Book Recommendation: Inhale

I wanted to recommend a book that is coming out in a month. May 1st the first book in the Just Breathe trilogy will be released on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other sources I'm guessing. I don't do a lot of book recommendations, and I keep wanting to do more, but I always end up researching weapons instead. But here is one today. Add it to your wishlists or whatever you have (To-Read List on Goodreads) and enjoy!

Inhale by Kendall Grey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’m floored. I am not a big fan of romances but I am really getting into urban fantasies. This book was more than I expected it to be, and believe it or not, I had high expectations. That said, no book is for everyone, and Inhale was not my usual taste, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It flowed smoothly, was written very beautifully and it was obviously edited professionally. This book isn’t just a well put together novel by an Indie writer; it was well put together for a traditionally published novel. If you’ve read my reviews in the past, I don’t knock the rating down for editing, but I’ll always point it out. I had no complaints whatsoever with the editing in Inhale.

Weapons & Warriors: The Longsword and Seaxe of the Norsemen

Despite some artists’ vision, the Norsemen did not wield giant swords. Those heavy Claymores were more popular among the Scotts across the sea. In fact, the Norseman rarely used a sword, since it was very expensive and difficult to forge. Most Norse, who did carry a sword, had to find a proper blacksmith to have their weapon created. Not all blacksmiths had learned the art of sword making. Making a blade in the times of the Norsemen Age was a long process that could take around a month and cost a lot of money, more than the common Norseman could afford.

Norsemen considered the sword a sign of wealth and success, or a descendant of someone wealthy or powerful. This is one of the few weapons that were handed down from generation to generation. An inherited sword was not always an immediately useable gift as it might have been well used already and required some repair. If the blade was recovered from a battlefield or duel it was most likely damaged. Those in power were often challenged by others who wanted their position in society, and a duel was often an answer to such a challenge. 

The Norse respected strength and skill in combat above all. So winning a duel was an acceptable way of working out an agreement. This carried over into more petty things such as who had the right to marry a certain woman or if a man wanted to cut a tree on his land, but his neighbor claimed it was his tree. Nothing is more final than a fight to the death. That may sound extreme, but keep in mind, most Norsemen wanted to die fighting so they could go to Valhalla. Dying of old age was considered an embarrassment.

There were two swords used by the Norsemen. The most common sword was the double edged longsword, which had a thin triangle shaped blade that was around 3 feet in length. It was most often used with a round wooden shield. Most swords in Europe in this age did not have a cross guard to protect the hand from enemy blades sliding down on the fingers.

Many of the swords made in the later ages of the Norse were marked on the blade. A change in the types of steel and iron used allowed for this that the previous metals did not. The older versions included iron with the steel which was twisted together at very high temperatures and then flattened and sharpened. The newer metal was stronger steel, so that marking into the metal did not weaken the blade as it would have with previous designs. Norse spent a lot of time crafting the elaborate hilts and often named the sword once it was complete.

The Seaxe is equally as long, but generally has a thicker blade and is only sharp on one side. The exact thickness varied and the Seaxe resembled anything from a long machete to a cleaver. The Seaxe was more common on the longships because they made excellent blades for cutting ropes as well as removing an enemy’s limbs in combat. All practical warriors enjoy multipurpose tools. 

Modi, was the Norsemen God of Rage and was often envisioned with a sword. One of the reasons Norsemen were called savage barbarians by outsiders was the seemingly fearless rage that some of these warriors seem to present on the battlefield. There were myths and legends of these Berserkers. There is no shortage of stories about a warrior who would charge into the enemy line with the strength of ten men and swing his weapons wildly. He could ignore all injuries that were inflicted upon him until he was dead, or everyone else was. 

In reality, this berserker rage is just a legend. It is not unlikely that a few of the Norsemen would throw themselves onto an enemy line and swing their sword like a crazed madman, but that reflects their religious beliefs more than some mysterious rage induced berserk. However, most legends and myths have some basis to something that was real. With one of the members of their pantheon being a God of Rage, it is likely that some Norsemen pushed their adrenaline and rage over the top and went mad in battle as a tribute to their God. I’m not an expert on that matter, but it sounds like a possibility.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Weapons and Warriors, click here to view the entire catalog of weapons and cultures. Thank you, see you next week.

Weapons & Warriors: Legend of the Norsemen

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

When most people think of Vikings, they picture a giant man with flowing blond hair, braided beard, and piercing blue eyes. They see them with a horned steel cap and chain mail armor with fur pushing out from underneath. Giant warriors charging into battle wielding a big wooden shield and sword or a giant axe that can’t be held with less than two hands. Some of the more popular with the female are the shirtless ones, but I can guarantee you that none of those men had hairless chiseled chests, and were rarely topless unless they were jumping in a hot spring.

