast for a while so getting to appear on it to talk #Tolkien and #Sauron was kind of surreal!

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

If you listened to and enjoyed yesterday’s episode of the Athrabeth podcast where I talk about my #Tolkien (mostly #Sauron) work, check out my new Substack. Working on some #RingsOfPower related pieces. theroadtoardahealed.substack.com

Screenshot from the substack “The Road to Arda Healed” showing the featured photo, title, and subtitle of the first post.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

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Mercury Natis @mercuryreads.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I am officially a Glasgow resident! And have used pretty much all my savings (not put side for a very important surgery) for moving again, so every little bit of helps!

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Lots of very good stuff in this thread!

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Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Dr Sara Brown @aranelparmadil.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Father and son, 1928. Christopher Tolkien is around three years old here.

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Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast @queerlodgings.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Welcome new followers/Twitter refugees! We're thrilled to have you here after we were graciously included in a couple of JRRT "Starter Packs". Just to reintroduce ourselves, Queer Lodgings is a Tolkien podcast with 3 Queer co-hosts - Alicia, Leah, and Grace. 🧵

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I wish this work wasn’t deeply relevant right now. Alas. Please give it a listen.

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Reposted by Cameron Bourquein

Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast @queerlodgings.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

New episode alert! buff.ly/3Z8fd75 We are so excited to bring you this interview with actor Adam Brown - Ori the dwarf- as part of our series on Tolkien adaptations! Adam graciously joined to discuss his experiences as a gay man in the production of the Hobbit movies.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Easter egg: the name of the file for this project was "Sauron and John Wayne"

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Sound on! If I never make anything else worthwhile, I will have made this. This is my Silmaril. I shall never make another. (Brought to you by my husband who, during the reveal, quoted John Wayne from his Greatest Story Ever Told cameo.) #TROPspoilers #RingsOfPower youtu.be/pp6SgFHrOqw

youtu.be

Sauron and John Wayne

YouTube video by Cameron Bourquein

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 26/08/2024

The Lord of Gifts sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. The Twelve Days of Sauron. Like the Twelve Days of Christmas but with fewer birds and more deception and torture. A revised 2 year anniversary version in the lead up to The Rings Of Power season two. Link in thread.

Annatar from The Rings of Power wearing a Santa hat.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 26/08/2024

This Saturday evening I'll be virtually presenting my Sauron-centric paper "The Nameless Enemy: How Do You Solve a Problem Like 'Mairon'" at the Tolkien Society's Oxonmoot '51—one last time before I work on producing a draft for possible publication. 🤞

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Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 21/01/2024

The Call for Papers for Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands is now up at the Mythopoeic Society website! 2-5 August 2024 in Minneapolis. Check out details and registration at the link below. www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mc53...

The call for papers for Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands, which will take place in Minneapolis 2-5 August 2024. The full text is too long to fit in an alt-text box, but you can read the complete call for papyers at the Mythopoeic Society's website: https://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mc53-CFP.htm

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Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 25/11/2023

Just received word that my research ethics application for my PhD thesis was APPROVED. If you are a nonreligious Tolkien fan who'd be interested in talking to me for 1-2 hours about why you love The Lord of the Rings, keep your eyes on this space! 🥼📖🐉

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 21/11/2023

I tend to a "free will is sacrosanct" view re: the Legendarium. Another quote from tinyurl.com/con-creation : "As scriptless actors in the Drama, the very choices of the Children of Eru are their art, their sub-creations, and that makes their very choices infinitely important."

tinyurl.com

Why Eru Didn't Trip Gollum: Con-Creation in The Lord of the Rings.

Here’s a question: in the climactic moment of The Lord of the Rings, who was responsible for the Ring’s destruction? Was it Frodo? Gollum? Maybe Sam?

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 18/11/2023

Hold the phone! Silent Hill 2 is a faërian drama. 🤯

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 18/11/2023

"[F]irstly [...] #Tolkien places responsibility for the completion of the quest on Frodo’s choice to extend pity to Gollum, and secondly [...] he describes the action of the climactic scene in consistently passive ways." tinyurl.com/con-creation Some quick thoughts on passivity 🧵

tinyurl.com

Why Eru Didn't Trip Gollum: Con-Creation in The Lord of the Rings.

Here’s a question: in the climactic moment of The Lord of the Rings, who was responsible for the Ring’s destruction? Was it Frodo? Gollum? Maybe Sam?

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 18/11/2023

I love this art style! So beautifully done.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 16/11/2023

I've grown so much as a scholar since I wrote this. Initially written to refute a Lord of the Rings reading I didn't care for about events at the Cracks of Doom, it evolved into something more. This was the first place I explored "con-creation" tinyurl.com/con-creation

tinyurl.com

Why Eru Didn't Trip Gollum: Con-Creation in The Lord of the Rings.

Here’s a question: in the climactic moment of The Lord of the Rings, who was responsible for the Ring’s destruction? Was it Frodo? Gollum? Maybe Sam?

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Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 03/11/2023

It's crucial for scholars and fans to confront the ways Tolkien can and has been appropriated by the radical right. Too much discourse handwaves—or actively encourages—sexism, racism, and religious chauvinism.

theguardian.com

How did The Lord of the Rings become a secret weapon in Italy’s culture wars? | Jamie Mackay

Giorgia Meloni and the hard right are celebrating JRR Tolkien’s saga – while taking over Italy’s key cultural institutions, says Florence-based author Jamie Mackay

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Tim Bolton 🐿 | 🏹 Ranatuor of Meriadoc 💍 (He/Him) @timbolton.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

🧙‍♂️ #Tolkientober #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien 📆 Week 36 theme: “Horror” 🎃💀 It’s Halloween! 👻🦇 🗨️ Welcome to Tolkien Trewsday! 🧵 1/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 30/10/2023

It's here, it's queer, it's kinky, and it's admittedly Sauron-biased. Many thanks to Alicia, Grace, & Leah for inviting me to talk about the ship that blew my mind when I re-entered Tolkien fandom & to Mercury for being an amazing co-guest! Love you all!

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