More "Hey Russ!" please, I love these!

I wrote a story about Silver once for an anthology ("Silver Lining," Past Lives, Present Tense, ed. Elizabeth Scarborough, 1999). Can't use it anywhere else (an anthology so closed it had an NDA) but it was fun to write.) Our group at DRW's house had been reading Silver's own training stuff. Side note: not really smart to contribute to anthologies that won't let you use your story in your own collections later on...once is OK, but as a habit it cuts you off from your own work. (At least, my frayed concussion-riddled memory *thinks* it was that anthology that said "can't reuse*. ) I probably got a copy of the anthology, but it's not on the shelf where it should be, and I haven't a clue where it might be instead. The house has many shelves of mass market paperbacks in all sorts of genres, and soare stacjs if them tucked into corners. It was almost certainly lost with the demise of a hard drive a decade or so ago (and would've been in WordStar anyway.)

Some comments: 1. Thrusts can be used defensively if you know how to close the line in opposition as you do it. Many counter offensive actions in Italian rapier demonstrate this and Spanish fencing relies on shutting the line and thrusting at the same time for about 80% of its defense (the remainder is subjugations, increasing the distance, and the occasional prime-esq parry). 2. You can fence thrust only against cut and thrust, I have done it, I have had difficulty facing it, and many small sword treatises discuss this exact point. It is true that the person using thrust only needs to understand the angles involved in parrying cuts, but they don't necessarily need to use them. 3. French masters apparently weren't "in the know" because they really did put there money where there mouths were and eliminate all cuts from their fencing after 1700 (unless we're talking about lower-class stick fighting or a military context). 4. Direct push cuts are a particular type of cut that are significantly quicker than many other kinds. Circular cuts (moulinets/molinelli/bogen) were common in all periods across Europe and are noticeably slower than thrusts. 5. While the elbow extension is the same the thrust becomes dangerous from the moment the extension starts (because the point is already in line) while the cut only becomes so once the motion is completed. In my opinion the actual best critique of the "the thrust is the shortest path between two points and therefor the quickest" argument is that there are specific positions where the cut actually covers less distance, with the counter-counter argument being "don't be in those positions". 6. I will defend to the death your right to throw shade at George Silver. His system of fencing is... fine (in backsword as in some many things the English are obsessed with being conservative in every sense of the word), but some of his comments about the other schools are ridiculous. His critique of the Spanish is perhaps the most pathetic in the long history of fencing literature, "The Spanish are some of the best swordsmen in Europe, except that their system doesn't work because... uh.... it doesn't work".

As an eternally recovering Epee-ist, cuts and thrusts are the same speed but the cut will cover more distance which makes it feel really fast. Also the comment about thrust only fencing against someone who also cuts is 100% true.

This made me think of the other aspect of cut vs thrust in regards to simplicity of training. Some say the cut is easier to train because it taps into monkey brain smashy smash, yet for most of history spears were the weapon of the masses.

Cutting is better in battle - you get stuck in the opponent by thrusting quite often. Especially from horseback it is hard to pull something back when you have huge momentum forward.

thrust are relative useless till yu train in to olympic coin throw accuracy, which allows thrust attack on hands arms be trustworthy. This will take time and need proper training methods and competency and so on. cutting are too slow unless yu make this finger-whip cut a cut, not just weak out-of-alignmet whack it comes "naturally" This will take time and methods and so on. A school have some expentanies of time student have to train in it, and may have only one set of methodics and competency - so it is easier tho them to say "cut|thrust is not worth it, better to concentrate on proper move" being a jack of all trades need to be an elf or a spacemarine and have centuries of training, or just be a fighting jack