Contents: Martin Barker/Kate Egan/Stan Jones/Ernest Mathijs: Introduction: Researching The Lord of the Rings : Audiences and Contexts - Janet Wasko: The Lord of the Rings : Selling the Franchise - Daniel Biltereyst/Ernest Mathijs/Philippe Meers: An Avalanche of Attention: The Prefiguration and Reception of The Lord of the Rings - Breda Luthar: Promotional Frame Makers and the Meaning of the Text: The Case of The Lord of the Rings - Barbara Klinger: What Do Female Fans Want? Blockbusters, The Return of the King , and U.S. Audiences - Kate Egan/Martin Barker: The Books, the DVDs, the Extras, and Their Lovers - Sue Turnbull: Understanding Disappointement: The Australian Book Lovers and Adaptation - Lothar Mikos/Susanne Eichner/Elizabeth Prommer/Michael Wedel: Involvement in The Lord of the Rings : Audience Strategies and Orientations - Giselinde Kuipers/Jeroen De Kloet: Global Flows and Local Identifications? The Lord of the Rings and the Cross-National Reception of Characters and Genres - Martin Barker: The Functions of Fantasy: A Comparison of Audiences for The Lord of the Rings in Twelve Countries - Sue Turnbull: Beyond Words? The Return of the King and the Pleasures of the Text - José Javier Sánchez Aranda/Joseba Bonaut/María del Mar Grandío: Heroism in The Return of the King - Daniel Biltereyst/Sofie Van Bauwel: The Fantasy of Reading: Moments of Reception of The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King - Lothar Mikos: Understanding Text as Cultural Practice and as Dynamic Process of Making - Martin Barker/Ernest Mathijs/Alberto Trobia: Our Methodological Challenges and Solutions.