I’ve been thinking about you, my readers. Who are you? What do you like to read? What interests you? Some of you I know already, and I have answers (or clues to answers) for those questions. And some of you I have yet to meet. Perhaps we’ll encounter one another at a book signing or a convention. I’d like that. Until then, I’m guessing at what you like.

Sometimes blind guesses work astonishingly well. Intuition or synchronicity guides the guesser, and the answer is . . . good! I do have a nudge of inspiration at this moment. But it’s not truly about you, front and center. It’s more of an intuition of what to do next. Which is: trust that you and I have something in common. Perhaps even somethings in common. So I fall back on someone I do know: myself!

I’m going to write a series of posts about who I think you might be. But they’ll also be about who I am. I’m a reader and a writer. I love beauty, and I’m intensely curious about . . . almost everything. I like to introspect. I like to learn new things. And I like to change my life around after a bout of learning. Perhaps you share some of these traits too.

But don’t worry: the posts about you and me won’t be created all in one go. After each, I’ll write a post or two (or more) that I think will appeal to the loremaster or the curious monkey or the art-lover. Process does interest me, but not to the exclusion of content! I hope to have both here.

Today I’m thinking about those of us who enjoyed the appendices of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I was so glad the story had multiple endings: Frodo and Samwise safe in Ithilien, Aragorn crowned king and united with Arwen, the Shire scoured, Frodo aship for the West, and Sam’s “I’m back.” I didn’t really want it to end even then. But it felt right, that ending. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But thank goodness for the appendices! The story was over, but I didn’t have to leave Middle-earth just yet. And I could gratify my curiosity about its history, calendar, languages, and much more. Whatever did happen to Gimli? And was the North-kingdom successfully revived?

When I’ve read a great book, I nearly always want more of it. And yet I recognize that it starts and ends in exactly the right spots. Appendices are the perfect solution for my longing. So I’m an aficionado of appendices. Are you? I’d like to know.

Next week I’ll post about the magic featured in Troll-magic (both that of trolls and that of safer folk) for those of you who like appendices and for those who merely have questions about antiphony and incantatio and theurgia.

In the meantime, consider commenting here. Perhaps we might discuss appendices and our appreciation for them!

(Feel free to ask other questions or to start other discussions also!)