Check This Out:

I love the Zombie Hunters. It's an excellent comic, with really amazing art. There is strong language and gore, but...well, if you didn't guess that from the title, there's nothing I can do to help you.

Anyway, check out this comic, and the news post below it.

Good work.

I'm Torn...

There's so much to write about!

I'm still collecting information to answer one question, and I'm waiting on a book from the library that has me excited...I can't settle on one thing to write about.

In the meantime, I've come across a line in Weapon that has me looking for patterns:

Early medieval swords were heavy cutting weapons that were used to hack their way through mail. The development of high-quality plate armor encouraged the introduction of sharply pointed thrusting swords, whose blades became progressively longer.

I believe the history of weapons can be summed up by:

Gwark hits Grog on the head with a rock. Grog found a bigger rock and invented the helmet. This continued until we found ourselves with the nitrogen bomb.

If you are creating a new world, and you are adding weapons to it, you have to remember that for every newer, better way to do damage to someone, there came a newer, better way to protect yourself. There are undoubtedly gaps in discovery and creation, but it's constantly happening.

The current "to read" pile from the library includes:

• Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, by Jack Kelly
  
  
• The Cambridge History of Warfare, edited by Geoffrey Parker
  
  
• A History of Warfare, by John Keegan
  
  
• The Complete Encylopedia of Arms & Weapons, edited by Leonid Tarassuk & Claude Blair
  
  
• Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World: 3000 BC ~ AD 500: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics, by Simon Anglim, Phyllis G. Jestice, Rob S. Rice, Scott M. Rusch, & John Serrati
  
  
• Warfare: The Middle Ages 768 - 1487, by Nicholas Hooper & Matthew Bennett
  

Out Of Town

I'm going to be out of town until Sunday, and away from internet access. I've got a couple of new books from the library for research, and I'll try to have something interesting or useful by the time I get back.

In the meantime, on the thread of books with excellent use of weapons:

Hunter's Moon, by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp is an awesome book, and so are all the rest of the Sazi books. They are very worth the read, whether you're a girl or a guy. This was the book that convinced me that paranormal romance doesn't have to just be brain candy. From what I know, Tony's use of his weapons was very accurate without being distracting, and makes a good example of real weapons in a new world. And I love the Sazi culture, though you need to read more of the books to get a deeper look at it.

For the use of both real and fantasy weapons, and another excellent read, check out The Cage, by S.M. Stirling and Shirley Meier. I was enamored with Megan's knives from the moment they were mentioned in the book: her fingernails are actually steel, and can be sharpened and used like knives. Magic was used to make them grow naturally, drawing the iron from her blood, necessitating the eating of liver or drinking of fish oil to keep the iron up. The fights are breath-taking, and excellently written. Sh'Kaira's use of sword and compound bow both are an excellent example for anyone.

I don't think I'd have ever touched the book, if only because of the mention if it's being a novel of vengeance on the cover, except that it was recommended to me by someone with impeccable taste. I'm very glad I read it, and I even managed to scrounge up a copy of it (and the rest of the series) so I'd be able to read them again. If nothing else, the wing cats are awesome, there has never been a more bad-ass cat than Ten Knife Foot (and I usually am not fond of pets in novels, even if I'm surrounded by them), and I got some of my best insults ever from those books.

Magical Swords that Work

I read Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews not too long ago, and while I wasn't peering at every page for some sort of mistake, I do know that nothing leap off of the page and screamed that it was a stupid idea with enough frosting to make it look cool.

I liked Kate's sword, and the world building is very interesting. It made me want to go to Atlanta and compare with this new world.

It is fine to take real weapons and change them to suit your needs. Make them magical. Make them different, because your world is different. But if you've done any research on the real thing, then even if you never directly use any of that research, it shows in your writing, and it makes the read more enjoyable.

When I looked this up on Amazon, I saw a second book in the series, and I was briefly excited. Then I saw that it's not out until March so, sadly, I still have to wait.

