About time we had something a bit different around here, I figure. Couple of weeks ago, someone got in touch with me via Facebook (the Winterbirth fan page, to be precise), and I thought the story they had to tell was so interesting that ... well, here it comes. Meet Richard Alvarez, a real live knight in shining armour. Some of you, it turns out, know exactly what he looks like already. He'll introduce himself, and then I'll pitch him a few questions. Hope at least some folks find this as interesting as I did!

(Note, the photos appearing are, in order of appearance, by and copyright Cat Connor, Ron Koberer and Linda Alvarez. No use without permission, please).

RA: I've always been fascinated by the renaissance and medieval eras. In college I studied fencing, and went on to pursue teaching as a Classical Fencing Master. Simultaneously, I've pursued my interests in media production, theatre and film. This parallel track led me to performing at the first Renaissance Festival I ever attended in Houston Texas, back in the early seventies. A friend and I formed a Dueling Team we called "Triomphe".

We performed as "Triomphe" for eleven years at the Texas Renaissance Festival. In the early eighties, I met four young men who had been hired to perform the joust. A few years later, they invited me to joust with them at a show in Chicago that summer. 'I can't ride,' I told them. 'That's okay, we'll teach you.' So in the summer of 1984 I started my career as a professional jouster. A few years later, I was asked to take over the managing duties of the company, and I formed "International Action Theatre". We had three companies of men, with four to six horses each - touring the country all year long. In addition to renaissance festivals, we did Wild West shows and stunt work for films and theme parks.

In 1994, I officially retired from the renaissance festival circuit. I have focused on my filmmaking and screenwriting endeavors for the most part since then, though I did manage to merge my two interests in 2005, when I produced my award winning documentary American Jouster.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at home when I got a text from a friend. It was a jpg, and I couldn't quite make out the image. I handed my phone to my son, and he squinted at it saying, 'It looks like YOU! Yeah, I think it is you, on a poster or maybe a book cover ... Fall of Thrones? No, the Fall of THANES?'

I downloaded a larger image from your website, and couldn't for the life of me remember where the photo came from. I know I didn't pose specifically FOR the cover, so the photo had to be an old one. I began to scour my hard drives, trying to match the shot on the cover with something I might have on hand.

Bingo! In 2005, I responded to a call from a student filmmaker, John Joynert, who was working on his senior thesis film. It was called Pro Meus Rex - and the story centered on two live chess pieces who meet in a fantasy forest setting to battle it out. I played The Black Knight and another actor played The White Pawn. During that shoot, unit photographer Ron Koeberer took a number of still photos (Ron does amazing work, and you can view some of his shots at www.koberfoto.com). It turns out that Ron had listed a few shots from Pro Meus Rex with stock photo companies online. Apparently whoever did the layout for the cover of Fall of Thanes licensed the image through one of the stock agencies.

And that is how I wound up on the cover of Fall of Thanes.

BR: Given that you started out as a classically trained fencer, to an outsider like me it looks like a pretty radical shift in weaponry and fighting style when you get into the medieval end of things: possibly in my ignorance, I imagine much less finesse and much more brute force being involved. To what extent are skills or instincts or techniques transferable between the fencing and the medieval side of things?

RA: "Mixed Martial Arts" is a very popular form of sport entertainment right now. You see fighters combining different skill sets from different martial arts training against competitors with other skill sets. This is possible, primarily because the main component is the same for all martial arts - The Human Body.

In terms of using a blade - the target is the same regardless of era - the weapon has a point and/or edge. The human body moves the same regardless of era. What changes are the tactical applications of point and edge - especially in response to terrain and armor. So it really was just a matter of understanding what the weapon was designed for, and what the target area was supposed to be. Probably the most difficult of the medieval weapons to master (for me personally) was the flail - damned unpredictable rebound. And of course, getting used to wearing armor and the limited visibility of a helm.

BR: I'm fascinated by the practicalities of this whole business. The horses in the jousts, for instance. How much specialised training is needed to get a horse to do what you need it to do? Can any horse be suitable, or only those with particular physical or mental attributes?

