Hello, blog readers. This is my bi-annual ‘Pen and Sword’ tour blog (see the past one here). This fall, from November 6th to the 17th, 2017, thirty people will tour Greece and Bulgaria… with me. (Second prize two weeks… wait…) This will be our third outing. Last two times we’ve visited the Peloponnese, and gone […]
Blog
Fantasy and History: Writing Battle
I have been asked many times what the difference is between writing about historical battles and fantasy battles. I suspect I’m going to disappoint you all; especially anyone who sees either genre as special and unique, and say that to me, they are often very similar. There are differences; for example, considering the effect of […]
Guest Post: “How I Do Research” by Miles Cameron
Book four of the Traitor Son series, A Plague of Swords is out this week. Instead of talking to you about the book, I thought I’d discuss how I write, or more particularly, how I do research. To me… Source: Guest Post: “How I Do Research” by Miles Cameron
Review of The Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron
It was the false dawn; the time when old people die, when hopes fail, and when ambuscades lose their nerve, when men call out and wives comfort them. Cameron is telling one hell of a story. The Pl… Source: Review of The Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron
Learning Armizare, or, where can I do all that cool stuff?
Most frequently asked question: Where can I learn to do all that stuff? If you don’t care about my discourse on how various simulations of pre-modern sword combat work or don’t work, skip down to the bold type. This blog article will endeavor to provide you with a spectrum of answers. In the process, I […]
Calligraphy and authenticity, or Writing about Writing
So here we are, a couple of days from the launch of Plague of Swords, and you’d probably expect me to blog about writing either Plague of Swords or Fall of Dragons. But, dear reader, I like to surprise; I also think that many of you like to have a little window on the life […]
Writing Fantasy: How much fantasy?
In a few days (October 25th, 2016) Plague of Swords will be out. First, a word from the author. Many of you probably know this already, but when a book comes out, the author wrote it between twelve and eighteen months earlier. (Maybe more or less depending on various things. But with me, twelve to […]
Trek, or writing about living in the Wild
Every summer since I was thirty years old, I’ve gone with a group of friends (like minded nutters) into the wilderness of the Adirondacks in kit. Until. 2010, it was always 18th century kit; the period of the American Revolution. Since 2013, it has always been Medieval kit; the period just exactly four hundred years […]
Splitting Wood… an old blog repeated…
(This is a repeat of a blog I ran on Hoplologia. We’re changing formats, so I’m repeating it here. What is Hoplologia? It is our not-for-profit shell that runs our Ancient Greek and Medieval reenacting and our various WMA/HEMA classes and some sewing and a summer camp for kids and some educational activities for 4th […]
The Torneo del Cigno Bianco 2016
The truth is that I cannot do justice to the excellence of this event, but I’ll try. For me, it is one of the most pure experiences of a Medieval deed of arms that I have; it’s good enough to make me load armour and clothes onto airplanes and fly to Italy from Canada, for […]
Siamo arrivati a Roma!
Right. Since my last post, I have learned how to use a Microsoft Surface. Now there will be photos. That is out intrepid band on Monte Maria overlooking Rome and the Vatican. It was a great moment, even with some very sore feet; we walked up Monte Maria and when we reached the top, there […]
Vado a Roma
via WP for Windows app. This week, I’m walking to Rome. I’m with my friends Jon Press of England and Alessio Porto of Verona Italy and so far we’ve covered almost 150 kilometers, although I freely confess we took a. train for 12 kilometers and we got a ride for almost 30. Laugh if you […]
