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By the sword...





I wanted a few "big fight" scenes in Bridge of Souls but I wanted to make them different from those we see in most action adventures. After 35 years of experience practicing and studying various martial arts I believe the best action is where two radically different styles clash. It allows the reader to understand and experience divergent approaches to dealing with combat.

In Bridge of Souls I made a conscious effort to include a series of different action sequences that included a wide range of different weapons and different close quarter combat scenarios.

In the classic sword combat set piece I thought about the question that I used to get asked all the time by students when I was teaching Japanese Sword techniques..

Who would win a match between two equally skilled fencing masters, one skilled in European 16th century techniques, the other in Japanese 16th century weapons and techniques.

Katana verses Rapier.


Classic Katana By CT Snow from Hsinchu, Taiwan - Tokyo National Museum at UenoUploaded by bamse, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8755516
Classic Rapier by Wendelin Boeheim. Handbuch der Waffenkunde. Das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwicklung vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis zum Ende des 18 Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1890, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6553152


To make it more interesting, in Bridge of Souls the clash between fencing styles and masters is to the death.

Experience the way of the sword in the epic adventure Bridge of Souls.

Click here to read free extracts from Bridge of Souls

#BridgeOfSouls #Sword #MartialArts

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