March 13th, 2010
I received a press release about an interesting new book that is coming out in July
Here is the release:
“I’ll be honest, I see a lot of people join because their real life sucks. You can come here and be anybody.”
–Lord Duncan the Monster
Whether they’re bored office stiffs, housewives, or disgruntled war vets, the armor-clad members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) like to get beat up the old-fashioned way. Boasting more than 30,000 members worldwide, and over 16 “Kingdoms” in the United States alone, the eclectic eccentrics of the SCA participate in a variety of rigorous medieval battle simulations. Suburban Knights is a series of portraits of these 21st-century warriors, in costume and in character as their knightly alter egos.
From 2003 to 2005, internationally renowned photographer E. F. Kitchen photographed and interviewed the fighters of the SCA on location at their battles. Kitchen’s unique approach dispensed with technologically sophisticated cameras, and she instead used a tripod-mounted, 8×10 bellows camera with exclusively handmade and antique lenses. The results are appropriately hoary, sepia-tone images of these fierce warriors lost in time.
Suburban knights willfully escape from the 21st-century and into the realm of the SCA, where one can come face to face with the formidable armor and lance of a knight calling himself “Nissan Maxima.” Warriors are icons for an idealistic code of behavior extolling power and virtue. The men and women of the SCA capture a bit of this past glory for themselves, and while a majority of the portraits obscure the faces of these knights, under their thick armor, their features couldn’t be made clearer.
E.F. Kitchen’s photographs are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art among others. Her work has been published in books including The Greatest Alum Covers That Never Were (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 2003), and Flora Photographica (Simon & Schuster, 1991), as well as periodicals such as the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Angeles Magazine, and View Camera. She is based in Venice, CA.
Leo Braudy is a professor, and the author of From Chivalry to Terrorism (Vintage, 2005), and The Frenzy of Renown (Vintage, 1997), among other books. He is also the coeditor of the Film Theory and Criticism anthology. His most recent book is On the Waterfront (British Film Institute, 2008) in the BFI Film Classics series, and he is currently working on a book about the intertwined history of Hollywood and the Hollywood sign
This book is available for pre-order on Amazon.com: Suburban Knights: A Return to the Middle Ages (Powerhouse Books)
Posted in Books, Castles/Medieval, role playing, SCA | No Comments »
November 28th, 2009
I have spent the past couple of days working on the medieval website and have added a lot of things.
These things include:
All in all I have done a lot of work on the medieval websites in the past couple of days! Buzz on over and take a peek: All Things Medieval
Also, if you are a mead maker I have made a couple of additions to the mead making website which include Mugs, Goblets and wine glasses for mead drinking.
So, what else have I been up to?
Lot of stuff going on with me and I am still on track to finish my next novel (The Left Handed Sword) by the end of this calendar year. I am also quite a bit done with a new book on how to make fantasy dioramas. Lot of it complete but I am not sure when it will be published. I also am working on a how to make mead book. Lots of fun stuff coming 
Posted in By Will Kalif, Books, Websites, Medieval Weapons, Medieval, mead | No Comments »
October 9th, 2009
Occasionally I will post information about David Farland’s Runelords series. Mostly because there has been a lot of ups and downs about the movie. As far as I can tell by reading the official Runelords website the movie project is currently “in statis”. Yeck, anyway what brought me around to thinking about this is the upcoming release of the eight novel in the Runelords series (Chaosbound). It is scheduled to be released on Amazon.com on Oct 13th. Chaosbound: The Eighth Book of the Runelords
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September 27th, 2009
English Castles 1200-1300 (Fortress)
The 13th Century is probably the most interesting period of time in the development of medieval castles as fortresses. It was a period of much activity and it is often considered to be the zenith of the whole castle development history. The end of this century was when William Wallace lived (of Braveheart fame) who was executed in 1301 which pretty much denoted the end of the whole period. During this time there weren’t a whole lot of new castles built. Rather, many of the existing wooden, and motte and bailey castles were upgraded, rebuilt, restored and reinforced. Often upgraded from wood to stone and with sophisticated improvements such as gatehouses, concentric rings of defense, the barbican, circular towers and moats. It was during this time that these improvements in defense were created and instituted into castles.It is also during this time that the role of the fortress changed from a fortification against attack to a place where royalty and others actually lived. This period saw the development of living quarters, gardens and other things that made it a place that could also be comfortably lived in during times of peace.
What’s in the book
This is a small book with only 64 pages but it is very informative and chock full of wonderful information about castles and castle building during this period of time. It has a lot of wonderful pictures and quite a few amazing illustrations that show castle development and castle floor plans. There is also a wonderful list at the end of the book that describes the castles of the period that are still standing (or partially standing) today. With information about where they are if you want to visit them.Castle development was a very expensive and time consuming affair and it is something that the rich and powerful kings, lords and dukes undertook at great expense and the book also takes a look at this aspect of the process . There is a lot of information about the powerful leaders of the time and how they went about consolidating their power and building their castles. And although this part of the history of castles is not particularly interesting to me it was a very important part of the process and it determined a lot of what actually happened during the century.
If you are a big fan of medieval castles this book is a must have. It covers all of the aspects of the development of the fortress during the most important century of their timeline. It covers finances, architecture, the major figures and all of the major castles of the time. It takes a look at how the castles was changed and upgraded for peace, for war and for living arrangements.
This book is available on Amazon.com English Castles 1200-1300 (Fortress)
If you love Medieval Castles check out my website: Medieval Castles
Posted in By Will Kalif, Books, Castles/Medieval, Medieval, Historical, Reviews | No Comments »
and the latest installment in Rick Riordan’s Olympian series entitled 
. You can see the complete list here: 
