How can the act of creating a story be bad? The contents themselves may be evil or a lie, but that would be like saying cake-making is bad because one person bakes poison into a cake. But the way they go on about myths being misrepresentations of facts, or outright lies it leaves a strong negative impression.

Where does that leave today's storytellers? Where does it leave yesterday's stories?

To me it feels like they are in a kind of limbo, with the great stories of the world's cultures being confined to the narrow pages of the fantasy novel - or even worse, showing up as recycled and watered-down pabulum for the New Age cultural appropriators. Without a care as to the nature of the real story, they take bits and pieces from everything and add them to a patchwork quilt of beliefs that they can cover themselves with and call enlightenment.

Is that to be the fate of our original heroes, that they end up as Tarot decks and wall ornaments for those looking for easy solutions to the problems of life? Or to lie between the covers of a book that diminish them as fantasy equivalent to the latest instalment of Star Wars?

What about today's story teller; what stories are there for him or her to tell? Is there even a need for stories that offer up explanations or pose questions about whom we are and our place in the world? Maybe I shouldn't say need, but what is missing is a willingness to listen to those types of stories.

After all, aren't we at the pinnacle of our development as civilizations? What could simple stories have that would improve our lot? Especially ones that aren't even real. What can you write for a world that would rather be reading about the true-life recovery of a drug addict than a story about their ancestors?

Maybe something will happen to change that attitude. It can't be all pervasive anyway, not yet at least, because books are still being sold, and some of those are fiction. Perhaps there have been other times in our history that have seen a falling out between myth and society; I'm sure the Spanish Inquisition was as equally unimpressed in their time as so many of us are today with the beauty of myths and their place in our lives.

With all that's going on in the world I can't think of a time when listening to the old stories is as needed. For all our sakes let's hope things change soon.