Fans of fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien are awaiting the publication of one of his oldest stories.

                       

The book was started when Tolkien  was a student at Oxford in 1914.  The author’s estate will be releasing “The Story of Kullervo” this fall.  This is one of Tolkien’s earliest prose works and it eventually leads him to Middle Earth.  The book is Tolkien’s original draft, along with his notes and essays about the source material.  That was a Finnish epic poem, focused on dueling Northern wizards and love-struck youths, beer-drinkers and shape-changers.  Tolkien indicated that this was an early germ of epic fantasy that would eventually spark his major Middle Earth epics “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. “The Story of Kullervo” is due to be released on October 27th.