Hullo! We are Rose and Psyche. We are sisters: Rose is the eldest, but Psyche is the wisest. Rose is really Orual, but would rather go by her nickname.

If you've read C. S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces, then you will understand the reference. If you haven't, do read it. Till We Have Faces may not be Lewis' most well known work, but it is certainly one of his very best and in our opinion, his masterpiece.

Most of these stories are a joint effort, Psyche does the writing and Rose does all the odd jobs...like managing this account and being a technical and historical advisor. We both specialize in wild imaginations.

PM doesn't mean post mortem. Please, if you should have any questions, comments or thoughts to share with us, send them along! (Unicorn Postal Service is preferred, but if you can only hire a griffon, we'll settle for that.)

Our poll is now closed and the winner has been announced. Click here to read the inaugural address.

Congratulations to King Edmund! You most certainly have the overwhelming admiration of your people!

Our Community:

The Band of Virtuous Men and Valorous Women

‘Virtue’ came from the word ‘Vir’, meaning ‘man’ in Latin. In our late great age of post moderness, very few men and women show true virtue; the qualities of wisdom, honor, courage and resolution. We have great respect for the men and women of old fashioned days, men who were courageous and strong and women who were gentle, yet as breakable as steel. Herein, you may find those few stories on this site of manly men and womanly women. You may think this strange, or even a little silly, but we assure you, it is deadly serious.

In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill. - Winston Churchill

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. - Joshua 1:9

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. - Proverbs 31:10

Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be. - 1 Maccabees 3:58–60

Staff of:

The Blond Caspian Rebellion

By King Caspian the Seafarer

Tired of Suspian and the Imposter who plays a dark-haired, too old, Spanish Caspian? Ready for some blond, British, youthful Caspian fics? This community is the place to find them. For your story to be added, Caspian must be bookverse and in character (not to mention blond, unless he's old, in which gray or white hair is acceptable). Join the rebellion: write a Blond Caspian fic today.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

- o*o -

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. - 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (KJV)

- o*o -

'...we're too young to realize that certian things are impossible.' - William Pitt, Amazing Grace

- o*o -

She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child. - Barbara Alpert on sisters

Tips:

Some People have had the kindness to ask us for tips on writing and while writing is something that comes from inside and once out, has a life of its own, there are a few things that we've found helpful:

Don't take yourself seriously: we're serious, here; learn to laugh at yourself. There's nothing more important than remembering that you might not be the most wonderful writer in the world... because, you're not. As King Peter pointed out in Prince Caspian (and he ought to know), "The best swordsman in the world may be disarmed by a trick that's new to him."

Avoid self inserts: Not self inserts, per se, if they really are you, there isn't anything wrong with that; we mean you should avoid inserting what you think you're like. If you can laugh at yourself, your characters will have a better chance of coming alive (see above). As Shakespeare so eloquently put it, "God has given you one face, and you make yourself another." Because, no matter how hard you try, your characters will always have a dash of you in them.

Don't initially 'write' chapters: This works for some, but not others. We've found that we think better if we write the story through, adding asterisks at a change of scene. After the story is complete and we make all the changes we want we take a day to put chapters in. That leads into the next thing we like to do.

Complete your story before you try posting it: A story grows all the way through and when it's done you might want to go back and overhaul it in places. Sometimes finishing it and leaving for a few months is helpful too, because when you've gone and forgotten what you were thinking when you were writing it, you realize that you are your own best critic. Writing one chapter at a time and posting it (for me at least) would be like handing over the ingredients of a cake and never getting around to baking it.

Be yourself: There are literally tons of writers in the world and the best became the best because they weren't trying to copy anyone else's style or ideas. Give us yourself, tell us a story and be sincere about it and there's a good chance that you'll become one of the best, also. We don't want to hear what everyone else has to say, we want to hear you.

On that note, take some advice from Doctor Suess, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."

We are not Beta readers and do not have any intention of becoming anything of the sort because of lack of time, however, if you should have a story idea that you are not sure of... or would like an opinion on, we would be happy to act as sounding boards.

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? - Esther 1:14

The Reality of Fantasy:

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ have become cliché. In fact, if somebody were to coin new words that describe the concepts of Good and Bad we might find that life has a whole new look.

One thing I like so much about Fantasy is that Good and Bad can be illustrated without naming them and People never doubt what they really are. I don’t think there’s much debate over whether Aslan is Good or the White Witch is Bad and most People don’t come at the Lord of the Rings from the angle that Sauron is being maltreated by a pack of Evil Hobbits who stole his ring.

This is what is so elegant about Fantasy; there is a fine line between reality and allegory.

Yet when we come to real life and real history, People are often at a loss as to who is Good and who is Bad and there is even some question as to what is real and what isn't. History has been rewritten in scores of ways with scores of different viewpoints. Was Hitler an Evil villain who murdered 10 million People in cold blood, or was that a lie spread to cover the fact that he was a great hero who tried to save his country’s honor? Some People are still not sure.

And there are deeper questions where Goods and Bads can’t be explored without treading on other People’s feelings or gravely insulting other countries. The simple facts are: the Cold War may have thawed out, but the roots are still ignored and the American Civil War is still being waged through the United States even though it has been over for 150 years.