RA: We have always selected horses primarily for their temperment. They have to be sound of course, and capable of supporting the armored rider. (Rule of thumb - a sound working horse can carry/work with one third of it's own body weight ... this is a 'rule of thumb' - not a hard and fast law). Breed was not as important as temperment. We 'auditioned' horses by asking them to do a specific set of drills. Such things as passing another horse, riding with flags, riding close to/at a man on the ground. The horse didn't have to perform well, it just had to show an aptitiude to be trainable. We didn't always have the luxury of time in training horses.


BR: There must be risks involved, no matter how skilled and practised someone is. Have you ever been injured yourself or - and I suspect this might be even more alarming - inadvertently injured someone else?

RA: Bumps and bruises happen every time you fall off a horse, and we did scheduled falls in every show - so sure, people got bumps, bruises, scrapes and the occasional dislocation or break. In stage combat - you can generally expect to get the odd scraped knuckle and bruise from your partner - but you really do train hard for safety's sake.

I've probably given my share of knicked fingers, and clipped hands - but I don't keep track of those any more than I keep track of the ones I've recieved. It's part of the game. My own worst personal injury came fom a 'knee to knee' collision in a cantering pass with another rider. We were NOT armored - this is the same sort of injury one typically gets in playing polo.

BR: I know you played a specific character during your jousting career - Sir Richard, Early of Greyhame. Is this name just an identifying badge, or did you have personalities (good guys and bad guys!), plots and backstories developed for the characters you all played? I guess I'm interested in how much of this is theatre - complete with fictional narrative - and how much is demonstration, stunt show, sport etc.

RA: The character I portrayed "Sir Richard - The Earl of Greyhame" was usually a bad guy. Tall dark and bearded - yeah, I looked the part. And lets face it, it's more fun to be the bad guy! Our shows were carefully choreographed, and scripted. There was always room to ad-lib lines with the court and each other, but we all knew where we were going, and what was supposed to happen on the field.

In the jousting business you will sometimes hear the distinction made that a particular company does 'Theatrical Jousting' while another company does 'Sport Jousting'. What this usually comes down to is whether or not the hits delivered during the joust passes are choreographed or spontaneous.

In a theatrical joust the hits are planned, usually a specific number of hits, with a 'dismount' at the end. This is a running, full speed fall. The fall is followed with horse to ground combat - and another dismount - followed by ground combat and possibly a bloody 'kill'. (Depending on the philosophy of the company and/or the faire regarding kills and blood).

In a 'full contact' or 'sport joust' show the jousters are trying to unhorse each other. Again, there is usually a prescribed number of passes. They may or may not succeed in unhorsing their opponent. They may hit, or miss. There may or may not be a fall. After which, they will usually give a demonstration of combat that may or may not be choreographed.

Understand, the EXACT SAME SKILLS are needed in either version of the show. You MUST be able to controll your lance to hit a target, and control your horse. You must have an excellent seat to maintain or deliver a hit. THE HORSES DON'T KNOW if the combat is real, or 'choreographed'. They are being asked to perform the same tasks either way.

BR: Given your professional involvement in film and media, have you got any particular favourite movies set in the medieval or renaissance eras, either in terms of entertainment value or the vividness or accuracy with which they capture those eras? How about books, fiction or non-fiction?

RA: My favorite fight choreographer has got to be William Hobbs. (A Brit as it happens). His best films in no particular order - Robin and Marion - the end fight between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw as the aging Robin and Sherriff is a classic (One of my all time favorite films too). The Three and Four Musketeers - Dick Lester's version - shot as one film but released as two, starring Michael York as D'Artagnan and Oliver Reed as Athos. Still some of the best rapier work on film. The Duellists - Ridley Scott's first feature film - and the film that turned me into a Napoleonic Era buff. Excellent smaill sword and sabre work - and the best film ever for capturing the gut-wrenching terror of personal conflict. All these films are William Hobbs work. (He also did Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet and the latest Count of Monte Christo and Man in the Iron Mask - so yeah, if his name's on it, I'll watch it).

