Hi! It’s been an odd couple of weeks since I last emailed. For some reason I’ve completely stalled on the Dagger book (From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: the dagger techniques of Fiore dei Liberi, to give it its full title). But I am making actual headway on a revised, rewritten, and expanded second edition of Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers, and Martial Artists. If you have any questions for me to address in the book, or suggestions, or requests for it, please go to this...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Hi! So you made it through the launch-process winnowing, well done! All in all, the launch sequence for Von Baumann triggered 59 unsubscribes, which is about normal- the average number of unsubscribes per newsletter email is about 5. And 116 people chose to click the ‘don’t send me any of that German wrestling stuff!’ link, thus avoiding the temptation to unsubscribe altogether. Hurrah! Other than the excellent folk who chose to buy the course, my favourite response to the launch was this,...
26 days ago • 4 min read
Hi! Last June I flew to Kansas to shoot Fiore dagger plays with Jessica Finley. While I was there she asked if we could also shoot a course on Von Baumann’s wrestling plays, because they formed such a handy mini-system. A great introduction to German wrestling, and also useful to broaden the education of Fiore scholars. She had helped me with the Abrazare (Fiore’s wrestling) course the previous year, so she knew what it Fiore covered- and what he left out. And she thought Von Baumann’s...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi!I’m back from Helsinki, having taught a couple of seminars for Gladiolus School of Arms. It was lovely being back in the salle! We did a day of Syllabus Form (longsword), and a crash course in Capoferro’s rapier. Lots of fun. The Form covers a huge amount of material when you start to unpack it- enough that it comprises most of the content of my Advanced Longsword book (the Farfalla di Ferro and the Cutting Drill take up most of the rest). I don’t believe in teaching choreography and...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi! Fair warning- this is the beginning of a launch sequence. Which means a pile of emails in your inbox over the next week or so. If you’ve been on my list for a while, you’ll know that it’s sadly necessary to send out a sequence of launch emails to generate course sales. This is just because people need reminding. I avoid making the emails too fancy because I don’t want to persuade anyone to buy the course. If Medieval German Wrestling: The Twirchringen of Von Baumann taught by Jessica...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi! I’m actually writing this last week, as I’m dashing off to Helsinki on Monday 13th, for seminars at the weekend (18th and 19th). So, greetings from snowy Finland! On New Year’s Day I went into my shed to sharpen a scraper, and while testing it for sharpness cleaned a patch of something off my bench top. This lead me to dress the bench. For non-cabinetmakers: dressing the bench means planing it flat, something you need to do every now and then because wood changes shape over time, and it’s...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hi! Happy New Year! I personally think that moving the change of the year from after the Spring Equinox to after the Winter Solstice was a mistake, but no amount of my complaining will change that. Word to the wise though: if you’re in the northern hemisphere it’ll be much easier to make and stick to resolutions in April than it will be now. So take it easy. I have a couple of things that may help: the Swordschool Training Year Planner, and a discount on my online courses. The Swordschool...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi! This is the last missive from me before I wiggle off for a family Christmas in London next week. I hope you all have a lovely holiday. I know a lot of folk on this list are in circumstances where that’s unlikely, so a special cheery halloo to them too. I won’t be doing much in the way of emails over the Christmas period, but I’ll check in on Sword People, so feel free to ping me there. You may be thinking about your sword training in the New Year. I know I am. I thought I’d ease you into...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi! Well, it seems people like the new Fiore facsimile and translation. Thanks to everyone who bought it, and everyone who took advantage of the birthday sale. People like you buying my books and courses literally feeds my children, so I do appreciate it. Unfortunately we have encountered a problem with the print files; some copies may have lines missing in the translated portion (it’s as if the printers cut off the last line of each text block. Weird!). We are working with the printers to...
3 months ago • 4 min read