SCA-in-books-msg - 8/21/96 Mentions of the SCA in books and magazines. NOTE: See also the files: SCA-noteables-msg, SCA-authors-msg, SCA-hist1-msg, border-stories-msg, child-stories-msg, SCA-stories1-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with seperate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the orignator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: Lord Stefan li Rous mark.s.harris@motorola.com stefan@florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: 23 Jan 92 From: Brian Stanley Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network In reference to Vincent's question regarding SCA-inspired books, I bring to your attention The Interior Life by Katherine Blake. Although not predominantly set within the SCA, the august organization is a significant factor. Aleyn fitz Geoffrey Late of the Barony of An Croisaire and now simply lost Date: 29 Jan 92 From: Therion Organization: Penn State University One interesting aspect of the growing fame of the SCA is that you never know where we're going to be mentioned next. For instance, I was recently reading a book called "Muscle - confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder", by Sam Fussell. It's a rather histrionic account of the author's descent into the world of weightlifting and steroid abuse. The following passage is from when the author moved from New York to California in the late 1980's and met some of his new roommates, who were also into bodybuilding. All typos are the author's, not mine [i.e. Ciad for Caid, and the speaker's lisp] > >But Bamm Bamm didn't want to talk about football or bodybuilding, he >wanted to talk about war. "They've outwawed it, Sam," he said, shaking >his head in misery. "There are no more wars, no more Koweas or Vietnams. >Thats why we have wifting, and this ..." he said, opening his closet >door. Within I saw a helmet, and the rest of his armor. He had purchased >it from Thornbird Arms in the San Fernando Valley. Once every few >months, he left with Freewyn, a lifter from the nearby Fanatics Gym for >a weekend war regulated by The Society for Creative Anachronism. "I >fight in a wogue spwinter gwoup, under a duke," Bamm Bamm said, with a >touch of defiance. His last war was staged near Scottsdale, Arizona. >Within spitting distance of the I-10 freeway, Bamm Bamm and a few >hundred other knights from Ciad (the Southern California district) >fought Adenvelt (the Arizona district) for their kingdom. Bamm Bamm had >forty "kills" that weekend, and a broken nose. Though the weapons are >made of rattan, the armor is real. When a poleax struck his steel >helmet, the nose guard came down and spliced his nose. But Bamm Bamm >wasn't counting on fighting for Ciad much longer ... [stuff deleted] ... >Knights errant both, we wore our weight-lifting belts over one shoulder >like baldrics, packing our own form of heat in the event of Armageddon. >How much easier it made life, whether the enemy was Adenvelt or my >Adam's apple or meat with more than 15 percent fat .... I just thought that this was amusing enough to share with the rest of you. And in case anyone is really interested (we librarians have to do these things, it's a compunction): >>> isbn 0671701959 Fussell, Samuel Wilson. Muscle, confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder. / Samuel Wilson Fussell. New York, Poseidon Press, c1991. 252 p., ª8ß p. of plates. ill. 24 cm. 1. Fussell, Samuel Wilson. 2. Bodybuilders -- United States -- Biography. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- internet: | Therion Calgate SSS | yes, I lift weights. hzs@psuvm.psu.edu | Mountain Confederation| no, I don't use steroids. GPtR | Shire of Nithgaard | yes, I fight in a wogue mea culpa | Prin. of AEthelmearc | spwinter group. #-] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: habura@vccnw09.its.rpi.edu (Andrea Marie Habura) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Knightfall Date: 9 Aug 1993 17:39:16 GMT Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY As far as I know, the complete list of Mary Monica Pulver/Steffan and Kori books is: Murder at the War/Knight Fall (same book, different title) The Unforgiving Minutes Ashes to Ashes Original Sin The SCA-dependency of the books varies inversely with age :). The oldest, Knight Fall, is almost completely within the context of the SCA; the newest, Original Sin, contains only about a dozen sentences that indicate that some of the characters are Scadian. Nonetheless, I feel that the writing is much better in the later novels, and they're all worth reading. Alison MacDermot Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Knightfall From: schuldy@zariski.harvard.edu (Mark Schuldenfrei) Date: 9 Aug 93 12:33:52 EDT Pergrine wrote: The book by Mary Monica Pulver is set at Pennsic, and describes exquisitely the things which make the SCA what it is. (I haven't been to Pennsic, but from this book, people would know about many of our customs and traditions, as well as some neat period practices I hadn't known.) It's