Strength can manifest in a multitude of ways: from the fiery strength of someone fighting for her beliefs to the stoic strength of someone meeting his daily challenges. In this issue, we explore those many meanings.

Take, for example, the unshakeable resolve of Honor Harrington, heroine of a best-selling science-fiction series by author David Weber, interviewed in our Probes section. Or the quieter courage of schoolgirls facing ugliness in "The Sigh of Joshua Trees". Or a grandfather's tale of his heroic boyhood resistance to World War II in "Opa's Story".

Strength may show itself in grand gestures or simply a refusal to give in. Strength is both the glinting sword of a knight charging into battle and the intangible steel of internal resolution.

Alyce Wilson, Wild Violet editor