A new Steve Donoghue Q&A this week.  The whole thing is fun to listen to: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.  

As usual, I put in my own question: 

"Lord of the Rings"--Could Tolkien have benefited from a stronger editor, or is the work perfect just the way it is?

Steve answers my question on video 2 at 12:24

Obviously this question is based on the fact that I'm currently reading Lord of the Rings.  And I'm suspecting that there's no way an editor would let this thing be published nowadays.  As I said in my review of The Fellowship of the Ring:

So, I know Tolkien is still much-beloved today.  But if he were a new and unknown writer, there's no way he could get these books published nowadays, right?  I feel like the publishers wouldn't allow such a slow pace in a fantasy series nowadays.

Given Steve's confused reaction to my question, I perhaps should have phrased it differently.  Maybe "Could Tolkien have used an editor?" or "There's no way an editor would publish Tolkien nowadays, right?" Or something like that.  But I think Steve's answer still works.

For my other forays into Steve Donoghue's Q&As (the ones I've blogged about anyway), see HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE , HERE and HERE.