This book compiles the updated and illustrated essays on grammar and vocabulary of Adûnaic and Westron previously published on Lalaith's Middle-earth Science Pages. Lovers of J.R.R.Tolkien's invented languages have mostly disregarded the tongues spoken by the men of Númenor and Middle-earth. The known vocabulary is small in comparison to the much better documented languages of the Elves, the grammar is only rudimentary described and relationships between words are difficult to identify.Yet it is possible to enjoy J.R.R. Tolkien's creativity in the ‘lesser’ languages of Middle-earth as well. This book takes a light-hearted view on the grammar, analyses the ‘Lament of Atalantë’, the only poem Tolkien has written in the language of the sunken island of Númenor, and tries to reconstruct the development of the words used by men (and hobbits!) of Middle-earth from the Second to the Third Age under the sun. 3nd and updated edition.

Tolkien's first job, on returning home from World War I, was as an assistant on the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary. He later said that he had "learned more in those two years than in any other equal part of his life." The Ring of Words reveals how his professional work on the OED influenced Tolkien's creative use of language in his fictional world. Here three senior editors of the OED offer an intriguing exploration of Tolkien's career as a lexicographer and illuminate his creativity as a word user and word creator. The centerpiece of the book is a wonderful collection of "word studies" which will delight the heart of Ring fans and word lovers everywhere. The editors look at the origin of such Tolkienesque words as "hobbit," "mithril, "Smeagol," "Ent," "halfling," and "worm" (meaning "dragon"). Readers discover that a word such as "mathom" (anything a hobbit had no immediate use for, but was unwilling to throw away) was actually common in Old English, but that "mithril," on the other hand, is a complete invention (and the first "Elven" word to have an entry in the OED). And fans of Harry Potter will be surprised to find that "Dumbledore" (the name of Hogwart's headmaster) was a word used by Tolkien and many others (it is a dialect word meaning "bumblebee"). Few novelists have found so much of their creative inspiration in the shapes and histories of words. Presenting archival material not found anywhere else, The Ring of Words offers a fresh and unexplored angle on the literary achievements of one of the world's most famous and best-loved writers.

No one can tell who made the spheres with twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagon-dodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae – the Mattiacian Spheres: Sapo: Si mutare paras longaevos cana capillos, Accipe Mattiacas - quo tibi calva? - pilas. Soap: If you want to change your highly aged hair, use Pilae Mattiacae - why have a bald head? No one has excavated a Pila Mattiaca or found its image, and it was never mentioned again. The only clue we have is its name. The Mattiaci were the people who lived in the Roman age at the middle Rhine, right where so many spheres of twelve faces have been found. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? And once they may have attracted the attention of a stargazer who understood how to use them. And he made them his tools of power. The tale of the numinous spheres with twelve faces is told in this and the following parts of the Corpus Sacrum trilogy!

The award-winning science novel The Horsemen of Mars come with the solar wind. The sparks beneath their invisible hoofs illuminate the nights of the red planet. A marvellous sight from the safety of your base on Mars. But when you are lost in the red planet's desert, the Horsemen of Mars show their fatal facet as their wild hunt is tracking down your fragile body. Join our Mars crew in the most critical time of their mission! Follow them into the struggle for their lives on the hostile plains and hills of the red planet. An illustrated science novel for young and adult armchair astronomers. Including two double-page maps and many real images from Mars' surface.

His mind would never settle with petty aims. He always saw the greater thing. 1850 years ago, when scientific thinking was on decline and religious fundamentalism winning over, Alexandros, a little quack, turned himself into high priest and guru of the demonic Glycon, a puppet on strings that he had made into a god to deceive the masses and relieve them of their money. The report, written by Lucian of Samosata who exposed the deceiver with analytic deduction, is the oldest preserved essay on the war, still undecided, between scepticism and superstition. A new annotated translation of the old report on the frauds and illusions that Alexandros’ epigones are still applying even today. The book that inspired the "Romanike" series of historical novels!

No one can tell who made the spheres of twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagondodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae– the Mattiacian Spheres. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? For that reason, the fundamentalist Corpus Sacrum sect has now firmly established itself in the Roman borderland. Charis, the teenage kitchen slave, has been caught in a trap during her attempts to replace her master's dodecahedron which she had unknowingly destroyed. Restitutus, the ageing priest, is facing his abductor who is more powerful than anticipated. And then a murderer is on the loose. Who may have Charis on his agenda, too.

No one can tell who made the spheres of twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagondodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae – the Mattiacian Spheres. No one has excavated a Pila Mattiaca or found its image, and it was never mentioned again. The only clue we have is its name. The Mattiaci were the people who lived in the Roman age at the middle Rhine, right where so many spheres of twelve faces have been found. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? For that reason, the fundamentalist Corpus Sacrum sect has firmly established itself in the Roman borderland. After Restitutus' sermon did not have the desire effect, he is granted one last chance to remedy his failure before general Rufianus unleashes his troops against the dangerous order. Even their high priest Democritus now seems to be afraid of the demons he has set free. Or has he?