MERPCon V has come and gone and I had a really great time participating in the event, which was the last of five free gaming conventions that Hawke Robinson paid for out of his own pocket.

He plans to launch Tolkien Moot next year, and it may be part of the SpoCon science fiction and fantasy convention. I'll share more information here when it becomes available.

My first session as a guest speaker at MERPCon V was originally intended to be a typical speaker's presentation, but at the last minute I decided to alter the format to emulate William Shatner's "Raw Nerve", in which he interviews friends and acquaintances (or strangers) in a very intimate setting. Shatner sits in a chair which faces past his guest's chair, and they sort of look at each other diagonally.

We quickly moved some furniture around and set up two chairs in similar positions. I was facing the camera and my guests faced me. We picked people randomly from the audience. I had a great time interviewing several people and I think they enjoyed being part of the show.

You can listen to about 48 minutes of "Raw Hobbit" here. This is an audio file only. The session was broadcast as a live video stream and Hawke did record video with another camera, but he had some technical issues with that device. I know he wants to upload the video but I'm not sure when it will be available.

In fact, you can check to see when new content is uploaded to the MERPCon V archive. At this time only "Raw Hobbit" is available as an audio file.

On Sunday I did a panel with young Tolkien fans. I believe that will also be uploaded to the archive.

And Sunday evening Hawke and I broadcast the 14th episode of Middle-earth Talk Radio live, but I'm sure he'll make the recording available in the near future. You can check out the Middle-earth Radio site for updates.

I will again be speaking at MERPCon this year. MERPCon V is the last of the series of five free gaming conventions that Hawke Robinson is hosting in Spokane, WA. Next year he'll be launching a new series of conventions called Tolkien Moot (not to be confused with any previous gatherings of that name). You'll have to buy memberships to attend the Tolkien Moot.

But this year MERPCon V will be held the weekend of July 24 - 26. Check out the Web site for more details.

I'll be giving a presentation Saturday and in the evening Hawke and I will do our first live broadcast for Middle-earth Talk Radio. We may try to set up a phone-in guest.

Speaking of Middle-earth Talk Radio, Hawke and I just wrapped a new episode, which he will edit and make available for download before MERPCon. It has been a while since we were able to record a show but our schedules have been very busy.

That said, I haven't found much interesting news for the Hobbit News Newsletter so there haven't been any updates recently. I'll try to do a special edition before I go on vacation next week.

Finally, those of you who used to be regular visitors to Xenite's Lord of the Rings movie news site will be pleased to know that it has been redesigned and expanded. Now it will cover Hobbit Movie News, Guillermo del Toro News, and Tolkien News. Each section has its own archive of news reports.