Tag: Martial arts
-
Bayani Part 1
In steel they saw the truth. For now, wooden sticks were a reasonable approximation. CRACK-CRACK-CRACK. Bayani jumped back, raising his baston to the guard. Rizal retreated too. Behind Rizal, Bayani saw a shadowed figure nod. A sheathed sword hung from the man’s loincloth. That had to be Maestro Alejandro. In the Circle, he was the…
-
The Romance of the Sword
In the age of the gun, the romance of the sword lingers in pop culture. From wuxia novels to martial arts flicks, heroic fantasy tales and stories of sword and sorcery, people enjoy stories of blademasters cleaving their way through hordes of enemies. On first glance, this seems strange. These stories hardly have any bearing on modern…
-
Worldbuilding with Real World Martial Arts
The average author treats martial arts simply as a collection of techniques to be displayed in fight scenes. But martial arts is more than just techniques: it is a way of life, one that resonates throughout the individual and society. The superior writer recognizes that, and sees opportunities for worldbuilding and characterisation. Sigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Arts…
-
The Arms and Armor of Dungeon Samurai
The titular dungeon of Dungeon Samurai is a terrible place. Filled with endless mobs of bloodthirsty monsters, cunningly concealed traps and invisible gas clouds, it is designed for the singular purpose of destroying men. To survive in the dungeon, the samurai must count on a wide array of specialized equipment. In November 2018, I had…
-
Training for Life
When starting out in the martial arts, it’s easy to get caught up in the intricacies of technique. How to bend and break someone a dozen ways, a hundred ways to throw and submit an opponent, a thousand methods of defending and countering any and all attacks. In the training hall, a student narrowing his…
-
Series Review: Writing Violence by Marc MacYoung
Marc ‘Animal’ MacYoung watches rom-coms because Hollywood gets action scenes wrong. Having worked as a court-recognized expert witness, correctional institute director, bodyguard, bouncer, cooler and event security, he has decades of first-hand experience with violence and criminals. His street name came from a high-risk lifestyle filled with life-or-death encounters on the mean streets of Los…