Swordfighting, for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists

From the Foreword by Neal Stephenson:
€œWhether you are a writer or game-maker seeking the kind of information I sought while writing The Baroque Cycle, or just a general reader with an interest in the arts to which Guy Windsor has dedicated his career, you should find much that is rewarding in these pages.€

This book is a collection of essays and articles, about half of which have been adapted from Guy€s successful blog, at guywindsor.com, the rest have never been published before. It is in eight sections:

– €œWhat is Historical Swordsmanship?€ covers some aspects of researching and recreating the Art.
– €œMartial Essentials€ covers some of the less-well-understood aspects of what martial arts are and how they work.
– €œLessons from the Art€ covers some of the wider real-world benefits of training, especially dealing with questions of mistakes, risk, and fear.
– €œSwords€ describes the main classifications of the weapons we use, and includes discussion of appropriate training tools.
– €œFighting€ includes historical examples of duels, and
– discussions about the nature of real violence.
– €œWriting Swordfights€ is about how swords and swordfights should be represented in fiction, with examples of fights done both well and badly.
– €œGaming€ is a discussion of the ways in which swordsmanship can be adapted for game design purpose.
– €œTraining€ includes key insights into how we train swordsmanship.