Dear Friends, Students of the Sword and Lovers of History,

We are proud to announce the debut of Freelance Academy Press.

Freelance Academy Press offers its readers both innovative books and rich supporting material in the fields of Western martial arts, American and European history, arms and armour, chivalry, historical arts and crafts, and related adult and young-adult fiction. We accomplish this through the introduction of new educational books and timeless, carefully selected reprints. Each of our titles features innovative cover composition, clear illustrations, high production value and solid binding. Our goal is to give book-lovers a product in which the quality of the subject is matched with a notable degree of professionalism and cleanness of design.

Now Available: Our First Titles

As devoted students of Western swordsmanship, it is our particular pleasure to launch Freelance Academy Press with two compelling titles, ready for order today:

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Venetian Rapier: Nicoletto Giganti’s 1606 Fencing Curriculum - Translated by Tom Leoni

Perhaps no other weapon represents “Renaissance Italian fencing” as powerfully as the rapier. However, do we truly know how this sword was used and how it was taught? Venetian Rapier transports you into the fencing school, or salle, of celebrated Renaissance rapier master Nicoletto Giganti of Venice. Giganti was one of the most influential teachers of the period, and a master whose instructions on the use of this weapon have survived the centuries. It is most fortunate for us that his 1606 text, The School, or Salle is a veritable training curriculum, complete with stepwise lessons and easy-to-follow explanations on the use of both the rapier alone and the rapier and dagger. This faithful translation of Giganti’s seminal work, by internationally-renowned rapier teacher Tom Leoni, includes the complete text, original illustrations, and an introduction on rapier fencing that enables the reader to easily follow Giganti’s text.

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In Saint George’s Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts by Christian Henry Tobler

The medieval knight was a well-trained fighting man, expert in the use of sword, lance, spear and dagger, and a member of a warrior aristocracy whose values, virtues and vices helped shape European society for over 500 years. Providing an insightful, fascinating view of the medieval knight and his craft, In Saint George’s Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts brings readers a treasure trove of musings on the culture and the context of the martial arts in the late Middle Ages, hands-on training exercises for wrestling, dagger, falchion and poleaxe, and most importantly, the first English translation of the so-called “von Danzig” manuscript, the largest and most complete of the medieval German treatises. Join medieval combat expert Christian Henry Tobler on an expansive journey into the lost world of chivalric fighting arts, a journey that is certain to thrill martial artists, arms and armour enthusiasts, and lovers of history alike.

Coming Soon: Forthcoming Titles

We are confident that you will be as pleased with our debut titles as we are proud of them. But, just a swordsman cannot make a cut and then pause to see if it wins the bout, a publishing company cannot stand on their laurels for long. Therefore, we are happy to announce that the following titles are currently in production and slated for release by summer 2010:

In the Service of Mars: Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop, 1999 – 2009
The first of two volumes, In the Service of Mars: Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop, 1999 – 2009 is a visual and content-rich chronicle of the growth, in depth and breadth, of the Western martial arts community since the introduction of Western Martial Arts Conference in 1999. A compilation of some of the most popular and detailed lectures and class notes from the Western Martial Arts Workshop’s first decade, it is also far more than a “best-of” anthology. Ideally presented for both past and future Workshop attendees, each entry has been substantially revised, expanded, and in many cases, photo-illustrated by their authors in order to recreate the actual class experience in the subject presented.

Swordplay in the Age of Shakespeare by Stephen Hand
Stephen Hand, author of English Swordsmanship, Medieval Sword and Shield and former editor of the journal SPADA: An Anthology of Swordsmanship, now turns his attention to an in-depth survey of the fencing styles of late Elizabethan England. Designed specifically as an introduction to Elizabethan swordsmanship for Western martial artists, stage combatants and reenactors, this lavishly illustrated training guide compares and contrasts the swordplay techniques of Giacomo di Grassi, Vicentio Saviolo, George Silver and Joseph Swetnam.

Journal of the Armour Research Society
We are pleased to inaugurate our Arms and Armour catalog with the long-anticipated second volume by the renowned Armour Research Society. This research journal will feature articles by Fabrice Cognot, Jiří Hošek, Martijn A. Wijnhoven, and Douglas Strong.

Master of the Guild, the Fight Book of Master Peter Falkner by Christian Henry Tobler
Our first, full-color facsimile is a reproduction of a beautiful and little seen 15th century fencing treatise by the Hauptmann (Captain) of the famed Marxbrüder fencing guild, covering the longsword, messer, wrestling, staff, dagger and armoured combat.

These are just a few of the many titles currently in production at Freelance Academy Press. Rest assured that we will make regular announcements of all new titles and materials to be offered.

Freelance Academy Press: Something Different

Our goal is to be more than just another publisher, and our name “Freelance Academy Press” reflects our core structure and philosophy. As with many modern expressions, the origin of the term freelance has largely been forgotten. Originally, a “free lance” was a knight for hire, which in the modern world now means an individual hired to do contracted work.

