Good story, thanks for the link! I think it's easier to appreciate it if you don't go into it expecting Tolkien fan fiction, because it isn't really - it doesn't so much deviate from canon, as simply refrain from using anything much of Lord of the Rings beyond names and geography. Basically think Tom Clancy in a homegrown low magic fantasy setting.
Do you mean the same relation to Tolkien canon Clancy has to reality, or something about the style/content/plotting similar to typical Clancy fare?
This may be old news to some people, especially the Russian speakers, but I didn't see an article about it here.
In 1999, Kirill Yeskov, a Russian paleontologist, wrote The Last Ringbearer, a 270-page take on Lord of the Rings from the point of view of a medic in Mordor's dying armies who is also a "skeptic and a rationalist." In fact, Mordor represents the forces of reason in this retelling of the story. As a Nazgúl (himself a former mathematician) explains, Mordor is "the little oasis of Reason in which your light-minded civilization had so comfortably nestled." Barad-dur is "that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic."
The story has been newly translated and is available in free PDF form -- in English and the original Russian. There's a recent review from Salon as well.