A Tale of Peg Powler: A North Eastern Myth
Young men had begun to spend more time than was usual down by the river. Mothers would tut, looking out, hands on hips, across the fields in search of their boys. Sometimes, even husbands, who…
Category: Best of F&F Archive
The Eternal Robin of the Hood: His Origins and Continued Appeal
“Now Robin who was called Fitzsooth, Is Dwelling in the wood. His coat has changed to Lincoln green, His name is Robin Hood.” -Alan a-Dale in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men…
The Fountain of Faith
(North American Continent, Planet Earth, 2245 CE) Following the surging, panicked crowd, Mark rushed to the space docks. The whole situation was almost too frightening to be true, but there he was, dashing along…
Kenosis of the Secret Fire: An Adventure through Middle Earth into the Divine Imagination
“No time for it,” said the wizard. “But—,” said Bilbo again. “No time for that either! Off you go!” To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without…
On Beauty and Love: The Qualities Central to the Christian Experience
I had a wonderful childhood with parents who loved me. Sometime when I was a young teenager, I became aware of beauty: the sea, green pine trees rising up into a blue sky at the…
Women and Other Worlds: The Feminine Mystique Comes to Fantasy
‘My subject, then, is things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else: things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all.…
Mother of Sorrows
I’ve held my son in my arms today. It was so long since last I did that. Years. For three years now he has been dying to me, a little at a time. I suppose…
Brady the Worm: A Lenten Fable
Once upon a time there was a worm named Brady. He was little. He was slimy and stinky. He was grouchy. He was very grouchy because he was in fact not a worm at all.…
What the Donkey Saw
Author’ Note: In the heavenly song of the angels that Avi hears, astute readers will recognise my own Latin translation of “Listening to You,” from the Who’s rock opera, Tommy, without which work I would…