Consulting Swordsman
Approximately every 365 days there falls a date celebrated for many things, but in my household principally as the anniversary of my birth. Yes, you have anticipated me: it was my birthday. As is delightfully customary, I was showered with gifts, chief among them a tome that has, quite simply, changed my life. How to … Read more
If you use Amazon (and most people do), then you may have noticed that they have changed the “Also Boughts” section on the product pages. It used to be a pretty reliable way of seeing what other people, who like the same things you do, have found interesting enough to buy. It also worked as … Read more
Volume 2 of the new Rapier Workbook series is back from layout, and looking pretty spiffy. It will be going to the printers next week. Huzzah! Volume 2 won’t be so useful if you don’t already have volume 1. You can get beautifully printed copies from the distributor here, or buy the print files to … Read more
Good writing advice often includes ‘get rid of all unnecessary words’. The awesome Zinsser says as much in his must-read On Writing Well, and he’s right. But one can go too far. Why is it that editors these days, especially the ones that live in your own head, want to pare everything down to the … Read more
I’m a footwork and body mechanics obssessive. Relaxed, graceful, movement is what it’s all about. My body is 50x heavier than my sword. The sword is only a tiny proportion of the sword/swordsperson combination. It’s the tip of the spear. So it makes sense to put a lot of work into getting the shaft of … Read more
My friends at Valkyrie Martial Arts recently ran an event called Big Gay Sword Day. The point of it was to make it super-explicitly minority-friendly, though not in the least exclusive. And yet they’ve come under fire from people who feel that this is unfairly excluding straight white men from the HEMA world. Seriously. All … Read more
I am face-down in the first draft of the third instalment of my new Rapier Workbook series. Part Two, Completing the Basics is back from the proof reader and I sent it off to layout this morning. Huzzah! Part Three, Developing Your Skills is proving to be a bit of a beast. It’s about how to … Read more
In a rural corner of County Clare there is a tiny little village (only three pubs that I could see) called Feakle, which is perhaps the last place one would expect to find a historical swordsmanship event. And yet, I have just returned from the Tempest event held there last weekend, which started off on … Read more
I’m back from an excellent trip to the USA, to speak at the Hero Round Table conference in Michigan. I’ll write up that event properly when they have uploaded my talk to Youtube; the whole thing was live-streamed, so you may have seen it already. I don’t dare watch it. This weekend I’m dashing off … Read more
I received the print proof of the new rapier workbook, and it looks great. The paper quality is much better than at Lulu (the other printing option), and the printing itself is excellent. I have put in the order for a limited print run, which will be distributed by Fallen Rook Press. That’s for the … Read more