NEW: Discord Server for Jokien with Tolkien!

A Digital Homely House

Hello, friends,

First, the obvious: no Book Notes feature today. This month has been a crazy one and all the time I would have put into collecting quotes and making notes to share in that post went elsewhere. I fully anticipate having a Book Notes to share next month, however!

A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He posts precisely when he means to.

But I do have some news to share today: Jokien with Tolkien is now on Discord!

Introducing the Jokien with Tolkien Discord Server

Longtime readers will know I’ve been searching for the right method to build more community with readers: substack chats, substack threads, and substack notes all have their strengths, but none of them currently have the capabilities offered by Discord. I’d like to test it out and see if it’s “the droid I’ve been looking for” so to speak, so I have set one up and am giving it a whirl!

My goal is to continue to add to what I’ve been doing all over the internet and build a community where we can have fun, be genuine and thoughtful, enjoy Tolkien and other items from literature, pop culture, etc., and share what we’ve created with each other. This vision takes inspiration partly from Rivendell, “the Last Homely House,” which was

a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.

An illustration of Rivendell by Tolkien

While I have by no means ruled out expanding access to the Discord server to all readers of Jokien with Tolkien one day, for now the invites are limited to paid subscribers. If you are a paid subscriber on Substack, Twitter, or Patreon, you have immediate access to the server! Scroll down to the end of this email, where the invite code is below the invisible (to you) paywall.

You can access Discord through your web browser, download the app on your desktop, or use the Discord mobile app.

While I’m limiting the initial members to paid subscribers, I’d like to lower the barrier as much as possible to this particular community feature and have done so in the following three ways:

1. For the launch of this community, I’m running a 20% off sale on paid Substack subscriptions!

That’s just $4 monthly or $32 a year! I regularly share the benefits you receive by being a paid subscriber, so I’ll cut to the chase: it’s all that plus access to the Discord server. Here’s the link to the sale:

2. I’ve added a $1/month Discord-access-only tier to my Patreon

It’s just $1 a month! Seriously! Just one dollar! (The middle tier is the equivalent of a 40% off coupon for paid Substack subscriptions, by the way 👀).

Check it out on Patreon.

3. Finally, if you would LOVE to be part of the Discord server but none of these options are workable for you, reply to this email (or email JRRJokien@gmail.com if you’re reading in the app/browser) and I’ll send you an invite code, no questions asked.

I don’t want to exclude anyone who is so passionate about being part of our fledgling server, so please don’t let money be an obstacle to joining us.

I’m looking forward to this new adventure with this community! And whether or not you decide to join the Discord server, I’ll be hitting your inboxes with the weekly newsletter this Thursday. Until then, go with goodness! Thanks for reading and for this space in your inboxes.

Invite code for paid subscribers: