I Might Believe in Faeries

In this episode, I am joined by the award winning fantasy author, Tim Powers, and my friend, iSamwise, to discuss Tim’s newest book, The Mills of the Gods (Baen 2025).
We talked about pagan gods, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Scriabin, and all of the weird things going on in post-WWI Paris.
Enjoy!
The Mills of the Gods can be found here: https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781668073018/9781668073018.htm
iSamwise has a YouTube channel that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@iSamwise
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Battle Of The Creek by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
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Logo Art by Linnea Kisby
This podcast and its content may not be used for training and developing A.I. systems without permission.


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In this special episode, I am a guest on Thomas Mirus’ Catholic Culture podcast. We discussed Tolkien’s darkest story, The Children of Hurin.
Thomas gave me permission to publish the episode on my own show as well. The original episode was published here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/tolkiens-darkest-tale-w-aaron-irber/
Thomas Mirus can be found on Twitter.com @CatholicPods and on Substack Thomas Mirus
Here are the original notes from the Catholic Culture podcast:
The darkest, and perhaps most underrated, story J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote was the tale of Túrin Turambar, a great man of the First Age of Middle-Earth, whose life was ruined by the curse of Morgoth (Tolkien’s Satan-figure) and by his own pride. The tale, which resembles a Greek tragedy, was given its longest and most satisfying version in the posthumously published book The Children of Hurin.
Aaron Irber, host of a podcast “about stories, myths, and Catholicism”, joins Thomas to discuss this underappreciated work by Tolkien.
-Aaron’s podcast, I Might Believe in Faeries
Theme music: “Franciscan Eyes”, written and performed by Thomas Mirus. Download the Catholic Culture Podcast soundtrack.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aaronirber.substack.com/subscribe

Today, I am joined by my friend Gregorio Montejo to discuss a subject that has caused a minor controversy in the world of re-enchantment and Traditionalist Catholicism. I am talking about a book titled Mysticism, Magic & Monasteries: Recovering the Sacred Mystery at the Root of Reality (Os Justi Press, 2024) by Dr. Sebastian Morello. In this book, Dr. Morello argues for the integration (possibly re-integration) of neoplatonic and hermetic thought into the Church. What does this mean? What does this look like? We discuss all this, critiques of the book, and much more.
Gregorio Montejo can be found on Twitter.com @KtistecP
Gregorio’s substack, Past Master, can be found here.
Books by Sebastian Morello:
Mysticism, Magic & Monasteries can be found here.
The World as God’s Icon can be found here.
Morello’s Critics and Responses:
Hermetic Tradition or Catholic Tradition? A Critique of Sebastian Morello by Matthew Minerd, Thomas Mirus, Matthew Scarince
Dialogos on Magic with Drs Morello and Minerd from The Meaning of Catholic



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aaronirber.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Susannah Black Roberts returns to the show to discuss the best books we read in 2025. We talked a lot about C. S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Patrick O’Brian, Tim Powers, and others. We discussed how some authors are able to depict “holiness” in their books and what that can do to the reader.
Check it out!
Susannah is the editor of both Plough and Mere Orthodoxy and she can be found on Twitter.com @suzania
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Follow me on Twitter @AaronIrber
Subscribe to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@imightbelieveinfaeries7563
Subscribe to my Substack -
for updates on the show, essays, and more!
Donate to my Patreon - I Might Believe in Faeries https://www.patreon.com/imightbelieveinfaeries
Like my Facebook page - I Might Believe in Faeries
Battle Of The Creek by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Logo Art by Linnea Kisby
This podcast and its content may not be used for training and developing A.I. systems without permission.
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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aaronirber.substack.com/subscribe

“Master Nathaniel Chanticleer, the actual head of the family, was a typical Dorimarite in appearance; rotund, rubicund, red-haired, with hazel eyes in which the jokes, before he uttered them, twinkled like a trout in a burn.”
I am joined by Carla Arnell, Professor of English at Lake Forest College, to discuss the almost unknown fantasy novel, Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. We discuss the plot of the book, the characters and the Catholic sacramental themes that permeate the novel.
Neither of us are kidding when we say this is one of our top favorite fantasy novels of all time.
Professor Arnell wrote a paper on Lud titled, Lud-in-the-Mist as Memento Mori: Existential Anxiety and the Consolations of an Aesthetic Theology in Hope Mirrlees’s Fantasy Novel.
Professor Arnell’s faculty page: https://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/arnell
Divine Representations: The Rise of the Mystical Novel in Twentieth-Century England https://sunypress.edu/Books/D/Divine-Representations
*************************************************************************************************************
Follow me on Twitter @AaronIrber
Subscribe to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@imightbelieveinfaeries7563
Subscribe to my Substack -
for updates on the show, essays, and more!
Donate to my Patreon - I Might Believe in Faeries https://www.patreon.com/imightbelieveinfaeries
Like my Facebook page - I Might Believe in Faeries
Battle Of The Creek by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Logo Art by Linnea Kisby
This podcast and its content may not be used for training and developing A.I. systems without permission.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aaronirber.substack.com/subscribe