Story Details
Published on 2024-12-25
Categories Fantasy
In “Recipes for a Voyage to the Far Shore,” Jared Oliver Adams invites readers on a journey of faith, loss, and devotion. Through the eyes of a ship’s cook, we meet Hurreini, a young girl whose joyful spirit and resilience inspire the cook to see both his world and his own faith in new ways. In time, this leads to an act of defiance, one that emphasizes our shared hopes for meaning and belonging, regardless of our stations in life. Told with heartfelt poignancy, Jared’s story takes you on a journey that your heart won’t soon forget.
Author Details
Jared Oliver Adams lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he writes, explores, and dabbles in things better left alone. He holds two degrees in music performance, a third degree in elementary education, and is utterly incapable of passing a doorway without checking to see if it leads to Narnia. Find him online at www.jaredoliveradams.com STORY NOTES FOR "RECIPES FOR A VOYAGE TO THE FAR SHORE" The ending of The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo departs Middle Earth on an elven ship to the “Undying Lands,” has struck me ever since reading it as a boy. Even then, something seemed wrong about it, though I couldn’t articulate what. Earlier this year, the idea of such a ship resurfaced in my mind, and I thought to myself “who would crew such a ship?” As I started to write about the ship’s cook, I slowly began to probe that unsettling feeling left by Tolkien. Questions began to coalesce: Who gets to go to the Undying Lands? How is your passage earned? And what about all the people who aren’t in a position to earn it? We can’t all be Frodo, saving the world (though, notably, he couldn’t have done it without poor Gollum). As a person who believes in a version of “The Undying Lands” in which all are offered passage, these questions are very important to me, all the more because many in my own religion seek to formulate charts of “valorous deeds” required for boarding.
Recipes for a Voyage to the Far Shore, by Jared Oliver Adams
Author Details
Jared Oliver Adams lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he writes, explores, and dabbles in things better left alone. He holds two degrees in music performance, a third degree in elementary education, and is utterly incapable of passing a doorway without checking to see if it leads to Narnia. Find him online at www.jaredoliveradams.com STORY NOTES FOR "RECIPES FOR A VOYAGE TO THE FAR SHORE" The ending of The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo departs Middle Earth on an elven ship to the “Undying Lands,” has struck me ever since reading it as a boy. Even then, something seemed wrong about it, though I couldn’t articulate what. Earlier this year, the idea of such a ship resurfaced in my mind, and I thought to myself “who would crew such a ship?” As I started to write about the ship’s cook, I slowly began to probe that unsettling feeling left by Tolkien. Questions began to coalesce: Who gets to go to the Undying Lands? How is your passage earned? And what about all the people who aren’t in a position to earn it? We can’t all be Frodo, saving the world (though, notably, he couldn’t have done it without poor Gollum). As a person who believes in a version of “The Undying Lands” in which all are offered passage, these questions are very important to me, all the more because many in my own religion seek to formulate charts of “valorous deeds” required for boarding.
