I'm a professional technical writer, but I did a stint with some instructional designers. Thus, I was forced to confront the fact that writing, while awesome, is not awesome for everything. If you want to describe a process, writing can be good... but if that process involves, say, engine repair then maybe you'd be better off with some diagrams and an instructional video, or better yet a physical engine to tinker with.
So when I heard that a bunch of fiction writers had gotten obsessed with medieval swordfighting martial arts and planned to write something to share their joy, I wondered "Why words? Why not a movie?" Though they'd set up an interesting platform for collaborative writing and community feedback, I wasn't in a rush to read what they came up with.
I needn't have worried. I finally got around to reading book one and—there are some fight scenes, but they're not the only thing going on here. It's a sort of rollicking yarn with the occasional grognard fight scene tossed in. Don't take it too seriously and it makes a fun read.
Yeah, I bought Book Two. Ain't read it yet, though.