The Norsemen never referred to themselves as Vikings. Viking is something they did. They were not Vikings. They were Norsemen who went Viking. Again, mythology has mystified the Norsemen into raiding and pillaging barbarians when they went on these Viking expeditions, but that was not always the case.

The Norsemen colonized a lot of locations that most other Europeans had no interest in or did not know existed. They explored as far as the northern eastern regions of North America and around Africa and as far as New Zealand hundreds of years before any other Europeans. So yes it’s true, Columbus didn’t really discover America, he rediscovered it.

Trade was also a major source of income for the Norsemen who traveled further than most people of other cultures with their swift and agile ships. These ships were shallow enough for rowing up rivers, strong enough for sailing the oceans and light enough to pull across land from one water system to a completely new one. There wasn’t a place that the Norsemen couldn't reach and they traded often throughout their journey, as long as their reputation didn’t scare away the business.

Write to the Death!

Some of you may know already, but for those who have not heard, my computer was attacked yesterday by a virus. It was a nasty one, real nasty, like the little growly ankle biter dog that gets your calf as soon as you laugh at its diminutive size and turn your back on it. The kind you want to take a shower after dealing with. Or stab yourself in the face for not backing up your work more frequently. Ok, so I don’t really want to stab myself in the face, not only would that hurt, but it would make it difficult to write with my brain pain split open. Don’t worry, my calf will heal, I have thick skin.

Long story short, I spent hours battling the virus to save all of my work, which included the Weapons Weekly blogs I had written for the next few weeks. So this week, I will be very late, if I post a Weapons Weekly at all. I did not win the battle and in the end, I killed the virus, but he took every one of my documents with him. All of the blogs will have to be rewritten and researched.

If not for having two flash drives that I stored a few things on previously, it would have been a total loss. The last thing I want to do is go back to square one on writing Devil Dog. It was 348 pages before today. The backed up copy is only 311, but that not too bad. I’ll have that fixed in no time. The biggest loss was losing all of my work on Devil Dog 2 and mostly everything on the Warlord.

Weapons & Warriors: The Macuahuitl of the Aztec

This weapon was also known as the Hungry Wood. At first glance the Macuahuitl looked like a frightening club, but as the conquistadors wrote in their reports after encounters with the Aztec warriors, it was discovered to be the Aztec version of a sword. The obsidian shards that lined each side of the wood was sharp enough to create a sawing style weapon that was capable of removing a man’s head without much more effort than a sword would.

Art by TL Jeffcoat

The Macuahuitl was anywhere from three to four feet in length and about three inches wide and flat. The edges contained grooves where razor sharp pieces of obsidian and flint were fit into and attached with a strong adhesive. There are accounts of a two handed version of this weapon with a longer handle and as long as five and half feet. The rows of obsidian were never consistent from one weapon to the other. Some were lined tightly to create a solid edge while others spaced out the shards and making it appear as jagged teeth.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bushidō of the Samurai

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Way of the Warrior Knight. That is what Bushidō means. It is the code that a Samurai lived by, and if he was honorable, he died by it as well. Some could say it was a form of chivalry, and there are quite a few similarities. Like the Knights of Europe, the Samurai were extensions of the government, nobles in their own right, allowed to deal justice when necessary and known to command troops when capable. Unlike the Knight of Europe, where title and victory in battle were often sought after, the Samurai balanced his violent lifestyle with wisdom and extreme discipline. Riches and status were not his goal.

Bushidō requires that all Samurai must be loyal to the death to whoever they serve. They must remain honorable even when they are about to die. Don’t bother interrogating a Samurai because he would rather die a horrible painful death than dishonor himself. They were trained at birth to be loyal, deadly and practical. They would shed their own blood if they dishonored themselves.

 
Surprisingly, there was no written or spoken code for Bushidō. It was more of a creation of beliefs that evolved over generations of military families. As the child was born, he was destined to be Samurai, and started training as soon as he could walk and understand his lessons. After centuries of families training children in this manner, there was never a need to create a written reference to what the code actually was, it was just naturally accepted and known. It wasn’t until later when historians tried to search out its roots that Bushidō was even named.

Weapons & Warriors: The Tessen of the Samurai

Art by TL Jeffcoat

You Mortal Kombat fans have seen this used by the ninja Kitana, but what you may not know is that this is not a purely fictional device. These specially designed fans were made with iron spikes and were very popular tools among Samurai and many others in Feudal Japan who were able to afford them.

