Editorial.

IN THIS ISSUE OF MYTHLORE, we begin with an appreciation of Inkling George Sayer, author of Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times, widely regarded as one of the best biographies of Lewis to date. Mike Foster includes personal reminiscences of his friendship with Sayer, and Christopher W. Mitchell provides a listing of selected works by Sayer in the Wade Collection at Wheaton College.

We continue with five very different articles on J.R.R. Tolkien. Emma B. Hawkins begins with a look at how Tolkien developed the concept of the sin of lust in Middle-earth, giving it his own unique but linguistically-based interpretation as an intensifier of other sins. Cami Agan's article on song in Middle-earth explores the complex layering of history and legend that convey Tolkien's themes across a wide array of genres within the legendarium, reinforcing the sense of depth of time Tolkien hoped to achieve even within The Hobbit.

Marie Nelson is also concerned with Tolkien's masterful use of language; in her article we consider the application of speech act theory to Tolkien's "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" and its source, "The Battle of Maldon," and how different speech acts propel the action of each story. We turn to an analysis of Smith of Wootton Major by Josh B. Long, in which we are invited to take a closer look at how the cake and the star symbolize two diametrically opposed sets of attitudes towards Faerie. Our final article on Tolkien is by Alana M. Vincent, who applies the concept of Recovery from Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" to an unusual subject--Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a novel about a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome.

Another of our core Inklings is represented in an article by Grace L. Veach, who explores parallels between the philosophy of Kenneth Burke and the poetry of Charles Williams.

Our next set of articles looks at four different authors, three generally associated with fantasy and one better known as a mystery novelist. Melanie A. Rawls returns to our pages with a survey of the evolution of women in Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series, examining how the author reassessed her depiction of gender in the earlier books and deliberately changed her viewpoint in the later books. Continuing the theme of women and power in fantasy, my own paper on Terry Pratchett's Witches novels examines the moral system that guides the use of magic by the witches of Discworld.

Joe R. Christopher also returns with an article on Sara Paretsky's Ghost Country. Paretsky is best known for her V.I. Warshawski detective novels; in this non-series book, Chicago is haunted by what may be an avatar of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Our final paper, by John Pendergast, looks at episodes from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics dealing with two of Shakespeare's most fantastic plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.

This issue we feature reviews of Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language, edited by Janet Brennan Croft; The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth by Elizabeth A. Whittingham; Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration by Gavin Ashenden; The History of The Hobbit, Parts One and Two, by John D. Rateliff; and Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis, edited by Amy H. Sturgis. We are also reviving our Letters column. If you would like to be a reviewer or suggest a book to review, or if you want to submit a letter, please contact the editor.

The index to Mythlore Issues 1-100 has been published and is available from the Mythopoeic Press in print format. This index is based on work begun by Edith Crowe and brought up to date by the current editor. It includes controlled-vocabulary subject headings and abstracts for each article. Reviews are also indexed, but artwork, poetry, and letters are not included. Look for the advertisement in this issue for ordering information. Index pages for this and succeeding issues will be available on the journal's website until the next edition of the index is published.

In addition to the referees on the Mythlore Editorial Advisory Board, I would also like to thank John D. Rateliff, Ted Sherman, Marjorie Burns, Anne C. Petty, David Bratman, and Scott McLaren for their assistance with this issue.