In the cover on the left, the sunburst image is printed in grey-white but the lettering is gold. In the cover on the right, the sunburst image is printed in the same gold ink as the lettering. This is a really peculiar situation, but maybe it is common in print-on-demand books. We don't have any other examples to show you. And maybe there are copies out there which have white lettering and a white sunburst, or white lettering and a gold sunburst. We would like to know if anyone comes across such covers.
Visualizing Middle-earth also tackles two very closely related but different subjects: the books written by J.R.R. Tolkien and the movies (produced by Peter Jackson) which were inspired by the books. Michael spent a few months performing discrete, uncompensated research for one of the employees of Weta, Ltd. Although he has mentioned this before, he does not say whether any of the essays from Visualizing Middle-earth draw upon that relationship. In reality, Michael was told very little about the movies in advance. But he was very much aware of some of the needs and concerns of the film-makers, and he tried to subtly introduce his readers to some of those concerns without divulging his connection to the movies. So, the essays in Visualizing Middle-earth which address the movies, in particular "Can Middle-earth survive the commercialization of Tolkien", "What can we expect from the upcoming movies?", and "Hey guys, how's the weather down there?", reveal some of Michael's insight into the project.
He has been credited with making some accurate predictions. Now it's time to out the rat: he knew more than he was letting on. But some of Michael's knowledge of how things would be done in New Zealand also stemmed from his knowledge of the television shows Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Hercules and Xena fans had meticulously dissected the New Zealand landscape and acting industry long before LoTR movie fan sites started reporting on Peter's work.
The essays in Visualizing Middle-earth represent an early phase of Michael's professional Tolkien literature. He wrote under contract but also under immense pressure. He was obligated to provide a new essay every week, and unlike many other writers who tried to stay close to the minimum content required to meet the contractual obligation, Michael continued writing an essay until it was finished. He claims he sometimes wrote the best essays while he was half-asleep, from having worked on them long into the night.
