The Castello Visconti

Why take pictures of cool places in Italy if I'm not going to share them? Here is a tiny portion of the Castello Visconti. It became the Castello Sforza in the 15th century; wrong time period for me, though. It was magnificent. Huge. Sprawling. Great museums. If you read VENDETTA, you know harrowing things took place within the castle walls. If you have yet to read VENDETTA, I won't spoil it for you.

Getting the setting right in my work is very important. I can (and often do) fudge some of the events and relationships which took place in 1377. But I always try to nail the setting. As if I really need an excuse to go visit Italy for research ...

Other details I try not to screw around with are clothing, armor, and combat. Combat is a bit of a challenge to write about because the current practitioners of medieval martial arts are incredibly contentious. I stick to watching sparring videos and strictly avoid looking at the comment sections. HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) and ARMA (Association for Renaissance Martial Arts) are a couple of my go-to resources, as are Scholagladiatoria and Tod's Workshop (both on YouTube ... like everything else).

Work has stalled a bit on END OF DAYS. Given everything going on these days it's difficult to not feel guilty about engaging in any sort of creative activity. But I've also sort of lost my way in the story, so I'm flexing my brain pan and working on some military sci-fi short stories. They're a completely different animal. But rest assured, Anchioni and Heton have not been forgotten when last I left them, cleaning up a tremendous mess somewhere in the Apennines ... Reach out to me if you're interested in a sample.

And wherever you happen to be, I hope you're safe ...