: : The Tolkien family has no wish to see a sequel produced.

: [snip]

: Does that mean they would frown on (and hence not authorize)
: any kinds of Tolkien-related literature?

That is what I've been told.

: The reason I ask is that I have at least three Middle-earth
: stories floating around in my head (and some pieces of paper ;)
: ) - one about the end of the fourth age; one about Arvedui (an
: elaboration of what Tolkien wrote into an actual novel on its
: own); and one about another region of middle-earth (only
: incidentally related to Tolkien, featuring two blue wizards and
: the early exploits of a certain Curunir).

My suggestion would be to write the stories but not to set them in Middle-earth or to invoke Tolkien's characters. You can create a world very much like Middle-earth in scope and history. Ideas cannot be trademarked or copyrighted. That is why you see so many Middle-earth-like worlds in modern Fantasy.

On the other hand, if you're just wanting to see more of Tolkien's world and not another Tolkien-like world, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the copyrights expire and then join what will probably be the inevitable rush to overwhelm a hungry fandom with fresh Middle-earth stories.

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The LOTR/HOBBIT Movie Fact/Rumor Roundup