Best written description of the mindset and action of a duel ... for my money, is the final duel between Oscar and The Eater of Souls in R. A. Heinlein's Glory Road. Of course, Heinlein was a sabre fencer - and it shows.

For just plain fun, and insider's reference - The Princess Bride - the book and the film, with their reference to actual period fencing masters and books. The fight in the film is also extremely well done - in the classic Old School Hollywood tradition.

As for recommended reading - one should read the actual period fencing manuals. Many are now available on-line. (Back in my day, you had to got to a real library, and check out the books IF you could find them).

BR: Thanks, Richard. I'm very grateful to you for taking the time to satisfy my curiosity! And to round things off, a nice clip of Richard talking about his film American Jouster, and the life of a touring knight:

Director's Statement for AMERICAN JOUSTER


And here's the short, but great fun, trailer for American Jouster:

American Jouster


You can also see a promo video for Noble Causes Productions - a company Richard rode with in 2006/7 - here. It's a fun little watch, too.

Thanks again, Richard. It's been an education.

Labels: Clips, Covers, Fall of Thanes, History, Interviews

Sometimes it's hard not to be a bit despondent about the way bookselling is going. Latest manifestation of the increasingly uphill slog bookstores are facing in the UK is that Borders UK seems to be heading for the exit. (Not the same company, incidentally, as Borders in the US, which is having it's own possibly even more severe problems). I know this is just the market doing what it does, and I know online book sales, and the brutal discounting of best-sellers in supermarkets, and eventually - even in the laggardly UK - the rise of e-books all have their pluses for the consumer, but it still feels regrettable that it's becoming so difficult for even those with some scale on their side to make money out of bricks and mortars bookstores. I can't help but think that the domination of the mass bookselling market - online and offline - by so few players is not going to prove an unreservedly good thing (to put it mildly) for either readers or authors in the long run.

On a more cheery subject, one of the entirely unpredictable amusements the internet offers is provided by the mindless working away of the automatic translation gremlins. Latest manifestation I've noticed is a version of an sf signal mind meld I was involved in the other day, on the subject of gloominess in sf. It's clearly been translated into French and then back into English again, with the results that I apparently said, amongst many other similarly weird things:

The unhurt put candid, in its chichi quieten, is a youngster of the 20th century

When writers are more interested in how lavish shades of bloodless they can reproof up with than in hellish and unblemished, you inevitably aim up with a more less rose-tinted phantom of charitable possibilities.

There seems to be some kind of poetic, profound wisdom hiding in there somewhere: much more poetic and profound than what I said in the original interview. Perhaps I should put all my answers through a couple of rounds of online translation before submitting them in future?

And finally, I was pleased to discover that one of my favourites amongst the innumerable cgi shorts that show up on the internet these days is moving towards expansion into a full movie. Here's the original short, a fun slice of sf:

Labels: Interviews, Movies, Translations

The book giveaway is over at BookGeeks: enter a draw to win not only a full set of my Godless World trilogy, but also a full set of Sean Williams' Astropolis trilogy. Closing date is 6th June, but note it's only open to UK residents. Sorry all you overseas types.

The new blog is Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics, which is the brainchild of Andy Remic, and promises to be a seriously fun little corner of the sf/f/h webosphere. Not such a little corner, in fact, when you look at the long and still growing list of authors involved (including me, which I hope won't spoil things too much). Lots of info on what to expect can be found over there, but the 'SFFE Mission' puts it pretty clearly:

Our mission is to celebrate everything positive, funky and exciting in the Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Universe.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Labels: Giveaways

There is, however, something to see over at Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews, where I've hijacked the blog briefly to make a guest post.

Labels: Writing

Item 1: First winner of the Facebook signed Fall of Thanes giveaway has been duly selected. One more chance to win - this coming Friday - so there's still time to sign up as a fan and thereby get yourself entered in the prize draw.

Item 2: According to this review of Fall of Thanes, it appears I might have made someone cry. Good. I mean that in the nicest possible way, obviously.

