Happy Birthday, Rachel Griffin!
Just for fun, sharing today’s Roanoke Glass post here. If you are an author and you would like to write a Fantastic Schools story (set in any magic school you wish), we are currently collecting stories for Fantastic Schools Familiars and Fantastic Schools Universities. You can find out a bit more here.
Today, March 30th, 2025, Lady Rachel Jade Griffin turns 15. Sadly, her adventures for the second half of her 14th year are not out yet.
But, in honor of her birthday, here is every Fantasy Schools Anthology short story in which she appears:
Rachel Griffin vs. The Real Olympics
The end of the school year event known as the Real Olympics appears briefly in the Sixth Book of Unexpected Enligtenment, Guardians of the Twilight Lands
Here, however, we have the full story of what happened that day. Sports are not Rachel’s strong suit, and Vroomie is on the fritz—what will become of our little sorceress if her trusty steeplechaser broom fails her?
This volume also contains two other Roanoke Academy short stories by other authors.
Fantastic Schools Hols (Holidays for us Americans)
The Unexpected Rescue of Sigfried Smith
Also in Guardians of the Twilight Lands, Sigfried Smith spends Spring Equinox Break with Rachel at Gryphon Park on Dartmoor. One day, they go out to see the giants’ picnic table on the moors, and Sigfried makes the mistake of getting too close to a phooka. A great chase follows as Rachel calls upon her boyfriend, Gaius Valiant (who doesn’t live all that far away) to help her get Siggy back before he is eaten by giants.
Rachel Griffin and the Missing Laundry
Towards the end of her freshman year, (also during the time of Guardians of the Twilight Lands) Rachel is distracted from studying for her finals when Sigfried Smith and his trusty dragon Lucky dig a hole through the floor into the tunnels that run below Roanoke Academy. There, they come upon a small bwbach, one of the domestic fey that cleans Roanoke Academy, that has lost a basket of laundry. If the laundry is not found, the wee fey will suffer a dire fate, while helping him, Rachel contemplates whether she wishes to stay in Dare Hall, or move to one of the other campus dorms. To decide this weighty matter, she must learn more about herself.
Other short stories that take place at Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts:
See You Down The Road
“The day Od Rune was expelled from Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts, Lower School, was the happiest day of Kora Chandler’s new life.”
Orphaned circus girl Kora Chandler has a new life. No longer able to perform in her beloved circus, due to the accident that killed her parents and left her in a wheelchair, she is now a student at the Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts lower school—or was it an accident?
When figures from Kora’s past reappear, she finds an expected ally in a very unusual young man.
Roanoke Academy stories by other authors:
Erin N. H. Furby:
How To Get Into Magic School
Roanoke student Topher Evans spends his summer working for Ouroborous Industries, searching for hidden sorcerous talent. His job is to find students with a talent for science to whom O.I. can grant a scholarship. His efforts bring him to a family in rural Alaska, where his visit turns up two potential students. Unfortunately, one of them is not a good candidate for O.I.’s testing. Can Topher prove that this young lady has sorcerous talent and somehow arrange for her to come to Roanoke?
Also in Fantastic Middle Schools
Jumper For Hire
When a young woman faces an unofficial expulsion for sneaking off campus with friends to practice a highly regulated spell unsupervised—the ability to magically move from place to place called jumping—she is uncertain of her future. When a job on the Island of Malta specifically requests a jumper, she sets off in hopes of making a new life for herself. (This story also appears in an anthology about the Island of Malta.)
But Is It Magic?
Now at Roanoke, Sappho and her brother Temmy, from “How To Get Into Magic School” in Fantastic Schools, Volume One, help search for some escaped animals, curious as to whether the kulning songs for calling animals from their ancient cultural tradition count as sorcery or not.
Should the Punishment Fit the Crime?
Long-time Roanoke Academy tutor Molly Brown must use her experience and ingenuity to outwit a troublesome young boy who is not living up to his potential.
Also in Fantastic Schools Sports:
Crush It!
A small group of intrepid students try to start a girls’ rowing team while also participating in the ancient and honored sport of ’shipping their tutors.
Ben Wheeler:
War: Unseen and Seen
The Raven who is the Doom of Worlds has rescued people from many disperate worlds, turned them into children, and brought them to Roanoke Academy.
Among these are adults suddenly turned into children are the dark noir characters from the horror podcast Pinkerton’s Ghost. Unlike many Roanoke students, these lost souls remember part or all of their past, which makes it harder to fit in as students.
Want to join in the fun? Here is the First Book of Unexpected Enlightenment.
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In my fantasy stories, I do have a magical school that is more like an university for young wizards in their late teens and twenties. Though they are not a main part of the story, I have a few scenes that take place in this school when the MC visits it.
I have one professor who can read the magical talents of any person he meets. He likes to engage the students in active discussions that occasionally turn rowdy.
Another professor is the world's expert on runes and how to use them, but his classes are so dry that he puts some students to sleep.
Magic lessons can add a lot of fun to the story and provide a way to develop a character's depth.