The Tessen was designed to appear as an everyday fan used for cooling off. Instead of wood or paper panels, it was made with thin strips of iron, which were then sharpened. The fan could be folded up to hide its deadly nature and carried around without anyone knowing its true identity. This comes in handy when a Samurai enters an area that swords are forbidden, such as another lord’s home in which he refuses to allow the Samurai inside while armed with his katana. With the Tessen, the Samurai remains armed, despite his host insisting otherwise.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kanabō of the Samurai

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Although the Katana and other smaller blades were the most famous and most common weapons a Samurai used, they weren’t the only weapons in his arsenal. The Kanabō was probably the heaviest of the weapons a Samurai trained in. This two handed monster varied in actual length and weight, but there were those made that were the length of a man and were heavy enough that when swung down in a chopping motion they were powerful enough to destroy what they hit.

The thick club-like shaft was usually made with a very strong heavy wood, and sometimes with iron. Then one end was studded with iron spheres. The studs were inserted in rows along the length of each side of the shaft. Once completed it looked like a giant baseball bat with iron balls lined along its length.

There is a saying in Japan that goes “Like giving a Kanabō to an Oni.” What is an Oni you ask? It is basically a mythological Japanese demon that was supposed to be very strong. Strong enough that artistic depictions of them often had them wielding the Kanabō with only one hand. So the saying basically means giving someone an advantage while they already had the best chance; never a good idea.

Weapons & Warriors: The Daishō of the Samurai

The word Daishō stands for big-little in Japanese and is often referenced towards the style of dual swords that Samurai wore. It was a combination of two swords known as a katana and a wakizashi, or in some cases the even smaller tantō, with matching designs. Most of you are probably familiar with the katana. It only happens to be one of the most famous weapons on Earth and is used in many forms of martial arts around the world. The popularity of this sword is not overblown due to symbolism and legends either. It is one of the most deadly swords ever designed. Lightweight and extremely strong, this blade is capable of literally cutting a man in two. In fact, many Samurai tested their katana after it was forged by executed a criminal. If the blade did not cut the man in two, he returned the sword to the smith, sometimes with murderous intentions. The Samurai took their katana very serious, their life depended on this sword, and a poor design could cost him his life.

Weapons & Warriors: The Ninja, The Truth of the Shinobi

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

They were once known as the Shinobi, but just saying the word Ninja usually makes people conjure images of ghostlike black clothed figures sneaking around and killing people without ever being seen. Believe it or not, that is the Hollywood ninja. The true Ninja is shrouded in mystery plenty enough by their own myths and legends that Hollywood has virtually deluded their existence to being magicians with weapons and martial arts. In reality, most ninja started out as farmers and labors. They made their weapons from the tools they used and learned martial arts from monks that had been influenced by Chinese refuges from generations before.

The victim of a real ninja probably looked right into the Ninja’s eyes as he died. More often than not, the Ninja would be so inconspicuous that they could waltz right up to their target and kill him without anyone realizing what was happening until he had already slipped away. They didn’t wear black pajamas. They wore what everyone else in the room was wearing. Blending in like a covert spy. Essentially, that’s what a Ninja really was, a spy who had been trained in sabotage, espionage, and assassination as well as combat.

Samurai were usually the enemies of the Ninja, and Samurai despised the Ninja who did not honor the Bushido code. A Samurai had to face his enemy and state his intentions before fighting honorably, even on a battlefield. A Ninja had no such limitations and because of this, Samurai were often known to hire local Ninja to sow chaos with their enemies and gain the edge without actually getting their own hands dirty and hurting their own honor.

Weapons & Warriors: The Shikomi of the Ninja

There were two forms of Shikomi used by Ninja, the Gatana and the Zue. Both were effective tools used to conceal a sword. The Ninja were well known for hauling around an extensive arsenal, but sometimes that was not always possible. For instance, while walking around in broad daylight among the public, a Ninja could not carry his swords without drawing attention. Or could he?

Once the technology to create thinner blades that wouldn’t break so easily was learned, the Ninja embraced it with a new weapon that was the most ingeniously disguised sword ever made. The Shikomi-Gatana was the more common of the two. When carried around by a Ninja who wanted to appear as a traveler or monk, it resembled a walking staff. A common tool used by many people both wealthy and poor. Once threatened or attacked, the Ninja would reveal the true nature of the staff. In reality, the staff was a scabbard that held a thin bladed sword, which could easily be drawn from one end.

