Tag archery

Smack my controversy – Anchor Point Arrogance

TIFAM 37 (5)

Welcome, readers! This time, I’ve got something for you that’s bound to ruffle some feathers—but hey, that’s the whole point of this column. It’s here to provoke, to poke, and to stick a thorn right where it hurts the most. Remember, though, the conversation doesn’t end here—I’m eagerly awaiting your responses! Be outraged, tear my opinions to shreds, and “smack my controversy” as hard as you can!

Through Arrows’ Flight

Lesser

Longtime readers will undoubtedly have noticed that I’ve always been rather fascinated by the history part of archery. The bow has a way of reaching through the centuries, linking us to people who stood before making their release under skies numerous times changed yet still creating that same smooth arc. However this time, I have chosen to go a little further under the covers of the books, dusting off old tomes and brushing aside forgotten fables, to whisk you away into the first few decades of the 20th century. A story of how archery, an ancient art, found itself in that lovely juxtaposition of sitting with one foot firmly implanted in preserving tradition while the other foot fits oddly into a shoe designed to help you navigate modern chaos.

IFAF AGM 2024

Ifaf

2024… Another very busy and energetic IFAF year.
To commence, Martin Moylan and Don Priestly, both who had spent time on the IFAF committee and who sadly passed away during the year, were fondly remembered.

Latimer’s Arching Vision

Latimer

There are books that do not simply live upon shelves but rather take root in the hollows of your chest, pulsing in quiet defiance of forgetfulness. Matt Latimer’s The Phoenix Archer is such a book, not content to merely be read but insisting upon being absorbed, like breath, like blood. To enter its pages is not a choice; it is an inevitability, a surrender to a world that demands not only attention but allegiance.

The Cruelty of Tension

The Chronicles of Narnia box set cover

C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia is a work so steeped in allegory that every element feels laden with meaning. Among these, the bow—gifted to Susan Pevensie—stands out as a symbol not only of strength and discipline but of choice, a curious mix of autonomy and submission to a higher purpose. I often reflect on this choice as I hold manuscripts in my hands, wondering if the writer truly understands the weapon they wield. A bow, after all, is not a casual gift. It demands skill, precision, and faith, not unlike the very act of writing itself. Lewis was a writer who understood the importance of symbols. His life, punctuated by tragedy and a long wrestling match with faith, shaped his fiction in profound ways. Raised in a bookish home, he lost his mother at a young age and endured the horrors of the First World War—a crucible that left him both skeptical of shallow optimism and hungry for meaning. 

Flight of Dreams

Phoenix archer book cover12.7 x 20.32 cm (2)

From Bow to Book It’s not every day you watch a friend’s dream take flight. But today, with the release of The Phoenix Archer, that’s exactly what I’m doing. Matt Latimer isn’t just an author to me—he’s a friend, a…

Here and beyond

TIFAM

EDITOR’s NOTE [November 2024] As the editor-in-chief of The Irish Field Archery Monthly (TIFAM), I am always torn between two alternatives that define the role of this magazine: are we the chroniclers of the events and achievements of the sport…

The Phoenix Archer – Orion’s Legacy – Chapter 3

An arrow crossing a phoenix feather.

Considered the most established of Anordaithe’s five continents, The Sigel still hides beautiful and wicked revelations yet to be found.

After receiving an invitation from the Maytoni Summiteers, Alejandro Zaragosa, Ksenia Kiamount, and Blair Ruthvane travel to The Sigel. The trio fall into a conspiracy, millennia in the making, forcing them along a path which crosses into the works of the very legend whose crusade sought to slay Alejandro - Orion Aldenberg.

Lost on another trail, Luciana Doran is in mourning for the man who restored a life to her. With a rogue Summiteer, she pursues the tracks of an unknown force threatening to bring forth an evil Orion worked to keep secret.

Presenting, the follow up to The Phoenix Archer, set shortly after the events of the first story, The Phoenix Archer - Orion's Legacy.

The Phoenix Archer – Orion’s Legacy – Chapter 2

An arrow crossing a phoenix feather.

Considered the most established of Anordaithe’s five continents, The Sigel still hides beautiful and wicked revelations yet to be found.

After receiving an invitation from the Maytoni Summiteers, Alejandro Zaragosa, Ksenia Kiamount, and Blair Ruthvane travel to The Sigel. The trio fall into a conspiracy, millennia in the making, forcing them along a path which crosses into the works of the very legend whose crusade sought to slay Alejandro - Orion Aldenberg.

Lost on another trail, Luciana Doran is in mourning for the man who restored a life to her. With a rogue Summiteer, she pursues the tracks of an unknown force threatening to bring forth an evil Orion worked to keep secret.

Presenting, the follow up to The Phoenix Archer, set shortly after the events of the first story, The Phoenix Archer - Orion's Legacy.

Tegfan’s Bow

Drawing of a longbow with an arrow and strands of loose hair.

For anyone who has read The Phoenix Archer, the name Tegfan Fielder will be familiar.

This his own story, focusing on a tale surrounding his longbow which never made it into the chapter featuring The Scarred Foresters and Luciana Doran's own personal crusade seeing its apotheosis.