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Hi!

I have a couple of seminars coming up!

Suffolk, UK, October 18th:

Move Like Fiore: Improve your structure, flow, and control in Fiore’s art of arms

Good movement is the foundation of great fencing. It keeps you safe from injury, helps you control your level of force, protects your training partners, and lets you fight harder and longer without fatigue.

In this full-day seminar, you’ll develop practical skills to make your fencing smoother, stronger, and more efficient. Together we will cover:

1. Analysing and improving the structural qualities of Fiore’s guard positions
2. Refining transitions between the guards
3. Different ways to hold the sword for specific purposes
4. Centres of rotation and how they affect different plays
5. How to strike with speed, power, and control
6. Applying these mechanics to wrestling, dagger, and longsword plays

Event Details

• When: Saturday, October 18 · 11am–5pm (with a lunch break)
• Where: The Coddenham Centre, Mary Day Cl, Coddenham, Ipswich IP6 9PS
• Cost: £50
• Bring: Longsword, fencing mask, dagger (if you have one), water, lunch. Freeplay kit is optional, but bring it if you like.

Sign up here.​

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Helsinki, Finland, October 31st, November 1st and 2nd:

Join me for a varied weekend of workshops I’m teaching for the SHMS: Angelo Smallsword on the Friday night, Vadi’s Longsword on Saturday, and Fiore’s Pollax on Sunday. Details and sign-up instructions are here. Scroll down for details in English.

How to Write Sword Fights

I also have an article up on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s blog, Writing Sword Fights: Three tips from a professional swordsman. Go have a read if you’re thinking about writing combat scenes!

Dagger book progress

​From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: the Dagger Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi is currently bouncing back and forth between me and the editor, so we’re on course to get it to the layout person at the end of the month. I’ve also just this week finished creating all the video links for the book. I decided to make every link redirectable and easy to type. This is a combination of future-proofing (in case online assets move, or an article gets taken down, or I want to update one of the videos), and a be-nice-to-your-reader thing, making it as easy as possible for readers to actually find the video or other resource they want.

But holy cow it’s a lot of tedious spreadsheety nastiness. I’d have farmed it out but my teenager at home is busy doing the same thing for a different project, and my assistant is busy working on a top-secret but extremely cool new project (which will require another goddam spreadsheet full of redirectable links).

You would cheer me up enormously if you pre-ordered the book, here.

On the Podcast: The Schielhau in detail, with Alexander Fürgut

It’s a warm welcome back to the Sword Guy Podcast to Alexander Fürgut, who was one of my interviewers on Episode 132, Podcasting with the Sword Whisperer. He's the co-host of the Schwertgeflüster HEMA podcast and an instructor at Schwabenfedern Ulm, a large HEMA club in Germany. We're here today to talk about his new book, The Schielhau in Detail: a comprehensive guide about fundamentals, tactics and strategy of this longsword technique.

We talk about the challenges of writing a book, and how much tougher Alexander found the process than he expected, especially as he immediately went on to translate the original German version into English. Will he write another? We have a chat about possible subjects, and the best approach when choosing a topic to write about. Is it better to write something with the widest possible audience, or is it better to focus on something very niche, like, for example, the Schielhau?

cheers,

Guy

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P.S. just a reminder: you can pre-order From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Dagger Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi now!