The foundation of a publishing house is determined by the quality and diversity of its catalog. We are keenly aware that the structure of our business is built on establishing solid, enduring partnerships with our freelancers – our authors. That is why we collaborate with our authors to shape and refine their vision into a work that will withstand the test of time.

If freelance is our structure, then academy is our philosophy. Since we are passionate students of the subjects we publish, we are invested in seeing interest and knowledge of our titles grow on a global basis. We carefully choose titles and materials that lead readers on a historical journey that does not merely end with the final page of a book. Instead, our philosophy incorporates the three-tiered approach of Discover-Learn-Experience:

Discover - Freelance Academy Press broadcasts and promotes the existence of fascinating topics such as Western martial arts and the modern communities that exist within this rapidly expanding arena. By doing so, we help these communities to grow and we encourage interaction between the individuals within them.

Learn - We provide high-quality instructional and translational works for our readers. Because even the most scholarly of historical works should not be dry and boring, we emphasize readability and visually-compelling presentation in order to make your journey back in time a stimulating adventure.

Experience – In today’s publishing world, a press must be about communicating ideas, not merely about printing books or DVDs. We encourage you to return to our website, in particular our blog, time and again. We promise that you will find it to be an ever-growing repository of supplemental training documents and video clips, featured interviews and Q&As with leading researchers and instructors, and free downloadable e-books and translations. As a further bonus, subscribers to our periodic newsletter will receive “sneak peaks” and advance news of new title releases, as well as pre-order discounts and a few other surprises.

In short, Freelance Academy Press is run by aficionados of Western swordsmanship, for aficionados of the Art of the sword. We seek to forge an interactive, on-going relationship between reader, author and publisher that is well beyond the model of a traditional press. We invite you to come to www.freelanceacademypress.com now and join us on this odyssey.


Freelance Academy Press: Interact with History

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Congratulations, I look forward to getting my order :lol: The works underway also look great. Always a great thing when we have more work going on in this area of study.

Best
Craig

Hello All!

I know I'm excited!

I already have my first order in and look forward to the new titles as the come off the presses!

Cheers,

David Teague

Hi David,

Yep, we're pretty jazzed too. ;)

For those concerned, we've fixed the security certificate issue earlier today, as well as a problem with ordering from outside the US.

A few glitches are to be expected at first...fortunately, our hosting/e-commerce provider's tech. support is more than top-notch!

Cheers,

Christian

Hi Jean!

Actually, USPS is our only option to Canada, or anywhere outside the US, right now. And that's largely because UPS and FedEx are insanely expensive outside the US. It's possible this was screwed up earlier in the day though, as we did have some shipping configuration issues.

And, yes, we do accept PayPal!

Take care,

Christian

I'd like to place an order, but you do not currently ship to the NL :( .

Hello Reinier,

Actually, we do ship the Netherlands...unfortunately, our shipping policy page had some errors, which I've just corrected.

All the best,

Christian

Thanks! Order placed.

Great initiave! Congratulations, and good luck!

Thank you Reinier! We very much appreciate both your enthusiasm and your patronage.

All the best,

Christian

Got my order today!

Apparently it actually came last week, but I was out of town, so I couldn't sign for it.

I've really only had time to flip through In St George's Name, but it looks great. I was particularly intrigued by the essay on the four guards and the four elements. It corresponds pretty closely to my beliefs about why George Silver does everything in fours.

Haven't cracked Venetian Rapier yet; I actually ordered it for a friend, so I'll leave that privilege to him.

I'm very pleased with the physical quality of the books as well.

Good Work all round!

Thanks for the kind words, Craig! For my part, I agree that this is why Silver does things in fours, and in hierarchies.

Best,

Greg

Congrats on the new publishing house! I was talking with Cory Winslow yesterday and he hand mentioned some of the reasons this had come into being, all of which (including FAP) were news to me. I will see what kind of works I can get through you guys when the disposable income happens again.

M.

Christian, what are you doing?? That's another book I have to get ;)

Must... find... cash... for... books.... :D

On a more serious note, it's fantastic to see a Von Danzig translation, that's one I've been hanging out for. That's just gone on to my "priority purchases" list for the year.

Now we just need someone to do Paulus Hector Mair... :\

I haven't ordered any books yet but it is tempting and I hope other people posting about the books they bought will keep this site " bumped " so that it will keep remembering me to order something and also a new published needs the attention until people get into the habit of buying from them. ;) :cool:

Although I have bookmarked the site a little reminder is useful. ;)

Awesome endeavor and both titles look great but I was disappointed to find that these are paperback editions. Any possibility for hardcover versions to follow?

Hi Steve,

Thanks!

We'll be doing some books as hardbacks, to be sure. But most folks want books like our first two offerings as softcover, and that's because of price point.

But, believe me, as a dedicated bibliophile, I'm a hard cover man m'self. :)

I do think you'd be pleased with these however - the matte finish on our books is unique and really quite lovely in the hand.

All the best,

Christian