Those few who dare to question Why suddenly find themselves facing an overpowering flood like a stick caught in the surge of a river. So, People have gotten in the habit of believing the latest thing they hear (the comfortable thing, that is) and trying to reconcile everything.

Yet, lurking in that same compliant mind there is no doubt that the dragon in the Hobbit had to be finished off and that Bilbo was a great hero for going off to do it. If someone tried to argue that it was the other way around, this same man would call what the second said, nonsense. And he’d be right to do so. In Middle Earth, Good and Bad cannot be melded, yet for some strange reason in our world they can… or can they?

In reality Good and Bad are in our world as surely as they are in Middle Earth, we just can’t always recognize them when we see them. We, through long training, have learned to see in shades of grey instead of in black and white. Fantasy tricks this out of us and we don’t even realize it.

-thoughts from Psyche

The Touch of the Master's Hand

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only
two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a
gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust
from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make
it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and
gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understnad what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A
"mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is
going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." But the Master
comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.

-Myra 'Brooks' Welch

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction.net...?

Things We Really Don't Like:

Slash

Incest (Would'ya honestly marry your brother?)

Suspian (Isn't she just a wee bit old for him?)

Lucian

Sues and Stus ("How things look on the outside of us depends on how things look on the inside of us." - Anonymous)

Black-haired Caspian!! (He was blond in the book...?)

Pretty-boy-Peters (Don't try to convince us that High King Peter the Magnificent with a voice as calm as the summer sea looked like... a girl...?)

Angsty Edmunds (Honestly Edmund, don't go around feeling sorry for yourself when it was Aslan that did all the paying!)

Narnia 1&2 (2 mostly, 1 is all right in a way, but it started the downward trend [See Black-haired Caspian])

Twilight

Harry Potter

Lord of the Rings (This probably ought not be on the list, but we do have some basic problems with the theology [or lack thereof])

Braveheart (Speaking of historical inaccuracy...)

Titanic (Sank like a stone)

Pearl Harbor (How is a twisted slaughtering of events a tribute to the brave men and women who died that day?)

Britney Spears

Brussels sprouts

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. - Philippians 4:8

Favorite books:

Bible

Swallows and Amazons books -Arthur Ransome

The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

The Little House books - Laura Ingles Wilder

The Mistmantle Chronicles- M. I. McAlister

Brian Jaques:

Redwall

Rackety Tam

Lloyd Alexander:

Chronicles of Prydain

Vesper Holly

The First Two Lives of Lucus Kasha

The Iron Ring

The Marvolus Misadventures of Sebastian

Time Cat

The Squire's Tales-Gerald Morris

Henryk Stienkiewicz:

In Desert and Wilderness

Quo Vadis

A. A. Milne:

Once on a Time

Winnie the Pooh

House at Pooh Corner

The Prince and the Pauper-Two Fathoms (;

Jane Austen

Evalina-Francis Burney

R. L. Stevenson:

Kidnapped

Catriona

Treasure Island

Charles Dickens

Queen Elizabeth Story-Rosemary Sutcliff

Coronation of Glory-Deborah Meroff

Someone Named Eva-Joan M. Wolf

Roald Dahl:

Boy

Going Solo

The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- the Pearl Poet (translation by Marie Borroff)

Kate Seredy:

The White Stag

The Good Master

Singing Tree

Entwined-Heather Dixon

Richard Peck

Fred Gipson:

Old Yeller

Savage Sam

True Grit-Charles Portis

North to Freedom - Anne Holm

The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

Carol Kendall:

The Gammage Cup

The Whisper of Glocken

And many, many more I can't remember...

Favorite Movies:

Black Hawk Down

Band of Brothers

Master and Commander

Tangled

Brave

The Eagle

The Adventures of TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn

The Widow's Might

Facing the Giants

Persuasion (1995)

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Emma (2009)

Hamlet (1990)

Gods and Generals (the director's cut)

Glory

In Desert and Wilderness

Muppets' Treasure Island

Amazing Grace

Man of La Mancha (1972)

Sherlock (BBC)

The Way Back

Secondhand Lions

Valkyrie

Courageous

Taken (2008)

If you have any question about the books and movies on our list, feel free to PM.

Our Stories:

Swallows and Amazons:

1932-The Golden Road

1933

1934

1935-Hope Springs Eternal

1936-Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread

1937

1938

1939

1940-Sea of Thunder

1941-But Joy Comes in the Morning

1942-War Torn Skies

1943-High Flight

1944-Overlord

1945-Paid In Full

Narnia:

AU Narnia stories:

1939

The Once and Future King

The Enchanted Isle

The Horse that Stole the Boy

Crossing the Bar

1940

Flowers o' the Forest

Other:

A Pop in Time

Narnia Recycled

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

The Fish with the Golden Scales

The Way of the Soul

What Fools These Mortals Be

We're always delighted to get reviews and we'll always answer them. :)

Clive Staples...no wonder he called himself Jack!

If you've gotten down here...good for you!

God bless you,

- Rose and Psyche