I'm happy. Plowed through all the formatting and got "Drills: Training for Sudden Violence" up on Smashwords. David at YMAA is cool with me putting out an e-book first. Plans for a print version (which will have pictures and I'll expand some sections) but that won't be available until late 2012 at the very earliest.
The picture on the cover is of Melisa in one of the harshest scenarios from the first Oakland seminar. What the picture doesn't show is how a few seconds later I was face down with hammer fists slamming into the back of my neck. She set a bar on that scenario that is tough to beat.
Maija, Terry- Thanks for the ideas and feedback.
25 comments:
Cool
Just purchased it and can't wait to read it! Thanks.
Jason
Neat. Any chance it will be Kindle-ized?
Thank you for the book, Rory.
Great! Perhaps I'm too tired, but I couldn't find a link to the right page on Smashwords on this blog.
So I searched and found: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/44993
I seem to remember her also trying to twist your head off with her fingers latched onto the facemask and banging the back of your head into the concrete ....
Good times .... :-D
Jake,
You can use Calibre to convert from ePub to MOBI, which the Kindle supports.
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Price is right on it too.
Steggy,
Awesomeness. Thank you!
It looks like you can buy it in .mobi format from the store.
Cool.
I plan on buying it, but not reading it till after I get a chance to go through them in person.
:-)
FYI - you get access to all formats once you prerchase the book.
Josh
NP Jake, "Steggy" was actually me, didn't notice my son had logged into his Google account on my computer.
It's pretty good software for dealing with e-books.
Downloaded, and kindled. Reading will commence shortly.
Please forgive my ignorance but why are the pictures excluded from the e-book version? Is there some technical limitation?
Thanks...Geoff
Geoff-
This is Rory, writing from Kami's profile.
It's possible, probably, to do pictures on an e-book at Smashwords, but beyond my technical expertise. Formatting has to be pretty precise because some people are reading on Ipads and some are reading on cell phones. Everything I've heard said pictures really mess that up.
Half way through already and enjoying it thoroughly, I do agree with an earlier post though, that while great as a 'stand alone' publication, attending training with Rory and actually doing these drills first hand will greatly enhance your understanding and ability to replicate/deliver these drills to others.
I imagine booking a training place sooner rather than later is advisable, as Rory gains further traction he's gonna be super busy!
I imagine the pictures in the 'hard copy' may help some, or perhaps Rory may even get some clips/demos up on you tube at some point in the future....? :)
Either way, thank you Rory for responding to requests for an 'early' release of this excellent publication!
very cool!
one note: the rtf version seems to be broken. can't be opened either on pc or mac.
but pretty awesome!
Kami --
It is possible to put pictures into a text for Smashwords, but I'm not the guy to tell you how. I think I managed it, and it involves how you anchor them, using Word. As I fumbled through it, you make the pictures into characters, so they move with the text as it is flow-formatted for various readers, and you let the device shrink or expand the images relative to the screen size.
Kindles only do grayscale, so color gets leached, and on an iPhone, the images will be itty-bitty at best.
The folks at Smashwords are negotiating with Amazon.com to make their catalog available, but there are some niggling details they haven't smoothed out. Until they do, I have been uploading my Smashwords titles to Amazon.com manually, and it's not any harder -- you can use the same file, same cover, same slug, and you have to use the same price. Amazon.com doesn't care if Smashwords is listed as the publisher, at least not so far.
Smashwords gets you into the iPad and B&N if you format the book right for premium distribution, but Amazon.com is still a better market, insofar as my stuff goes.
Anon-
Smashwords recommended that I re-upload the document and see if the RTF takes this time.
Joshkie- Don't wait for hands on. Play with everything yourself. Make it work. If you use your creativity you may completely misunderstand something I wrote and in the process come up with something a hundred times better. YOU are your teacher. Play.
I was just think about what was discused in the "Brittle Plasticity" post.
http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2010/12/brittle-plasticity.html
I also really hate ruining a good suprise or learning opportunity.
I also wasn't sure if reading about some of them would tant the results or what you can learn or gain from them.
I'm not worried so much about the mental ones.
Josh
I don’t need to tell you how awesome this book is. You wouldn’t be reading this blog, nor the attached comments if you didn’t already know. So, instead I can share a story about one of the “drills” in this book. Lise’s primary language is not English. Her English is very good but there are subtle nuances and innuendo she misses because it’s not native to her. At my Dojo we call the one step drill simply “Rory’s Drill”. Lise and I were IM’ing and she asked me what’s on tap for tonight. I replied this strike, that throw etc…and we will finish with Rory’s Drill. The rest of the conversation went something like this.
Lise: Oh! I love Rory’s drill
Kasey: Yeah, you love Rory’s DRILL?
Lise: Yes its very good
Kasey It’s powerful?
Lise: yup
Kasey: You like the way it makes you feel?
Lise: what?, oh you are such an asshole
Lise: I hate you
Kasey: hehehehehehehehe
VERY nice of you to share this Rory. Its a great companion manual to the classes.
When you asked me the first of only a handful of times we met, it was before I had even read any of your stuff. I told you what I wanted was whatever there was in your head that I might be able to use. The seminars are rich and fun. I loved MoV just for the perspective it gives on MA. But, this little piece helps complete the picture of what it is you've been driving at, and more importantly how to go about discovering it for yourself.
The explanations of these drills in context with each other is enormously helpful in reminding my compulsive little tunnel-vision brain what your teaching people not to lose sight of. (That's half the battle I suppose).
Suffice to say ...not everybody who has valuable relevant experiences and information would share so much. Fewer are able to put them into words well enough that it is plainly valuable to others. Bravo!
-Billy G.
Hi Rory,
Thanks for answering my question. The unstated reason I asked is because I have an iPad and will be doing the majority my martial arts reading and research on it, so I will be looking for e-books ahead of paper books. That won't stop me buying e-books without pictures but if I need to get the paper version as well to get pictures then so be it.
Regards...Geoff
Just finished it on my kindle. Some great ideas in there, I have to say. I have now made a list of the drills that will push students in my group, the drills that don't necessarily gel with their experiences and ideas.
Read this, and one thing I have decided I *must* do....ask my barber (female, foreign, very beautiful, raven black hair etc) out on a date ..and I was thinking it was just going to be about training drills ;-)))
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