עוד:
לזילזני חגורה שחורה באייקידו דאן 2 (?) והוא גם לימד אייקידו. מי שזוכר את תיאורי קרבות החרב המקצועיים שלו (כמו קרב האימון בחצרו של גנאלון בGuns of Avalon) לא יופתע לדעת שזילזני עסק גם בסיף מערבי (מישהו כבר הזכיר את זה כאן). זילזני למד גם ג'ודו וטאי צ'י. 1: Roger was not an Issac Asimov, unhappy when seperated from his typewriter. Writing was both a love and a profession, but he had interests beyond it. He was an accomplished martial artist with a black belt in aikido (which he also taught) and a working knowledge of several other martial arts. The collection Warriors of Blood and Dream which he edited reflects his abiding interest in this field. Another enthusiasm was music--folk, jazz, classical, and some rock (I got him listening to David Bowie). He read widely and voraciously, collected oriental rugs, and delighted in sweets. 2: One thing he does not make much use of is his aikido training. He feels it makes you choreograph fights too much. He also fenced for three years and does use that for his fencing scenes, especially in the Amber series. 3: This from Jane Lindskold (if I get more info, I'll post it): "Roger was a black belt in Aikido. I don't recall what level off the cuff. Aikido was important enough to Roger that the only deliberately autobiographical piece he ever wrote was titled "Aikido Black." This was never published, but parts of it were cannibalized for the introduction to the anthology WARRIORS OF BLOOD AND DREAM, which Roger edited. Roger did teach an aikido class, but this was at the direct request of his sensei, Phil Cleverly when Phil was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and could no longer teach. Roger didn't want to teach, but Phil convinced him by telling him that would be the best way for him to learn more about aikido. Roger allowed himself to be persuaded, and taught the class for several years, eventually giving it up when various things conspired to make it impossible for him to continue. Aikido was not the only martial art Roger practiced. He had fenced in college and was pretty proud of his two letters in fencing (esp since he didn't think of himself as a jock). He started with judo back when he was a young man, tried various other forms, and pretty regularly mixed Tai Chi into his daily routine. If someone really wants a full history of Roger's various martial arts and how they influenced his writing, I did a section of a chapter on this in the biography of Roger I wrote for Twayne publications these many years past. * מצטער שלא רשמתי את המקורות של הטקסטים כאן. אין לי כוח פשוט לחזור לחזור לזה...