This week, I thought I’d interview another armourer. Now, perhaps you are all bored by armour, but to me, it is the most complicated costume artifact ever. Let me put this in perspective as a writer. I wear armour 20-30 times a year, and almost every time I wear it, I learn something—something about fit, […]
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Writing about war–tactics, decisions, and the edge of battle
Yesterday I began book 4 of the Traitor Son series–which for now, I’m calling ‘A Plague of Swords.’ I’m starting a week late because I did some fun things like visiting my friends in the USA and spending a day with Jeffrey Hildebrandt. But now I’m ready to get down to some serious writing. A […]
Crafts and Craftspeople–Jeffrey Hildebrandt–writing about the past
Those of you who have the UK editions of the Red Knight know that the cover and the internal illustrations are not ‘generic’ and represent characters and scenes from the book. The chapter heads were drawn by my friend Dimitry Bondarenko, and some of them are portraits of people and artifacts and costumes that inspired […]
Whores and Heroines–writing about war and women
This is not, strictly speaking, a book review of ‘Common Women’ by Ruth Mazzo Carras or of ‘The Cavalry Maiden’ or ‘The Tigress of Forli’ or Ulrich’s superb ‘Midwife’s Tale’ although I truly recommend all four books. It is more of an essay on writing about women in the midst of war. I’m going to […]
Wargaming and writing (and a bit of a battle report)
I spent last weekend in the United States, visiting friends from university and from my military career. And yes (nerdy spoiler) I’m an inveterate gamer as well as a sword nerd and a reading nerd and a history nerd. I play them all–fantasy role-plying games (RPGs hereafter) and historical RPGs and sci-fi games with 40,000 […]
Clothes Make the Character (Or why everyone in the Traitor Son series has to have a wardrobe)
Margherita De Marco Yes, it’s true—I have closets full of historical clothes. In fact, not only do I have closets full, but so do my wife and daughter—clothes for at least three time periods (besides our own, of course) and sometimes four. Or five. Nor are these clothes, strictly speaking, costumes. To me, a costume […]
The Siege of Belgrade 1456, or why is history so complicated?
This week, I’m writing the last pages of the last installment do ‘Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade.’ It is, I think, some of my best writing; by including a major female character who is, to put it nicely, a ‘woman of the army,’ I’ve taken an opportunity to give a voice to the […]
The Red Knight — Writing about Tournaments
Photo credit Celia Peachum (www.flickr.com/photos/celiapeachum/) Six months ago I wrapped up the ‘Tournament’ portion of Tournament of Fools (or whatever my publishers will eventually call it.) I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but I thought that it might entertain readers to get an idea of the process. And, as the publishing date is coming in October […]
Writing about Fighting
I am often asked–often by readers, but occasionally by other writers–about writing fight scenes. I thought I’d write a sort of mixed book review, ‘sport’ review and writing tutorial. The three books (really, two books and a series) are, in no particular order, Bob Charette’s brilliant Armizare, the Chivalric Martial Arts System of Il Fior […]
Review of ‘The Thief’s Tale’ by SJA Turney
Buy It in the UK! Buy it in the USA Last year, before the ‘Pen and Sword’ tour even launched, I took a few days in Istanbul with one of my oldest friends, Steve Callahan, and my wife Sarah. When we met up with Steve, he told me he’d been reading Simon (SJA) Turney’s Ottoman […]
And sometimes, I’m wrong
That is a stele (or a fragment thereof) in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens. I was there last year with my Pen and Sword tour… which of course we’re doing again this year–anyway, I was looking at this stele, as one does, and I suddenly realized that I’d misunderstood the way a trieres (a […]
Book Review – ‘Old School’ Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions’ by Ellis Amdur
Book Review – ‘Old School’ Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions’ by Ellis Amdur I am not a serious Japanese-school martial artist. I have played with, and enjoyed, Kendo, Iado, and Aikido, but I suspect that a lifetime of study in the world of Classics and the European Middle Ages—and reenacting the same—has walled me off […]
