michaelsbagley

I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions about good novels to read, historical, historically influed (historic fiction), or even just good works of entertaining pure fiction. I've recently read Dudly Pope's "Buccanner", and found it to be pretty decent, and I have discovered that there are two more books that foolow it, and was wondering if they are worth tracking down. Today I bought "The Pirate's Round" by James L. Nelson, and when I opened the front cover after getting it home, I found that it is the third in a series. I got it at a used book store, so I am not terribly crushed about it, but I would like to know if the first two books are worth getting so I can read the whole series. I know this is a fairly subjective line of questioning, but if enough people drop their own opinions, I might be able to better guess as to whether it is worth reading more from these authors, or if there are other really good reads out there that I should persue. Thanks for any and all input!

Hi all, I'm still a little new to this forum, but I am an old hat at stage combat, someone in this string of posts recomended Armour Class swords as a great stage combat sword... An I have to give a great big "hell yeah" to Armour Class swords, they do custom work, but it takes forever to order from them, some former acquaintences of mine had to wait almost 9 months for their orders. Ultimately for stage combat with lots of blade on blade contact, a dulled blade and a rounded tip are ideal for safety reasons, also spring steel is best, as it offers the strength to hold up to blade on blade contact, and yet the flexibility and spring needed to look and act in a realistic manner. A good temper is paramount to this! But a proper metal worker or swords smith could explain that a ton better than I could. Stainless steel should be avoided like the plague, as it is generally brittle for steel, and does not hold up well... High carbon steels (most of them anyway), also tend to be (but not always) more brittel as well, and should be avoided. Someone mentioned earlier in this chain of posts "How come"fighting" swords all look so crude? Soft steel thats bulky and have no cling sound when they hit? Did pirates carry mushy swords so they would't get a ding in em'?" My answer to this would be (and this is my opinion only), fighting swords tend to be crude and basic to help keep them strong... fancy tends to equate to delicate, and delicate tends to lead to fragile.... And from what I have seen, most historic swords (which the functional blades tend to be based more on) tended to be more plain than your fancy LoTR or other more fantasy based leaf shaped blades etc. As for dings in the blade, notches in the blade are a safety hazzard for theatrical combatants, as notches turn a relatively safe dull blade into a semi sharp saw blade... Not cool when you are just trying to look like you are killing each other rather than actually trying to kill each other. This is also why most theatrical combatants avoid using alluminum swords, as alluminum notches too easily, and becomes a safety hazzard in a real rush. For those that do medieval stuff that wear armour, alluminum is less of a problem, but I would not want either my skin or my clothes/garb to fall prey to the ravages of a nicked alluminum blade, and pirates don't look roght in too much armour. Hope this information/opinions comes as useful to someone...

Bonjour mes ami et amie, I've recently moved from Toronto, Ontario (oui, that is in Canada, eh) ... I have moved to Columbus, Ohio, and would like to sign on with a crew. I would prefer one based in central Ohio, but I am not adverse to travelling to neighboring states (PA, MI are the states I am most famliar with). Currently my Pirate accoutrements are more of the "theatrical" variety, but I have more experience with Historic re-enactment, and tend to gravitate more to "authenticity minded" peoples. I am not adverse to the notion of joining a more "fun oriented" crew though. To see a few pictures of my as a pirate (although I prefer to refer to myself as privateer), you can view my pics at mySpace... mySpace Merci beaucoup, in advance.