Books read in 2015: No. 29 -- Demon's Night

by Guido Henkel

Started: Oct. 28
Finished: Oct. 30

Notes: With Halloween in a few days, I thought I'd turn to some darker material. I have not read this author before.

Mini review: A 19th Century private detective (of sorts) finds himself teaming up with a Chinese martial arts master to tackle a demon stalking the streets of London. Didn't this one star Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson? Just kidding. The writing here is pretty good, though it does show signs of inexperience. The story itself is interesting enough to keep me reading, and the ending is strong without being fully expected. Not bad.

At Nerdarchy: Armored Instinct

This week over at Nerdarchy, I interview Andrew Dunn and Kyle Roberts, the founders of Armored Instinct, a new armored combat sports organization that plans to have its first bout next month.

Books read in 2015: No. 28 - The Medieval Longsword (Mastering the Art of Arms, Volume Two)

by Guy Windsor

Started: Oct. 20
Finished: Oct. 27

Notes: This book is apparently a more up-to-date training manual for the longsword than the one I read earlier this year from the author, with more historical research having been done. If you're wondering why this is a "volume 2," it's because the first volume focuses upon the dagger, a subject which I'm not ready to tackle at the moment.

Mini review: As with the Windsor book I had read earlier, the focus here is upon the Italian tradition, mainly from the 14th-15th Century fencing master Fiore. I've come to the conclusion that I might prefer to study the German longsword tradition, mainly because I'm thinking the Fiore tradition focuses more upon wrestling and holds than I would prefer. That being said, Fiore should definitely be studied by longsword fencers as he offers some unique moves, especially blows that might catch the unfamiliar off guard. My next studies will probably be in the German tradition, and from there I will decide which general school I will stick with.

At Nerdarchy: Afraid you're a bad dungeon master? Do it anyway

This week my Nerdarchy article offers basic some advice to dungeon masters and game masters for tabletop role playing games.

Books read in 2015: No. 27 -- Devil's Lair

by David Wisehart

Started: Oct. 12
Finished: Oct. 20

Notes: It's time to get back to some fiction reading, so I thought I'd ease myself in with this historical novel that kicks off in 1349 A.D.

Mini review: Not a bad book. Not great, but not bad. There were a few signs of a lesser experienced writer, such as numerous passive sentences, but over all the writing was easy to read though still with a good vocabulary. Not an action-oriented novel, the intrigue helped with the flow of this tale about a group of adventurers (sort of) who follow Dante's footsteps on a quest into Hell itself. Those who are fans of Dante and Medieval history will likely find some things to like here.

At Nerdarchy: Duke University houses gaming collection

My Nerdarchy article for this week takes a brief look at the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Pulp Culture at Duke University. This collection has thousands of comic books, role playing games, card games, memorabilia, etc.

Books read in 2015: No. 26 -- Stray Bullets, Volume One: Innocence of Nihilism

by David Lapham

Started: Oct. 10
Finished: Oct. 12

Notes: Back in the '90s when indie comic books came into their own, I followed this one, Stray Bullets, for some little while. I remember it being a great noir story told across multiple timelines with some goofballness to it. Well, I ran across this collection of the first half dozen or so issues, and thought I'd check it out again, especially as I've been reading so much serious non-fiction of late and needed something of a break from it.

Mini review: Fine writing, but not quite as good as I remember, though I'm now looking at this tale with the eyes of a 40-something instead of a 20-something. The oddball aspects still worked for me, though sometimes I felt they streamed over into melodrama, sort of trying to be cool just for the sake of it. Also, whereas I had remembered these stories as flying along, now they seemed a bit slow to me; maybe that's because of my having read this before, or perhaps it shows my level of attention now in the Internet age. Still, over all, yeah, I could recommend this. Anyone wanting to get into some noir comics, this would be a great place to start, but be prepared for adult material.