Our company, ALPHA LYRAE, takes its name from an ancient legend about an ancient star in the constellation Lyr. In the night sky, the constellation Lyr is small and bright. In its cluster of double stars, ancient storytellers saw the first harp that brought sounds of heaven to the earth. A man of vision, they said, was given the harp to carry with him on a quest to save his sister’s life. As he went into the realms of darkness to find her, he carried the sound of hope in his two hands. Where is hope, now? The stories we tell ourselves have turned somber. They speak of dangers in earth, air, and water, of conflict and fear everywhere, of limitations in energy and compassion. With problems so vast, what lifts our vision? What is our guiding star?
The earth wobbles on, and Alpha Lyrae will again become the pole star. The stories that we tell ourselves can change as well. They can lift our vision and revel in all the luminous mysteries of quests, of questions, and of dreams. In English, the star Alpha Lyrae is called the Harp Star. And so we have named the independent press we founded in 2005 to offer new voices in answer to the rising call for stories that show new ways to live. Toward this, we have published a suspenseful adventure novel, A Question of Dreams, and a compelling magazine collection of personal essays, FINDING CHANGE: the gift of freedom. We invite you to join us in sharing these new voices. You can learn more about the novel here, and sample the essays from the magazine here.
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Ten thousand years ago, the earth’s true north aligned with the constellation Lyr. Its brightest star, Alpha Lyrae, was the pole star. As the earth wobbled on its axis, it moved away to align itself with the Great Bear, and Polaris became the pole star. Under Polaris, the ancient hero carried the song of hope into darkness to reach his lost sister. At that time, he had to return without her. What might happen with another guiding star?