The Chopping Block

I've got a question that has been gnawing at me for several years. In Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of Torturer, the main character has a sword that is used for beheading. That sword has a hollow channel that contains mercury so that when it is brought down the weight shifts to the point. Has such a sword ever existed? Does this even make since?

I have gone through every book about or mentioning weapons and the history of them, as well as several from the library. I also asked the resident blacksmith, since I figured if anyone would have heard about something like that in real life, he would have.

He'd never heard of one actually being made, and his exact words on the making of such a blade were:

The thought of trying to forge a blade with a channel like that down the core, or trying to drill it in those days, AND have it capable of taking the stress of the stroke, makes my head ache.

The only hits on the web I found referring to such a weapon were either in direct reference to the original book, or roleplaying guides.

In Rack, Rope, and Red Hot Pincers, by Geoffrey Abbott, the final chapter has to do with execution. After reading it, I've decided that should I need to be put to death in pre-French Revolution Europe, I hope it's by at least moderately skilled swordsman. And I hope it isn't in England, where they had to import a French executioner to give a queen a decent crack dying in a minimum number of chops.

More than one book mentioned the necessity of the balance on an executioner's sword. The condemned had to stand or kneel to await their fate, rather than being bent over or strapped to a chopping block, because the fatal blow was not delivered straight up and down, but slant-wise. Aim was crucial, and made more difficult by the possibility of the condemned weaving or flinching. I would tend to think that a sword with a shifting balance would actually make the job more difficult, rather than less.

Also, mercury is damned heavy. I had never quite realized how heavy until I was working in a zoology stockroom and had occasion to pick up bottles of the stuff. That's also where I learned that you can write on puddles of mercury with a ballpoint pen, provided the ink is flowing decently. Though executioner's swords are slightly heavier than regular swords, I doubt you would want to use one that would be that much heavier.

The final verdict: this is a case of taking something real, and giving it a unique twist for your own world.



This is an excellent executioner's sword, located in the Royal Armouries Museum, and it displays a lot of the classical qualities in an executioner's sword. Courtesy of Weapon, I have some of the vital statistics of the blade: It's German, from 1674, and it weighs in at 4 3/4 lbs at 32 1/2 inches in length.

Usually, these swords were used for one and only one purpose. Anyone familiar with swords and their uses would know what this one was meant for, even without the helpful etchings of torture scenes. This one's got a slightly shorter hilt than earlier doppelhander swords, and a heavy pommel to balance it. The tip is blunted because this weapon was never meant for thrusting: it's sole function was chopping.

What I particularly love about this one is that, when not in use, it hung in a civic building as a general warning.

In other cultures, executioner's swords might not have looked much like that one, but they still had several things in common, particularly the increased weight and thickness to the blade.

Anything Can Be A Weapon

The current issue of Renaissance Magazine has some excellent articles on Medieval siege weapons and warfare. If you need information along those lines, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy.

I'm thinking the best way to get information on weapons out is to profile individual weapons. If anyone has any suggestions for a specific one they'd like more information on, just let me know. In the meanwhile, I'll find something and get a post up as soon as I've gotten a decent amount of information.

Anyway, I was thinking about how all sorts of things have and can be used as a weapon in a pinch, and I recalled a news story about a burglar who broke into a house while the family was having dinner. One of the family members (I vaguely recall it being the father, though I'm not certain) picked up a can of soup and threw it at the guy. It hit him in the head, he fell over, and they called the police. On the way to the station, the guy complained about a headache, so they took him to the hospital, where he died.

Several searches have failed to turn up the story, though I'm sure I'll eventually find it. While looking, though, I did find this: a killer turnip. Ain't No Way To Go is an interesting site, though I sadly don't think it's been updated for several years.

Questions

I am formulating answers that will not be entirely my own opinion.

And I am ridiculously happy that you guys have asked questions.

In the meantime, check this out: The Royal Armouries. They have an excellent site, and you can even see their top ten items.

You can also request library materials from them. I think I may have found a new way to spend lots of money.

If I'm ever in England, this place is high on my list of places I absolutely must see.