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 things with a 50% discount on the Mastering the Art of Arms subscription, which gives you access to all of my online courses. You can use the code 2025STARTRIGHT at checkout to get half off the first month, or use this link. This code is valid until the end of January, so there’s no rush. You’ll find the Solo Training course, How to Teach, the Medieval Wrestling, Dagger, and Longsword courses, the Complete Rapier course, and a ton of other stuff too. Something for everyone! Well, everyone likely to be on this list, anyway. The subscription will renew at the end of your first month at the full price, but you can cancel at any time. Here’s the link again:

Fiore translation update… we seem to have solved the bizarre technical problem with the printers, and are just waiting on the new proof copy to arrive. We won’t be checking it twice (like Santa). We’ll be checking it TEN TIMES. And as soon as we’re sure it’ll work properly, I’ll get all the existing orders re-run through the printers, and put the book back up on the store. I’ve already sent out the ebook version of the translation (which includes the transcription) to everyone who bought the hardback already.

Speaking of books… my sister held her 50th birthday party last weekend, in Cambridge, and arranged for a tour of the Parker library at Corpus Christi College. Yes, one of the greatest manuscript collections in the world, as well as a simply gargantuan collection of incunabula (printed books from before 1501), and other books to stir a bibliophile’s heart.

Such as this very early printed atlas:

And this 17th century manuscript copy of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdausi:

And even the celebrated Peterborough bestiary:

It was a delightful hour or so, with the very helpful and knowledgeable librarian Tuija Ainonen (those Finns get everywhere!).

No sword books that I’m aware of, but hey, still utterly fabulous.

Cool stuff on the internet

The Parker Library has put its entire content online here: https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/​

Kendra Brown got to go play with the Paris Fiore, with a camera and a Wood lamp (a UV light for revealing stuff that’s been deleted). And she’s written it all up on her blog, here: https://darthkendraresearch.wordpress.com/2024/12/13/seeing-florius-in-a-new-light/ Well worth a read if you’re interested in Fiore and/or manuscripts.

What I’m reading

I enjoyed Wool (by Hugh Howey) enough to get started on the sequel, Shift. I have to say I’m not nearly as into that one. I liked Wool as much for the characters as anything else, and the people in Shift are just not that interesting to spend time with. The kind-of main character seems to have no character at all. Put it this way: when my paperback copy of Sebastien de Castell’s Play of Shadows (the first volume in a new series, set in his Greatcoats milieu) arrived, I dropped Shift to start it, and don’t regret it (though I’ll probably go back and finish it). I’m about 80 pages in to Play, and it’s classic Sebastien. Lots of swashbuckling, an antihero who turns out to have hidden depths, sexy assassins and beastly villains, the lot. Great fun. 100% recommended holiday reading!

I’ve also slogged through Miranda Hart’s new self-help book I haven’t been entirely honest with you, about her decades-long battle with undiagnosed Lyme disease. I’m definitely not the target audience (it was a birthday present my wife received). If you like her comedy, the tone will be familiar (my whole family likes her show Miranda. Such fun!) and you may enjoy the book. I found there was a bit too much bad biology (thoughts are not proteins, and there’s a definite difference between a virus and a bacterium: why didn’t her editor catch these things?), and a bit too much rambling, so I skimmed a lot. But, if you’re struggling with chronic fatigue or a chronic illness, you may find it helpful.

That’s it from me until the holiday madness is over, so I’ll see you in the New Year!

cheers,

Guy