Middle-earth Network and Swordsong Records is making available a dramatized version of George MacDonald’s ‘The Princess and the Goblin’. MacDonald once wrote, “I write, not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five.”

This world class, and unabridged, dramatized audio book features Actor Tyler Michael Jonsson, and an original score composed by Composer Arjan Kiel, who has also recently completed a collaboration with Jon Anderson, the voice of Yes, as well as many other high profile works. Original art from famed Tolkien artist, Jef Murray, who has depicted the main characters in the story is featured.

If Tolkien can be called the ‘Father’ of modern day fantasy literature, then MacDonald could rightly be considered the ‘Grandfather’. He greatly influenced some of the contemporaries of his time and his enthusiasm for ‘Alice’, convinced Lewis Carroll to submit the work for publication. His use of fantasy as a literary medium and commentary on the human condition was of profound inspiration to the next generation of writers, among them Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, W.H. Auden, and others. His great works ‘Lilith’, ‘Phantastes’, ‘At the Back of the North Wind’, and of course ‘The Princess and the Goblin’ stand out as some of the great fantasy literature written in the 19th century. While his works are not widely known by many fans of Tolkien, one only has to read ‘The Princess and the Goblin’ to see it’s echo in Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’.

Actor Tyler Michael Jonsson, better know among Middle-earth Network Radio fans as the voice behind the show ‘Ask Gollum’, will be the main voice and narration for ‘The Princess and the Goblin’. Jonsson has been trained at the New York Film Academy, and has called Los Angeles home since 2003. Since then, he has continued to train in both collegiate and private professional settings. He has acted in several film and stage productions in the Los Angeles area, most notably the stage productions “subUrbia” and “Joined at the Head” – Both of these performances earned him award nominations with the prestigious Kennedy Center. Other selected stage credits include: “Dark of the Moon”, “(Anon)ymous”, “All My Sons” and the musical “Evita”.