[MR] SCA and Related Publications

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Tuesday night the Shire of Isenfir held a Zoom chat thingie for A&S topics.
I couldn't fully participate because Zoom did not want to play nicely with
my computer's Safari browser. So I posted what I wanted to say about some
of the SCA's publications, with a bit more detail, directly to Isenfir's
internet discussion board.

I occurred to me that some of you who read the Merry Rose might not know
about all these resources, or if you are a seasoned Scadian you might have
forgotten them. They all have their uses, and maybe now during this time of
plague when we can't play together, they might help keep our interests up.
If there are newcomers in your local group, some of you might call these
resources to their attention.

I can't find my copy of the KNOWN WORLD HANDBOOK, and I do not currently
subscribe to either TOURNAMENTS ILLUMINATED or THE COMPLETE ANACHRONIST
(Lady Sarah and I are retired on a slightly reduced income, so I dropped
subscriptions to both). My information was hastily prepared, and might be a
bit out of date. If so please forgive me.

So here (more or less) is what I wrote:

TOURNAMENTS ILLUMINATED is a quarterly SCA-produced general magazine. It
covers all aspects of the SCA's "Known World" -- combat sports,
arts-and-sciences, heraldry, etc. There are also book and music CD reviews,
as well as standing columns. The articles are all member-written, and
topics depend on what people want to submit. More information can be found
at https://www.sca.org/publications-officer/ti/ , including an index of
articles from past issues. Recent back issues are also available for
purchase from the SCA Marketplace: https://members.sca.org/apps/#Store .

THE COMPLEAT ANACHRONIST is also an SCA quarterly, but devoted just to A&S
topics. The articles are more detailed than those from TI, sometimes the
whole issue being devoted to research by a single author. This is usually
really in-depth stuff, but also of lasting value. For more information, go
to https://www.sca.org/publications-officer/ca/ . The complete list of
issues is found at
https://www.sca.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/CAIndex.pdf . Some recent
issues are available at the SCA Marketplace:
https://members.sca.org/apps/#Store .

Sometimes when Scadians are cleaning out their attics, back issues of TI
and CA will turn up on sales tables, such as at Holiday Faire. Back issues
of CA are particularly prized.

Subscriptions to both TI and CA are handled through the membership
functions on the SCA web site at https://www.sca.org/join-us/ . If you add
either publication to an existing membership, it will be pro-rated to the
end of your current membership period. Otherwise, you can specify them as
add-ons when you renew your membership. AFAIK, subscriptions aren't
available to non-dues-paid players (feel free to offer a correction if I'm
wrong), but anyone can buy back-issues through the Marketplace (or via
house cleaning).

I should also mention the KNOWN WORLD HANDBOOK. This is not a recurring
publication, but a one-off. The current edition was published in 2010, and
includes 80 articles on various topics of SCA interest. It is also
available from the SCA Marketplace.

Finally, I want to mention RENAISSANCE MAGAZINE. This is not an SCA
publication, though it has much of interest to us, and even includes a
regular SCA column. RM is issued six times a year, and is a slick, partly
color journal. It covers all aspects of medieval and renaissance life, with
a slant towards the renfaire world. Under its current format, each issue
usually has a theme, with perhaps half of the issue's articles devoted to
that subject. For example, the issue I have in hand is mostly about feasts
and foodways. There are also regular columns, humor, renfaire photo
spreads, book and music CD reviews, lists of renfairs, and lots of ads. You
can subscribe to RM via https://renaissancemagazine.com . If you want to
buy a single issue, RM is available at some Barnes & Noble stores (when
they re-open after the plague).

Stay safe, my friends. Hopefully we can all play together again soon.

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