: Actually, no, it wasn't a reference to your message at all. I'm not sure whether I read it (I try to read as much as possible, but I have to admit that some threads scroll by me). I was, in fact, thinking of a couple of people in rec.arts.sf.written who were insisting that Middle-earth only became "our world" after THE LORD OF THE RINGS was published. Tolkien always envisioned the story to be set in some imaginary time in our past, and this is provable with citations (several of which have been offered by me and at least two other people in the news group as of this writing). So, when people say the story is set on some imaginary world rather than Earth, that is what I'm referring to. If that was the gist of your argument, then I must include you under that umbrella of indictment, but I did not have you personally in mind.

I thank you for clearing that up and I certainly do not fall under that umbrella :-)