This caught more than one enemy by surprise as the Ninja would often begin the fight using the staff as if it was what it appeared to be, but instead of swatting at the swordsman, he would deflect his sword, moving to the side and drawing his own sword hidden in the staff. Ninja trained well at these types of maneuvers and often cut down an opponent before they realized the Ninja ever had a sword at all.

Weapons & Warriors: The Ninjato of the Ninja

The greatest enemy to the Ninja was the Samurai. Ninja were not weak or poor swordsmen either but they were no match when they drew a katana to fight the masters of the warrior caste of Japan. Despite the vast array of weaponry that Ninja studied, they too studied the art of swordplay. They also mastered it and varied their style to counter that of the Samurai. However many historians believe that the Ninja adopted a shorter version of the katana instead of the bulkier length of the armored warriors. Samurai’s katana were a far superior quality of designed weapons than anything a Ninja could afford, and any Samurai who fell to a Ninja would certainly lose his precious blade to his slayer. Not all Ninja acquired a katana by theft or killing a Samurai, but it wasn’t unheard of. In fact, prying a katana from the bloodied hand of a Samurai was not only a wonderful prize, but an excellent reputation builder among the Ninja. Samurai did not give up their weapons while they still breathed.

Weapons & Warriors: The Black Egg of the Ninja

This device is based from a Samurai police tool called Metsubushi. Samurai carried small boxes and filled them with ground up peppers or dust. The box had an opening for blowing into and a tube on the other end for aiming the spray. It was specifically used to blind an enemy either to subdue or kill. This device still exists today and is carried by a lot of women, known as pepper spray.

The Black Egg Art by TL Jeffcoat

The Ninja adopted this and then took it to a further extreme. Ninja were not wealthy, so designing a box to do this specific task was beyond what most could afford to buy or had time to carve. The ever improvising Ninja turned to what was readily available, the bird egg. After emptying the egg carefully, they would then fill the egg with whatever they had at their disposal. In many cases this was a ground pepper sauce, like the Samurai used, but it also wasn’t uncommon for many Ninja to grind glass. The key to keeping the fragile eggs from shattering in their pockets was to use a flame to cook the outer edge of the egg to harden some of the interior and then empty the yolk and any uncooked white through a hole on one end. This made the egg more flexible, so that even if the thin shell cracked, it wouldn’t leak as long as the interior wasn’t broken.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kusarigama of the Ninja

This fierce looking and deadly weapon was created by combining a chain and a farming tool. The ninja were people of poor origins and made weapons with whatever they could as they perfected their martial art to protect themselves from the superior trained Samurai. Many Samurai were caught off guard by the strange weapon in its earliest days and died at the hands of the Ninja wielding it. Kusarigama is translated as Chain-sickle.

Like many weapons used by the Ninja, the Kusarigama was designed to neutralize the Samurai katana so that the Ninja could face the Samurai without his weapon. It is used by swinging the ball on the chain overhead or to either side and then the Ninja would swing the weighted end towards an opponent’s sword or limbs and tangle them. If the Sword was entangled, the Ninja could attempt to jerk it free or jerk the Samurai off balance and then close in with a fatal strike from the sickle end.

By entangling the limbs of the Samurai, the Ninja could unbalance and subdue his opponent. A quick jerk on the chain that has wrapped around the legs could send a man to his backside, making him vulnerable to the Ninja. Once the enemy was distracted with trying to escape the chain, he became an easy target to the deadly end, the sickle.

The weighted ball at the end of the chain could be deadly when used to strike directly. When facing a fully armored Samurai, it could not deal a fatal blow, as Samurai were covered head to toe in steel plate. The fingers were the only exposed part of the armor and a carefully aimed blow to the hands could cause the Samurai to drop his katana and possibly shatter a finger or two. If the Samurai was found unarmored then his disadvantage against the ninja would be even greater as the weighted ball was solid enough to crack his skull.

Weapons & Warriors: The Sai of the Ninja

This is a very popular weapon around the world, only made more famous by its use in films such as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Xena, Daredevil and Elektra. Children everywhere became obsessed with the Sai after the red banded Raphael jumped onto the big screen, kicking butt with his half shell and his trusty pair of Sai.

