These are allegorical fantasy tales set in a world of incessant conflict and hardship; stories of a dark age where the strong oppress the weak pitilessly in the struggle for life and dignity, where each must stand up for themselves with no other means than the iron blade, the guile of deceit or the whispering of a necromantic charm.
The Fables of Ealdræd tell of an alternative unreality; an epoch with its own adult values, when a mercenary soldier was respected and the wanton indulgence of a lusty passion brought with it no mewling shame; in twelve tales of Ealdræd, a spearman of the Pæga, a clan of the Aenglians; a veteran adventurer exiled from his homeland and passed forty years of age, yet somehow surviving where others perish in a world of politics, ethnic allegiance, battle, slavery, witchery, sex and death.
Download these stories as PDF text files or as Audio MP3 readings. Each of the episode pages on this site has two sound file samples to give you a taste of what the Fables of Ealdræd are like and how they are somewhat different in tone from most contemporary sword and sorcery fiction. These are more challenging to the social conventions and cultural taboos of twenty-first century beliefs and values.
The Fables of Ealdræd unfold in chronological order. In this way, each episode can be read as an individual story but all twelve episodes taken together make a complete cycle of stories that can be read right through as one continuous tale.
Readers who are interested in the pdf text versions of the stories can save money by purchasing all twelve Fables of Ealdræd in one volume, a total of over 169,000 words. Save one third of the combined price.
Buy and download all 12 episodes as a single PDF text file at a special price of £12 (UK British pounds sterling) - Save £6
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Links to other fantasy entertainment websites
The Fantasy Guide - The web's best guide to websites, projects, movies, books and everything Fantasy and Medieval.
Epic-Fantasy.com There are places where problems are solved with the edge of a sword. Do you long for such a place?
Eposic - is a site devoted to pen-and-paper RPGs and speculative fiction, publishing the occasional speculative fiction anthology, each with a different theme. Their 2010 anthology is entitled "Out of Order, Tales of Reality Rearranged".
Michael Amos - science fiction satire with bite - novels and other writing.
To suggest a reciprocal link or to enquire about The Fables of Ealdræd, please email us at information@ealdraed.com