Tor.com has a couple of great, super-nerdy articles on the faulty geology of Tolkien's map of Middle-earth. The money quote in my opinion: "Tolkien’s novels have had a massive influence on epic fantasy as a genre, his map is the bad fantasy map that launched a thousand bad fantasy maps..." So, with that introduction, here's the links. Tolkien's Map and the Messed Up Mountains of Middle-Earth
As a bonus, the author, apparently a geologist by training and a fantasy buff by avocation, has given us an article on the geology of desert planets. Yee-haw!
When is it, where is it? The book itself is super duper awesome which, as all you readers unversed in the terms of art bandied about by us lawyer types, means that I enjoyed it immensely. If the weather is nice, I volunteer my back patio for our meeting. We finally have a space that's worth meeting in...