Item 3: I did an interview at a slightly more unusual venue than my usual online habitat of sf/f book blogs: Grinding to Valhalla, which as far as I can tell is a sort of mass interview site for mmo bloggers/podcasters. As a result, there's a little bit more in there about my gaming habits/history than is usually the case.

Item 4: And finally ... well I'm not really sure what to say about this (found via CBR), other than that I am at once strangely fascinated and strangely repelled:

Labels: Facebook, Fall of Thanes, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, Signing

So, the plan is this: everyone signed up as a fan on the Winterbirth page on Facebook gets entered into a couple of draws - one next Friday, the 8th, the second the following Friday, 15th - and the lucky winners get themselves a free signed, and optionally dedicated etc., hardback copy of Fall of Thanes shipped off in the post to them by my own fair hand. If you like the sound of that, and aren't already hooked up with the rest of the Godless World fans on Facebook, get yourself over there and join up.

Or, if you're allergic to social networking, or just want to short-circuit the system and be 100% certain of getting yourself a signed, personalised copy, get in touch with Transreal Fiction and tell them what you want (click on my name at top right of home page to see how it all works). It won't be free, but nor will your ownership of it be reliant on the whims of the gods of chance!

Oh, and for those who like these things, there's a fairly chunky extract from Fall of Thanes to be found here.

Labels: Extracts, Facebook, Fall of Thanes, Signing

I happen to know that a handful (albeit the kind of handful that might be contained in a Lilliputian hand) of Dutch folk have been known to pay an occasional visit to this blog. Hello Netherlanders! Because we're all about total service at this establishment, here's something just for you - and, I suppose, for anyone else with truly l33t language skillz - a Q&A (or K&K as it's apparently called over there) I did for a big Dutch book website: Ezzulia.

A whole load of other interesting people have also been interviewed there - at least I know some of them are usually interesting; whether they're interesting or not in this particular case, I can't be sure, since I don't read Dutch. Heck, I can't even be sure I was interesting, but there I am, chatting merrily away in a foreign language.

And in case anyone missed it in the comments on the previous post, first review has showed up for the previously mentioned Rage of the Behemoth anthology, over at the jolly good Grasping for the Wind blog. Modesty prevents me from pointing out which of the stories gets the biggest thumbs up. No, really. It does. Big bully, that modesty stuff.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews, Short Stories, Translations

One of the nicer surprises of last year for me was being asked to write short stories for a couple of anthologies. Makes you feel all kind of warm inside, that does. One of them is all done and dusted. It's called 'Beyond the Reach of His Gods', and will be found in Rage of the Behemoth from a little outfit called Rogue Blades Entertainment, due for publication at the start of June I believe.

No one, famously, gets rich from writing (or publishing, for that matter) short stories these days, so, much as any invitation to write a story is welcome for that aforementioned warm feeling it engenders, you kind of need some other reason to say 'yes'. In this case, I had the time to write something, I had been toying with the idea of trying to write some short stories anyway since I hadn't exercised those creative muscles in a while, and the premise for this anthology - heroic fantasy involving giant monsters - just struck me as a chance to have a bit of uncomplicated fun. Plus as soon as I heard that theme, the basic idea for the story popped into my head more or less fully formed, so it seemed a shame to ignore it.

The story is about ... well, it's pretty much about this:

Seems pretty clear, no? And yes, that's the main reason for this post: to show off the rather fine illustration that Johnney Perkins came up with for my story. Surely nobody could look at that image and not think 'Why, yes. That story's got to be some kind of fun, in a serpent-hero-jungle mash-up kind of way'? Nice work by the artist, and should you so wish you can actually buy the anthology with this image as the cover art from the Rogue Blades website. Whatever your taste in cover art, if doughty heroes and gargantuan monsters sounds like your kind of thing, why not give the book a try?

Labels: Books, Short Stories

I am not a Twitterer. Not yet, anyway, and probably not soon. Maybe not ever, since I seriously doubt I have the staying power to turn out a regular stream of tweets, or twits, or twitters or whatever they're called. But if I was on Twitter, things I might have Twittered in the last few days:

- Aren't staples brilliant? Man, I wish I'd invented staples. That would have been a life well spent.