getting a little dated, but it's still fun. And great fun to try and guess who is whom! Speaking of whom--there is another book of hers in which a co-worker of this Policeman finds a "Don Quixote" wandering the streets and brings him in for booking: turns out to be... well, what would you think of some person in full armor wandering around town in a daze, talking of knights and kings, etc.? I'll try to get the title. I too have forgotten the title. However, this confused Knight is only a divertissment that lasts a few pages. The balance of the book is straight mystery. WARNING: from what I remember, the teaser on the back cover of KNIGHT FALL was not written by Mary Monica Pulver, and might have been written by a non-SCA person without-a-clue. Read the book: it's excellent for SCA folk new and old, and is a good introduction to the SCA itself. The back cover blurbs never are. (off- topic mini-flame ahead) A tremendous number of books are mis-represented, or overly telegraphed by the marketting hype on the back cover. The cover is a marketting tool, and worth ignoring. I read the first few pages of any book I might be interested in, instead. Tibor -- Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@math.harvard.edu) From: David Schroeder Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Knightfall Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:39:06 -0400 Organization: Doctoral student, Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Alison MacDermot wrote: > As far as I know, the complete list of Mary Monica Pulver/Steffan and Kori > books is: > > Murder at the War/Knight Fall (same book, different title) > The Unforgiving Minutes > Ashes to Ashes > Original Sin Also, _Show Stopper_, c.1992, now out in paperback from Diamond... Not to forget: _The Novice's Tale, A Sister Frevisse Medieval Mystery_ by Margaret Frazer (Mary Monica Pulver and a co-author whose name escapes me at the moment, sigh...) It's from Jove, in paperback, c.1992, and is the first of a series that's on its way. And of course: _Deer Abbey_, four issues of the Compleat Anachronist that are worth the investment. (Tales of a 15th century nunnery). My best -- enjoy -- Bertram From: salley@niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Life imitates Art imitates Life (was : Pell ) Date: 5 Mar 94 21:20:29 GMT Organization: Canisius College, Buffalo NY. 14208 Heather Garvey writes: > [Possible etymologies for 'pell' deleted] > I've seen the term used in a number of modern fictional references > and I didn't realize that people thought this was an SCA-only term.... Recent observation: Part of the problem with comparing SCA uses to 'modern fictional references' is that you never know what the author is using for sources. Case in point, in Katherine Kurtz's latest Deryni novel _King Javan's Year_, a number of 'medieval traditions' are drawn straight out of the author's experiences with the SCA. For example, she uses 'remove' to mean one course in a banquet and all her knights wear white belts. ;-) Now imagine a new member who reads voraciously (I know it's a long stretch of the imagination, but _try_ to imagine it ;-) ;-) ;-) ) and then attends an SCA event. Seeing two separate sources both limiting white belts to knights they'd probably conclude that that was the way it was in period. - Dagonell SCA Persona : Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake, CSC, CK, CTr Habitat : East Kingdom, AEthelmearc Principality, Rhydderich Hael Barony Internet : salley@niktow.cs.canisius.edu USnail-net : David P. Salley, 136 Shepard Street, Buffalo, New York 14212-2029 From: una@bregeuf.stonemarche.org (Honour Horne-Jaruk) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: We're famous... Summary: definition of us from a glossary of Witchcraft, paganism andOccultism Date: Wed, 25 May 94 08:22:47 EDT Respected friends: A pagan friend of mine just showed me a copy of "Withcraft, Satanism, and Occult crime: Who's who and what's what"- this is `A manual of reference materials for the professional investigator'. In plain english, the book is a series of articles on how to tell the kooks from the crooks. Under the "basic glossary of common terms and symbols" these entries appear. _Anachronism-something that appears to be from a time period other than the one in which it is percieved._ _Society for Creative Anachronism- An historical reconstructionist organization of medieval scholars and speculative fantasy buffs. Founded in Berkeley, California on May 1,1966 by Diana Paxson, the SCA holds medieval reconstructionist events, such as tournaments and feasts, and participates in Renaissance Faires around the country._ I presume the entry is in there because of the repeated canard that SCA means Satanist Church of America, and I really appreciate their trying to correct the falsehood, but is this definition weird or what? Honour/Alizaunde From: blackadd@news.delphi.com (BLACKADDER@DELPHI.COM) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: SCA in Space Books. Date: 6 Aug 1994 21:33:11 -0000 Also consider HUNTER'S WORLD by Fred Saberhagen. This features a huge tournament for world supremacy between people like Thomas the Grabber and Byford of Long Bridges. (Apparently he thinks lists are set in alphabetical order.) An offworld visitor compares it favorably to "the Anachronists playing with their dull swords" on civilized planets. From: wlinden@phantom.com (William Linden) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: ANACHRONIST authors (and authors who include SCA in their works) Date: 4 Sep 1994 14:01:11 GMT David Salley (salley@niktow.canisius.edu) wrote: : _Cloak of Anarchy_, written in 1972. I don't see how the SCA fits in, : according to the story, you're searched for weapons before you can get in. : Actually, that's the story that got Larry Niven into the duel I posted : about earlier. It seems "Ron Cole", a character in the story was based on : some one real who decided to have some fun with it. ;-) ;-) Well, "Ron Cole" is Count Alpin MacGregor (Alpin the Mad). From: caradoc@libre.com (John Groseclose) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: ANACHRONIST authors (and authors who include SCA in their works) Date: 5 Sep 1994 06:42:31 GMT > David Salley (salley@niktow.canisius.edu) wrote: > : _Cloak of Anarchy_, written in 1972. I don't see how the SCA fits in, > : according to the story, you're searched for weapons before you can get in. > : Actually, that's the story that got Larry Niven into the duel I posted > : about earlier. It seems "Ron Cole", a character in the story was based on > : some one real who decided to have some fun with it. ;-) ;-) _Cloak of Anarchy_, "N-Space," Larry Niven, page 226: "We reached the grassy field sometimes used by the Society for Creative Anachronism for their tournaments. They fight on foot with weighted and padded weapons designed to behave like swords, broadaxes, morningstars, etc. The weapons are bugged so that they won't fall into the wrong hands." -- John D. Groseclose From: wlinden@phantom.com (William Linden) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: ANACHRONIST authors (and authors who include SCA in their works) Date: 4 Sep 1994 14:05:22 GMT Julia Bailey (BAILEY@biomed.med.yale.edu) wrote: :: So it seems that either [Heinlein] he attended events or knew LOTS of people who : did :} Bear in mind that in the first years Tournaments and other Society functions were often in sf con programs, in the west anyway...before the "trufans" started getting snotty about "intrusion by those awful Anachronists". (After, all, nearly all of the early cadre was drawn from fandom). And the Epilogue in NUMBER OF THE BEAST is one long con parody. Harlan Ellison reportedly fought in some of these events, and I think the marshal in NUMBER is supposed to be Pournelle (Jerome Robert of McKenna). Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: ah447@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Victor W. Wong) Subject: Re: ANACHRONIST authors (and authors who include SCA in their works) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Date: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 18:19:28 GMT You're probably not going to think this is on topic, but the latest novel in the QUANTUM LEAP series has Sam "leaping" into a re-enactor. The back- ground info looks very much like SCA or something similar. The passages in which Sam realizes he's just "leaped" into a 15th-century suit of armor just prior to a bout is just plain funny. ŠÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕª †8 8 8 8 8† VINCENT THE CALCULATOR ÃÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕ¼ mka Victor Wong †8 8 8 8 8† ah447@freenet.carleton.ca †8 8 8 8 8† Member, Compagnie Mercurie »ÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕº -- Copyright (C) 1994 Victor W. Wong. All rights reserved. From: jeffs@math.bu.EDU (Jeff Suzuki) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Niven Date: 8 Sep 1994 14:20:48 -0400 Bertram writes: > Oh, Niven refers to us, obliquely (I think) in one of his > short stories about anarchy happening in a park -- I'm sure "Cloak of Anarchy". The reference is just one line, about the SCA (Niven spells it out) using the park for fighter practice. Jeffs From: jacquetta@aol.com (Jacquetta) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: SCA in Kiddie Lit. Date: 20 Sep 1994 21:10:01 -0400 To the parents of pre-teens out there - my daughter just found a great book. "All's Faire" by Pamela F. Service is a time-travel novel for kids about a 12 year old boy whose parents are in the "Creative Anachronists" and make him go to events and ren faires. He is transported back to the "real" Middle Ages and learns the value of dreams and the imagination. Nice story. **Thinly** veiled SCA. My daughter really liked it. Jacquetta Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: rorice@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (rosalyn rice) Subject: Re: SCA in Kiddie Lit. Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington IN Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 12:56:41 GMT Jacquetta wrote: >To the parents of pre-teens out there - my daughter just found a great >book. "All's Faire" by Pamela F. Service is a time-travel novel for kids If it's the same person (and it probably is), then Pam Service lives in my town. She isn't in the local S.C.A. group, and I have no idea how she heard about us, or got information on us. Most peculiar. Lothar From: "Brett W. McCoy" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: SCA in Kiddie Lit. Date: Wed, 21 Sep 94 12:45:28 -0500 I don't know if this book has been mentioned, as I've come into this thread rather late, but _The Folk of The Air_ by Peter S. Beagle is very obviously about the SCA, known as "The League for Archaic Pleasure" in the novel. They are located in California, and their crown tourneys are exactly the same as SCA crown tourneys. Brett W. McCoy bmccoy@cap.gwu.edu From: crouchet@eden.com (James Crouchet) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Freaking the Mundanes... Date: 3 Jan 1995 20:03:43 GMT Organization: Adhesive Media, Inc. sclark@blues.epas.utoronto.ca (Susan Carroll-Clark) says: > Yes, I did it. I got sucked into the "collectable card game" craze. >The one I chose to buy is the new _Illuminati: New World Order_ game. >Those of you who've played its predecessor, of course, know about the "Society >for Creative Anarchism" card. Well, Steve Jackson has taken this little >in-joke one step further. > The booster deck I got yesterday included the "Freaking the Mundanes" >card. > WE know what he means. > > Fnord. > >Cheers & happy Feast of the Circumcision (yowch!) >Nicolaa/Susan >Canton of Eoforwic >sclark@epas.utoronto.ca Yeah, Steve was our founding baron in Bryn Gwlad (Ansteorra), so he does know the SCA well. He finally resigned in disgust saying SCA politics was too much like the real politics of our period. Good point I think. Savian From: zkessin@ppp3253.wing.net (Zach) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Important Info: Tried and True Ways of Getting Your Parents to Finance your Swordfighting Habit Date: 04 Jan 1995 05:02:41 GMT Organization: Wilder Internet Gateway, Boston, MA In article v081lu33@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (TRISTAN CLAIR DE LUNE/KEN MONDSCHEIN) writes: Hi there! Like many of you, I'm a starving college student (tm). I also have a rather expensive hobby, that is, stick-jocking. In fact, I'm willing to bet that I've spent $1000+ on armor, rattan, raw materials to make armor, etc. Now, while this keeps me off the streets selling crack, it also results in a negative balance of money, unlike selling crack, which rakes money in. So, I've developed these tried-and-true arguments to get those wellsprings of ca$h, my parents, to help me finance my hobby: My father offered to pay for a Helm. I think I can get elbows and knees out of him too, and make the rest. I didn't event have try to hard to get it. Just say I didn't want ski boots. The fact that I was able to bring him to a few events didn't hurt. BTW on the authors/artists in the SCA I just noticed something. On the Painting "Pendragon" by Jody Lee in the upper rt corner there is a banner i recognised... Or within a Laurel wreath a crown dancity of 3 vert. Guiliam Wodehouse http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/USERS/UGRAD/zkessin/east.html zkessin@cs.brandeis.edu From: alysk@ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming ) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: SCA in _Life_ Date: 13 Oct 1995 16:17:24 GMT Just opened my November 1995 _Life_ magazine and found three pages of photos and text on this past Pennsic. A Midrealm group is featured in the table of contents section, with the shield clearly visible (a field divided crosswise...top is red with a white fleur-de-lys and bottom is white and black checky). Most of the featured fighters are "blue tape". Part of House Darkyard can be seen on page 28. Pages 28-29 feature three "blue tapes" in close-up of their helms. Page 30 shows 9 photos of various helms including one scout. An Easterner from Ostgardr, Lord Dieterich von Bern, is mentioned by name. The final page, 32, shows a closeup of one of the battles with poles, sword and shield, all scrambled togehter. The final photo shows one pooped fighter (his arms are on his tabard...looks like a circle overlaying an upright sword) who is apparantly resting during the Woods Battle. The focus is solely on the warlike aspect of Pennsic. Sure was a surprise to me as I was paging through! Alys Katharine From: snyary@life.timeinc.COM (Sasha Nyary) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: LIFE magazine article Date: 16 Oct 1995 11:38:40 -0400 Please put this information in your kingdom newsletters and pass it on to your chroniclers. (I believe this will be on our homepage, as well, but it's not up yet.) LIFE homepage: http://www.pathfinder.com/Life/lifehome.html For release: Monday, October 16, 1995 Contact: Alison Hart (212) 522-7576 LIFE CAPTURES THE ACTION AT A MEDIEVAL WAR New York, N.Y., October 16, 1995 -- LIFE's November issue (on newsstands today) features a journey to a spectacular conflict: the annual Pennsic War, where hordes of steel-armored, sword-slinging fighters clash for the sheer fun of it. Sponsored by the worldwide Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), this summer's war drew 9,000 men, women and children to a tent city in western Pennsylvania. Whether combatants or civilians, LIFE reports, all were in costume and in character -- transformed into counts and courtesans, barons and barbarians, for a week's immersion in what the SCA calls "the Middle Ages as they should have been." LIFE sent veteran photographer Bill Eppridge to capture the action as 3,000 male and female warriors -- trained in medieval martial arts and following strategies borrowed from ancient generals -- fought with chivalry, valor and a king-size dollop of humor. In "LIFE Goes To a Medieval Battle," you'll see what he saw: a flamboyant combination of military exercise, historical pageant, and full-contact sport. ### From: powers@cis.ohio-state.edu (william thomas powers) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: SCA in _Life_ Date: 18 Oct 1995 23:35:54 -0400 Organization: The Ohio State University, Department of Computer and Information Science >I thought the pictorial and article was one of the most positive I've >read. This good national press is rare. >Tigranes of Bezabde You mean you didn't like the article on the SCA in the June 1980 issue of Soldier of Fortune? ("Middle Ages Bash" by Bob Aldridge") My favorite is still the one in the Smithsonian, June 1981, "They `joust' as if knighthood were in flower today" wilelm, who has both squirreled away in the bookcases------You know you are in the SCA when people comment on your 10 lineal feet of books in your bathroom and you apologize for it being so poorly en-booked--not to mention the neighborhood kids asking if they can research for school reports in your library Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: ah447@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Victor W. Wong) Subject: SCA Makes the Globe & Mail Report on Business Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 21:59:37 GMT In the Oct. 27th Report on Business Magazine, there is a Profile on Small Business on Mr. Bill Fedun, also known as Lord Yusef of South Tower. His photo, in full armor, appears in the one-page article and also on the Table of Contents page. The article is a profile of the South Tower Armory (annual sales $145,000) based near Ottawa, Ontario (oh, all right, Canton Culdrithig, Barony Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere) and talks briefly about both his SCA and non-SCA (i.e. fetishic) clientele. Boy we seem to be going mainstream, ain't we? ŠÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕª †8 8 8 8 8† VINCENT THE CALCULATOR ÃÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕ¼ mka Victor Wong †8 8 8 8 8† ah447@freenet.carleton.ca †8 8 8 8 8† Barony of Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere »ÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕº -- Copyright (C) 1995 Victor W. Wong. All rights reserved. From: Hashiri@aol.com (3/7/96) To: markh@risc.sps.mot.com Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 00:56:43 -0500 Subject: SCA in books Greetings! I've just been perusing the section of the Web on SCA in books, magazines, etc. I don't know if you can or want to add this, but I thought I'd mention it. Escape Velocity, by Christopher Stasheff, mentions the SCA towards the end. While he doesn't actually say 'SCA', he mentions the 'Society' and what he describes certainly sounds like the SCA to me. It's very interesting, because the Scadians in the book decide to leave the nasty politics of earth and the human race behind - they buy a colony ship and leave to start a world based on Society principles in a galaxy far, far away. This book begins a series about the world which they colonize and is very entertaining to read. A good mix of sci-fi and fantasy. Christiana Ivarrsdottir, Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra From: room237@wabash.iac.net (Room 237) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: SCA Press:Swing 5-96 Date: 19 May 1996 20:41:20 GMT Organization: Internet Access Cincinnati 513-887-8877 For all interested in collecting/reading any press on the SCA, the May 1996 Issue of the magazine "Swing" has a 1 page article with photos. From: Endel@tarleton.edu Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 13:13:00 -0400 Subject: FYI I thought people might find the following quotation of interest. I have no idea if the author has any connection with the SCA or not. This is from The Ambivalent Magician, by Simon Hawke (Warner Books, 1996). Hawke may be the American equivalent of Terry Pratchett. "That's why people join the SCA and read fantasy novels, because the real world sucks." Laird Alan MacRonan MacCalum Edited by Mark S. Harris SCA-in-books-msg