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Like many of the weapons of the ninja, this was once a farming tool used in Okinawa. The weapon actually originated from a similar style of weapon in southern Asia, called a tjabang, which originated from the Indian trisula (trident). Contrary to what most people believe, the tip of the Sai is not sharp. It is actually a rounded smooth rod from tip to handle. The bottom of the handle is exposed steel and sometimes diamond shaped. The ninja often used the weapons backwards with the blades of the Sai running along their forearms to deflect attacks and then punched with the ends of the handles. The force of that kind of punch would probably be equivalent to being hit with brass knuckles.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bhuj of the Rajput

The Bhuj is a small axe that is named after the Indian city of Bhuj. The design is that of an axe, but it is often called an axe-knife. The long blade runs down the steel shaft. The thick heavy blade allows the weapon to chop through virtually anything and the short length of its shaft allows for more agility when in engaged close with an enemy. The bhuj is quite easy to use as much as a thrusting weapon as a chopping weapon. The tip of the blade is sharpened on both edges and is capable of penetrating most armor. This axe was often called the elephant knife because of the elephant head tip on the end of the steel shaft. The ornament doubles as a handle for a thin blade that is hidden in the shaft of the axe.

The Elephant Knife is as deadly as it is decorated. Engravings run along the blades and shaft. The scabbard for the blade is often decorated as well. Despite the weight of the axe, the small size made it easily portable and made for a great weapon against those with spears. The blade could easily snap the wooden shafts of enemies as they were thrust at the Rajput. Another advantage the Bhuj has over other axes was the sword blows against its shaft. Since the entire weapon was made of steel, it would not break if a sword or axe struck the shaft.

Weapons & Warriors: The Chakram of the Rajput

Fans of Xena the Warrior Princess will probably be familiar with the Chakram. This weapon is a flying disc of death. Its razor sharp outer edge is capable of slicing through bone, and can be thrown up to around 90 feet (30 meters). The hoop shaped design was aerodynamic and would not alter its flight due to wind. Rajput trained to pinch the weapon with the thumb and forefinger to avoid cutting themselves when preparing to throw this deadly ring. Unlike Xena’s magical chakram, the real ones usually did not return because they were imbedded in whatever they hit.

The weapon could be thrown like a Frisbee, but during combat it was most often thrown with a vertical throw to avoid hitting any allies to either side of their target. Another method that was often used to toss the weapon was by spinning it on the end of a finger and then flinging it with a flick of the wrist. This was believed to make the weapon more deadly as it would be spinning at a greater rate when it struck its target.

Weapons & Warriors: The Urumi of Kerala

The Urumi is one of the most dangerous weapons to use in the history of weapons, not only for its enemies, but for the wielder himself. This whip-sword was first designed in Southern India where it was known as a Chuttaval (Coiled Sword). As you can see in the video, it is very flexible and quite dangerous. The only downfall of the weapon is, like all other whips, it does not penetrate armor. What makes this whip-like weapon far more deadly than a leather whip is that it is made with steel, flattened into about a three quarters inch to an inch and sharpened like a razor on both edges. The four to six foot blade was often coiled around the waist when not in use, making it quite portable. Women who learned to use this blade would wear it like a fashionable belt.

Weapons & Warriors: The Katara of the Rajput

Art by TL Jeffcoat

This is one of my favorite weapons in the Rajput arsenal. Its design is pretty simple, but the weapon itself is far from simple to use effectively. The Rajput carried these weapons as a form of self-defense and status. Sometimes inaccurately referred to as a bundi blade, these deadly daggers were the fiercest purely offensive style weapons ever used by the Rajput. Training of this weapon involved dual wielding techniques and was a style of martial arts all its own. Improper training of this weapon left a warrior vulnerable to attack, but once trained, the dual wielding Rajput was a force to be reckoned with. The Rajput hunted tigers with these blades. Killing a tiger with such a purely offensive and short ranged weapon would be a boost in status for a Rajput, marking him without question one of the bravest and most skilled warriors in the land.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kopis of Sparta

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Some may remember this widely feared sword in the hands of Gerard Butler as he hacked legs and arms off Persians in slow motion. For those who haven’t seen the movie 300, if you love ancient warfare movies or artsy storytelling, you should check it out. It is bloody and full of mythically exaggerated Persians, but it's a very well done story, based on a true battle that altered the path of the world conquering Persians who were lead by the legendary Xerxes. If you have a weak stomach for blood, it's very bloody and violent.

The Kopis should have been more related to the axe than the sword. This was the scariest sword of ancient Greece. The blade is about three feet long and curves forward, making it perfect for thrusting around a shield. The end of the blade is wider than a normal sword and heavier by design. The added weight allows this sword to be used like an axe, efficiently hacking through bone with a single swipe. This blade was often used for cutting meat or slaughtering animals for sacrifices.