Memento mori opens the late-October syllabus, and dies irae, dies illa gathers vigil air into study. Samhain with All Souls sets a horizon where remembrance carries ethical weight under eschatological pressure. An archer approaches the line and receives a rite…
Field grit and autumn craft run through the issue: a full recap of the IFAF Bowhunter Champs in Killygarry where squalls, open lanes, and long holds turned every shot into a lesson; plus the UAR results from 31 August laid…
A calm first month comes from a few steady habits. Learn the names of the parts, follow clear steps, and keep short notes after each session. The dictionary below explains the core setup ideas that help every beginner on an…
The inquiry is clear and simple: what is paper tuning, and how does a straightforward method on a home-built frame improve the flight of an arrow? A good question, for the true archer seeks efficiency, a clean, certain line between…
I came up with the idea to write this article after reading a message on the club’s chat—one of the fellow archers was curious about horse bows and asked for advice. I liked the brief exchange between him and one…
Dear Readers, this article arose from a need of the spirit and from the shared curiosity of fellow archers who keep asking the same living questions. Two traditions—Japanese kyūdō and European field archery, especially clout—speak to each other through posture,…
The physical discipline of archery begins with stance—applied biomechanics and declaration in one breath. An archer settles the feet, a shade wider than the hips, weight gathered forward so the balls of the feet drink seventy percent of the load.…
Let me begin plain. What follows isn’t a manual, and it isn’t a coaching note. I’ve no wish to stand in front of anyone with a whistle round my neck. I’m not a trainer, and I’ve never been much of…
There are many films and series with archery; Vikings and The Last Kingdom carry the standard for today’s historical action. Both draw big audiences, both shape how viewers picture Dark Age war, and both bring bows into rain, firelight, and…
In This Month’s TIFAM: Gold Medals, Political Philosophy Through the archer’s scope, and a Trip Through the Woods The September 2025 collector’s edition of TIFAM is here, packed with tournament triumphs, deep dives into history and philosophy, and stories from…
Editorial Review Matt Latimer’s short stories read like late talk around a small kitchen table after rain. You can hear the coat drip in the hall and the kettle sigh. You can see the bow propped by the door, clean…
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This issue finds us in a changed season. A quietness hangs in the air, a space shaped by the memory of George Shields and the enduring grace of Joan Kennedy-Kelly. We carry their presence still—a warmth that gathers near the…
The Lisowczyks formed as a fierce body of Polish light cavalry, carrying the wild spirit of a mercenary host sustained through spoils of conquest. Brought together in 1607 as a soldierly confederation under the command of Aleksander Józef Lisowski, they drew their name from his—his legacy shaping their banner long after his death. Their allegiance lay with the Commonwealth, though coin never reached their hands; sustenance came through spoils alone. They struck into towns and villages across enemy lands, tearing through stone and spirit alike, burning, seizing, and destroying with furious purpose. Churches and monasteries yielded no sanctuary. Their passage carved terror into the lives of the innocent. In the Czech lands, long after the company ceased, mothers carried tales of Lisowszczyks to frighten children into obedience, casting them as creatures of fire and blood, unmatched in malice. Their vanishing defied a single date—by the mid-1620s, they drifted from the field, their once-unique imprint fading into the broader chaos of war.
In form and function, the Lisowczyks mirrored the shape of Polish cavalry from their day. Each unit bore the name of a banner, often numbering between one hundred and four hundred men. These banners gathered comrades—bannermen—and footsoldiers alike. Alongside them rode unattached servants, who, though second in status, frequently joined the fight. Yet a crucial difference marked them from the Polish standard: the Lisowczyks chose their own colonels from within their ranks.
They surged through Europe as the swiftest warriors of their time, rivalled only by the relentless Tartars. In one stretch of daylight, they could cover one hundred and sixty kilometres—four times the range of the most agile forces of the age.
This piece stands as the third in a quiet unfolding—a sequence of essays sparked by our recent gathering in the New Ross Library, where voices met to trace the long memory of the bow. The first emerged from our reflections…
A hush settles in, a quiet breath drifting through the vast expectant cinema as the first glint of dawn appears on screen and paints Panem in a fresh, solemn glow. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping unfolds with solemn…
To draw the bow is to gather the world into your hands. Just before the first arrow flies, a hush settles—the kind that fills the chest with something heavier than air. The body enters its stance, feet firm, spine aligned,…
A single arrow, loosed beneath a moonless sky, carves a new reality from a father’s certainty, flinging it toward the unknown. 28 Years Later greets its audience with a scream: a fractured symphony of instinct and intention, of despair and…
“The qualities which make a good archer are the qualities which make a good man or woman,” wrote the Honourable Artillery Company’s H. Walrond in his 1894 Archery for Beginners. While penned across the water, the sentiment found its most…...
It started with a slip of the tongue, as the most troublesome truths often do. Myself and Andrew Wayland, we were in the main hall of the New Ross Library, the air thick with that familiar scent of paper and…