Minas Tirith Evening-Star

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A J. R. R. Tolkien fanzine founded in 1967, possibly by the Tolkien wargaming club, Neo-Numenor. It had a lot of club and real-world political discussion (this was the height of the Vietnam War era) which did not sit well with the editor, Phil Helms, who was a conscientious objector). He broke away from Neo-Numenor and founded a new club, Eldila, taking the Minas Tirith Evening-Star with him. He hoped that he could leave the politics behind.

Frank Goddard[edit]

One of the writers for the Minas Tirith Evening-Star was Frank Goddard, a college student who argued against having an organized club with officers at all. This caused a ruckus, but then it was announced that Goddard had been killed in an auto accident. But then it was rumored that he was still alive and a teen-aged actor was brought to a meeting as him, but few were fooled. It was later admitted that "Frank Goddard" had been a hoax all along.

When Phil Helms left for college he resigned the editorship.

Publishing History[edit]

The zine was later published by the American Tolkien Society continuing at least into the mid-2000s. Appendix was included in some issues and there were at least two issues of Letter-Zine containing a separate letter column. In 1987, Steven Deyo's fanzine Mythos was merged in.


Issue Date Pages Notes
1.4 January 3, 1968
1.5 January 29, 1968
1.6 1968
7.1 October 1977
7.2 January 1978
7.3 April 1978
7.4 July 1978
8.1 October 1978
8.2 January 1979
8.3 April 1979
8.4 July 1979



Publication 1967
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