Michael Martinez - Articles and Essays by Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez

Articles and Essays

Original publications are articles or essays that Michael has written under contract, by special arrangement, or exclusively for his own Web sites. "Under contract" includes both compensated freelance articles and articles written as an employee of a publisher.

Please Contact Michael for permission to reuse or translate articles. You may have to secure permission from other parties.

While this list is extensive, it is not necessarily exhaustive. Authorized use of Michael's essays and articles is usually accompanied by correct attribution, a notice of copyright, one or more links to either one of Michael's sites (Xenite.Org or Michael-Martinez.Com), and/or a link to the original source of publication (if appropriate). Some works-for-hire cannot be listed here. Some articles and technical papers have been lost.

Page 2 lists Translations, eBook distributors, Technical Papers, and Selected essays from Xenite.Org .

Original Publications

• Essays by Michael Martinez on MERP.COM
  MERP.COM is currently the only designated official distributor of new essays by Michael Martinez, except for special arrangement. That is, Michael has an arrangement with MERP to provide them with unique content on an ongoing basis. MERP also requested, and received, permission to include copies of ALL the essays Michael published through Suite101.
• Tolkien and Middle-earth at Suite101
  Michael wrote essays for Suite101 from August 1999 through January 2003. His last contribution to this topic was "Love in the Trees". One essay published on 8 December 2001, "Life Imitating Art in The Lord of the Rings", was contributed by Michael Siminski.
• Building Online Visibility: A Three-Point Plan For Any Business
• Provide Affordable Health Care To Employees At Little To No Cost To You
• Reduce Workers Compensation Premiums and Increase Employee Benefits
• We Don't Need Another Broker: How To Get The Best Liability Insurance Rates Available
• American Anti-war Sentiment, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam: Why We Have To Stay The Course
• The Belt Buckle of Truth, at MeoSource
  Michael contributed this light-hearted look at Tolkien and online gaming in March 2005. MeoSource is a fan site devoted to members of the online gaming community who are awaiting the long-desired release of a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (or something like that).
• What does 'marketing books on the Internet mean'?, WritersWorld Newsletter, Issue 26
  This article started out as a lengthy post by Michael to the Internet Authors Network discussion group. The editor at WritersWorld asked for permission to reprint Michael's message, but instead Michael rewrote the text into a more formal article, which was published in issue 26 of the WritersWorld Newsletter.
• An essay on Balrogs, Official Andre Norton Web site
  NOTE: This essay was written specifically for the Andre Norton Web site to accompany the picture and description of the Balrog Award, of which she was the first recipient.
• Understanding Magic in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, at the Middle-earth Vault
  This extensive essay, written according to MLA style guidelines, was composed for the Vault, another gaming community site, in 1999. This essay was included in Visualizing Middle-earth.
• Children's Online Privacy Act of 1998, Whoosh! Issue 43
  Originally proposed as a means of curbing online commercial manipulation of children, the COPPA of 1998 was revised by Congress to mandate requirements affecting both commercial and non-commercial Web sites. Many large Science Fiction fan sites found themselves subjected to a law with which they were not equipped to comply. This article examined the act and how it impacted the non-commercial fan site community.
• Children's Online Privacy Act of 1998, JimWorld Gazette Issue 91
  Inspired by the Whoosh! article, this article looks at the impact of the COPPA on the commercial Web site community.
• Xena In The Eyes Of The Historian, Whoosh! Issue 22
  Written in 1998, this paper was to be the first of two papers presenting a theoretical argument which would explain all the historical inaccuracies in the television show Xena: Warrior Princess. Of course, the show was pure fantasy and there was no real way to reconcile it to history, but some fans seemed to be very upset with the way the show played around with real historical timelines. Unfortunately, right after this article was published, an episode aired which blew the entire schmaltzy theory to smithereens. There was no way to recover from the debacle, so the second paper was never written. Whoosh is a monthly online fanzine which has been continuously published since 1996. It has branched out to cover many other television shows.
• Articles by Michael Martinez for the BASIS Advantage, 1995 - 1997
  As an employee of BASIS International, a vendor of the Business Basic programming language, Michael wrote several articles for the company's magazine, The BASIS Advantage, which was distributed to customers, distributors, and other interested members of the Business Basic industry.

Reprints - General Web Sites

• Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves! Part I, Khazad (Runic.Dk)
• Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves! Part II, Khazad (Runic.Dk)
• Resurrecting Dale, City of a thousand untold stories, Khazad (Runic.Dk)
• Legolas, You're Just So Darn...Cute!, Full Bloom
• Speaking of Legolas ..., In the Depths of Mirkwood: Legolas "Greenleaf" Thrandulion
• Ferthu Theoden Hal!, Meduseld: Articles
  NOTE: The entry page for Meduseld is http://www.subreality.com/eomer.htm. The essay is listed under Links.
• Legolas, you're just so darn...CUTE!, Orlando Bloom Multimedia
• Old r.a.b.t. post on Celeborn, The Other Arena
  NOTE: While not a formal essay or article, this lengthy post by Michael generated much fan mail and many requests for an essay which ultimately led to "Celeborn Unplugged". This particular post by Michael has been reprinted on several Web sites.
• The Good, The Bad, and the Outlawed, Valquenta.Com
• The Fellowship of the Shoe, Mer?ba
  NOTE: Another news group post written by Michael, this essay is unique in that it was composed solely for Usenet and was actually submitted to/accepted by alt.humor.best-of-usenet (a moderated group), as well as forwarded to many email lists and reposted on several Web sites.
• Middle-earth WorldFAQ, The Land of Mordor
• Orcs (from "Orcs and Other Evil Things" in Parma Endorion), The Complete Middle-earth Page
• It's All In The Family: The Elweans and The Ingweans, Hobbit Lore
• It's All In The Family: The Finweans, Hobbit Lore
• A Little Bit of Hobbit Lore (from Parma Endorion), Hobbit Lore
• Hercules and Xena Essays
  These essays were originally published on Suite101 from 1998 through 1999, but they were archived beyond visitor reach after Michael switched from Hercules and Xena to Tolkien and Middle-earth in 1998. They have been republished on Xenite.Org. One essay, "Spiff Up Your Hercules/Xena Web Site", has been lost.

Reprints - Newsletters

• The Middle-earth Prophecies, MeoSource Gazette Issue 10
• Dear Gandalf, MeoSource Gazette Issue 7
• Real Orcs Don't Do Windows, MeoSource Gazette Issue 4
• Indiana Jones and the Treasures of Middle-earth, MeoSource Gazette Issue 3
• Have a Happy Hobbit Holiday!, MeoSource Gazette Issue 3
• Celeborn Unplugged, MeoSource Gazette Issue 2
• Make Room For Dragons!, MeoSource Gazette Issue 1
• The Commercialization of Tolkien, RPG Times Volume 6 Issue 8
• Ranger For Hire, RPG Times Volume 6 Issue 8

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