Long Time Coming

 Well it seems to have been a bit of an epic adventure getting the book done. I mean it's been done for a while now, but getting it actually 'out there' seems to have dragged on a bit. So apologies for that, but it's all a whole new world for me, and one that I seem to have little aptitude for. I am however hugely grateful for all the advice and support I have gotten from those that have helped in the adventure and very happy that it is almost almost there. I have the hard copy proof in hand, and if it scans will publish ebook and hard copy versions this weekend, available through amazon, Kindle, Smashwords ... the usual suspects.

So just a quick word about what's going to be available. There's going to be an e-book, a real print version, and then a set of downloadable videos made to accompany the book.

The book contains 68 drills which have been condensed into about 40 video clips ranging in length from about a minute to about 6 minutes with a total run time of about 114 minutes. The drills cover the set of skills one needs to practice to be able to fake and bait an opponent successfully.

To be clear, these videos are not a record of Sonny Umpad's Visayan Corto Kadena Eskrima system. They are purely an aspect, a view point if you like of Sonny's sword ideas, that teach a very specific, yet fundamental skill - How to deceive your opponent, and how not to get deceived by them. Basically the more mental or psychological parts of the fight that make 'why' you do 'what', 'when', make sense. Understand this, and you can take the concepts to everything else you practice.

So if you are curious about what I got from Sonny, how I got it, and why it was such a revelation, buy the book. The ebook is of course the easiest way to do this.

If you are more old school, like to hold something in your hands, make notes and find it on your bookshelf to reread again later, buy the hard copy.

If you are actually interested in gaining the skills and trying out some of the ideas, buy the videos too.

The books will be out this weekend, but the videos will take a bit longer to become available for purchase. Keep tuned for that :-)

Of course nothing beats a real time teacher, with video coming in a very poor second, and the written word a far flung third. However it's the best medium we have for remote learning, and as a bonus feature I will be starting a private group on Facebook (as it seems the most universally accessible network right now) for those that buy the drills VIDEO set, where I will answer questions, take feedback and requests for 'in fill' videos, etc to help folks get a better handle on the material.

Honestly I am hoping this first set of videos will be just the start of the conversation. They truly are the bare bones of what you need, and it took me over 4 years to even start to get a handle on what the hell I was doing, let alone gaining control of it.

Actually quite excited about this :-)