- Finished Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft. Is good.

- Seen some old X-Files recently. Also some old Friends. Thought the latter has aged far better than the former. What does this say about me?

- Sunshine! Sunshine! I almost felt warm just now. Every winter, I forget how good that feels.

- How to tell something (i.e. Twitter) is about to head down the far side of the cool parabola: I start thinking 'Hmmm. Maybe I should get me some of that action.'

Me, I have other means than the 140 character outpourings of countless Twitter pros to amuse myself online. Amongst them is googling the phrase 'crushing the frantic penguins'. I've been doing it on and off ever since I first stumbled upon this means of trawling the depths of the internet for oddities last August. Strange behaviour, you say? Well, I'm not going to argue.

Anyway, I thought it was about time I shared my findings. Because I just know the world has been eagerly waiting to hear what new waymarkers have appeared on the virtual trail of once frantic, now flattened penguins since last we checked. And the answer is:

the complete text of the rather good HP Lovercraft story in which the noble phrase first appeared. (Specifically, it turns out, in Chapter 11 of said story).

a Lovecraftian monstrosity made of batteries. Like it.

an entire range of perfumes based on the works of HP Lovercraft. No, really. Call me unimaginative, but wouldn't have occurred to me as an obvious source of perfumey inspiration, but the one relating to crushed penguins - Shoggoth - does actually sound quite nice: peony, lemongrass, coconut, lime etc. If they'd included 'essence of dead flightless birds' as an ingredient, I might have been tempted.

Labels: Comics, Crushed Penguins, TV

Talking about e-books (I did mention the one dollar Winterbirth e-book, didn't I?), a few other fragments of the discussion about the technology that have come to light recently:

Orbit's own Tim Holman talks at some length about e-books on the Dragon Page podcast. It's well worth a listen. Anyone who doubts that publishers are expending a lot of precious brain time on this whole area will quickly be disabused of such notions. Anyone who thinks publishers actually know what's going to come of all the changes infiltrating the industry will be similarly disabused. But knowing isn't what's important; preparing flexibly and imaginatively for unpredictable change, and being willing to try stuff and see what works, is what's important. I think.

Another publisher - this time a new one, Angry Robot Books - wants to know how much an e-book is worth to you, the reader. It's not a brilliantly designed survey (says he huffily, knowing only just enough about survey design to make him wildly over-confident and huffy), but the basic question is obviously at the heart of where this technology is going. And it's a tough one to find a fair answer too.

Just how tough is evidenced by ... the 9.99 e-book boycott on Amazon. At the time of writing, irritated readers have now tagged over 800 e-books on Amazon.com as being unjustifiably expensive. Not an unreasonable sort of price point for the protestors to settle upon, you might think (and I sort of agree), but check out the commenters on that original GalleyCat post. Not everyone is onboard, and there's no doubt the situation is not as clear-cut as a lot of the protestors probably think.

This one's going to run and run and run. The tough questions certainly aren't going to go away, indeed I suspect they're only going to get tougher as time and technology advance. I have no clue what the publishing industry and the world's reading habits are going to look like twenty years from now. I remain somewhat unconvinced that anybody else does either, and I still think all the amazing opportunities opening up before us are balanced by definite risks in the medium term. Which makes it all jolly interesting, if nothing else.

And mildy related: by coincidence I had two folk e-mail me this week asking, in their different ways, whether an audio version of the Godless World trilogy was available, or ever likely to be. Short answer is that such a thing doesn't exist at the moment, and as far as I know isn't likely. I'm almost certain - I could check my contract to be absolutely sure, of course, but it's filed away, I'm feeling lazy right now and I expect someone will correct me if I'm wrong - that the rights to such a version reside with Orbit, so they are probably the people to ask about it, if there's an army of you out there craving Wintebrirth in your ears.

Labels: ebooks, Orbit, Podcasts