Comments for E. C. Ambrose

Comment on A Brief History of Gunpowder Weapons in 14th Century England by 54014

54014 — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:59:23 +0000

Greetings, I discovered your website on http://ecambrose.
wordpress.com/2012/10/10/a-brief-history-of-gunpowder-weapons-in-14th-century-england/ at the same time
as searching for a corresponding subject, your blog came up,
it seems interesting. I’ve bookmarked it in my google book marks.

Comment on Respecting Dan Brown by E. C. Ambrose

E. C. Ambrose — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:32:36 +0000

Thanks for reading.

Perhaps being in a genre widely denigrated by others has made me more aware of this–especially since it was a few of my SF/F writer friends who were gleefully passing around nasty links about Dan Brown. If people love it that much, there’s something there. We don’t have to love each other’s enthusiasms, but we should at least be respectful about it.

Comment on Respecting Dan Brown by Alastair Savage

Alastair Savage — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:47:48 +0000

I absolutely agree. It’s hard to get someone to read one page you’ve written, let alone a whole book. To get people reading your novels all over the world is a huge achievement, Writing a page-turner as Brown does is itself a real skill, but not one that many people recognise. It’s writing as a form of entertainment, and I lap it up as much as the next person.

Comment on Handgun Control in Medieval Japan by thrashmad

thrashmad — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:06:31 +0000

Glad to be of help .
Now that you mention dates, I remember seeing both 1542 and 1543 as guns (the more advanced version that is) arriving with the Portuguese to the island of Tanegashima. Could be an error in converting calendars, I’m not sure which one is correct, but I think it’s 1543.
I should clarify that the guns of the peasants had during the Edo period were weapons, they was used to hunt animals after all, so they knew guns could kill. They just seem to not be viewed as something to attack humans with.
I think that one factor that sometimes is overlooked when it comes to early guns is the effectiveness they had against armour. Increasingly protective armour had made it harder for bows and crossbows to hurt enemies. Guns had a lot of energy that could penetrate armour. This was probably an important reason they got adopted along with the psychological effect they had.

Comment on Handgun Control in Medieval Japan by E. C. Ambrose

E. C. Ambrose — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:33:23 +0000

Thanks for sharing some new and useful information.

RE: the sign. In doing some follow-up research, I found several different dates given, but mostly around that time, mid- to late- 1500′s. I’m fascinated by the idea that they weren’t weapons, per se, but warning devices. It meshes nicely with some of the other research on the early use of guns. In part because it took a long time for guns to become accurate and reliable enough to be taken seriously, they were often adopted for their visual and auditory effects. I’ll have to track down the article you mentioned.

Comment on Handgun Control in Medieval Japan by thrashmad

thrashmad — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:14:21 +0000

I think that museum sign had a small typo; guns arrived in 1543 as Wikipedia states.

On guns in Japan, I have to point out that “Giving up the Gun” doesn’t seem to be a good source on the subject. The author of the book, Noel Perrin, states that the Tokugawa Shogunate almost eliminated guns from Japan because the samurai disliked them and where attached to their swords. This view is not supported by people who studied Japanese history. There was a thread on forum where two reviews of it where posted: http://forums.samurai-archives.com/viewtopic.php?p=67043&sid=83308c47385e95da73025bb94766becb
The historians who wrote the reviews ascribe the decline of guns as a consequence of the peace. I tend to agree with them, no real wars to speak of led to smaller demand for guns and swords where in addition to being status symbols more useful for self-defence and small-scale fighting then the guns of the time.

I also read an interesting article called “The Social Life of Firearms in Tokugawa Japan”. It outlines the history of guns among the peasants during the Edo period. Peasants were allowed to own guns for hunting and scaring away animals to protect their crops. They had to have licence for the guns, but there were some unlicensed guns. During the latter part of the Edo period they could also be allowed to own guns for protection against “bad guys”, wandering outsiders, some of them samurai. Up until that point guns doesn’t seem to have been viewed as weapons. The author of the article could find no record of it being used in fights to hurt anyone. In one fight between some bad guys and some villagers a gun was fired, but only as a distress signal!
To me, this point towards that cultural factors and the social structure are most important factors when it comes to limit violence.

Comment on Skinning your Own Apes: Researching from Primary Sources by dhhanni

dhhanni — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:01:37 +0000

Reblogged this on DH Hanni.

Comment on Skinning your Own Apes: Researching from Primary Sources by Lorinda J. Taylor

Lorinda J. Taylor — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:19:46 +0000

Exactly the way historical fiction should be written! And also exactly why I don’t write historical fiction! I haven’t the time or patience at this point of my life to do that kind of historical research. I do, however, occasionally research something in depth that I’m really interested in or that plays an inescapable role in my fiction.

Comment on A Brief History of Gunpowder Weapons in 14th Century England by Handgun Control in Medieval Japan | E. C. Ambrose

Handgun Control in Medieval Japan | E. C. Ambrose — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:27:43 +0000

[...] I was startled. If firearms developed, along with gunpowder, in China early enough to migrate to England by the 14th century, how could they not have reached Japan before the 1593? The answer is, naturally, more complicated [...]

Comment on What’s in a Name? The Naming of Elisha by E. C. Ambrose

E. C. Ambrose — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:17:53 +0000

I found the names in the Termite Queen intriguing, especially as we came to understand the naming tradition among the Shshi. And of course, I’m a fan of mythic names with dangerous undertones.

On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 9:48 AM, E. C. Ambrose