Hero is a Four Letter Word

Good and Evil. Two sides of the same coin? Or something less defined, something more liminal? Entertaining and always thought-provoking, author J.M. Frey offers three remarkable stories that explore the grey area of the hero/villain dichotomy in this debut short story collection.

Funny and irreverent, "The Once And Now-ish King" finds King Arthur reborn at the moment of Albion's greatest need, fully aware and ready to save his realm once more. There's just three problems: he's got no Merlin, no Excalibur - and he's still a newborn!

Brand new and never before published, "Just A Four Letter Word" follows Jennet, descendant of the legendary mythic lovers Tam Lin and Margaret. When a young man steps out of the verdant shadows of the legendary Carterhaugh Woods and into her life, Jenn wonders if she's somehow fallen into the fairy tales she grew up on, and if her lover really could be the Tam Lin. Jennet is a modern woman; intelligent, autonomous, compassionate. But does she have what it takes to outwit the sadistic Faery Queen once and for all, and free Tam Lin from centuries under her inexorable command?

And finally, in "The Maddening Science", a former supervillain is forced to return to a life of crime. When a woman is shot in front of his eyes, he is equally unwilling to break any more laws nor let her die. But if he saves her, what danger will she pose to his freedom, his anonymity, and the secret past he so long ago buried?

Heroes. Villains. Monsters. Fairy Tales. Myths. Legends. Who is the good guy, who the bad, and who gets to decide which is which? After all, 'hero' is just another four letter word.