Getting Ready for the next big thing

For the publishing world, spring means that a young man's fancy turns to - Book Expo America or the con of your choice.  For me BEA offers me a chance to show off some of the great things I've managed to create during the past year and showcase some of the things we have coming up.

As an author blog much of what I may say here will be similar to what I'm writing over on the Winged Hussar Publishing Blog - The Hetman's Janissary Company - but I approach them from different angles.  This is more about what I'm working on, that is about the books we may be editing and producing.  Yes, it's schizophrenic but it keeps things separate.

I'm finishing up editing my twofer of Roman military tactics out in June, while I am getting a uniform book in order.  It's a manuscript with color drawing of the Polish-Lithuanian Army from 1775 along with notes by Gabriel Raspe.  This book has been seen in bits and pieces over the years, but I'm not sure the last time it has been reprinted in its entirety, but probably over 100 years.  It was originally published in a bi-lingual edition of French and German.  I'm translating it into English with the hope of a Polish translation as well, plus extra info to give the reader some perspective on the army and it's time.  It will be over 125 pages in full color.

Extra added bits, because I've been lack in posting - I've done two guest blogs for Bill King's blog to be post sometime in the upcoming weeks.  If you get a chance just check out Bill's blogsite:  ww.williamking.me.  Bill's a great author and guy.

I've also be named editor for a non-profit historical journal titled "The Journal of America's Military Past" which means its a volunteer position, but its a great publication that is peer reviewed and adds to the historical perspective so it fits in with my overall objectives.

If any of your will be at BEA, stop by our booth (387) and say hi.

Here is the cover of the next book I have coming out, look for it in June.

Now Available

My book, Armies of the Polish Partitions 1770 - 1794, is now available.  I have copies available for sale on my website:  www.Wingedhussarpublishing.com.  Buy an autographed copy today

I'm starting work on a book based on Gembarzewski's, Zolnierz Polski - od 1697 do 1794 Roku and his Rodowody Pulkow Polskich.  This will be a study of Polish Army units from the Great Northern War until the Kosciuszko Rebellion published in English.  There may be a Polish version as well.  To be determined.

It has arrived!

Finally!  I received an advance copy of my book, "Polish Armies of the Partitions 1770 - 1794" from Osprey.  A good day.

End of one, beginnig of another

So this year is coming to a close, but a new one is on the way.  Armies of the Polish Partitions 1770 - 1794 should be ariving in the next few weeks.  I, of course, will give you an unbiased opinion when I get a copy.  I think it's going to be great.  Look for it on the Osprey Publishing website and all good book stores.

In the interim, I managed to release my edition of The Gallic Wars, a new edition of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, full of information in the appendices sure to give you new insight on this classic by the man himself - G. Julius Caesar.  You can find this at Wingedhussarpublishing.com as well as all booksellers and their websites.

I have a new one in the works that will be out in January - Frederick the Great's Instructions to His Generals.  This is a new edition of Frederick's secret instructions to his officers written in the 1740's.  As usual, I will have maps, glossaries, biographys and battles, all you need to understand the context of these orders and the background behind them.  This will be available from Winged Hussar Publishing, LLC.

Writting an article I hope to present to Wargames Illustrated after the New Year relating to my Polish Armies book above called, Wargaming the Bar, information on creating a wargame scenario and armies for the battles during the Bar Confederation 1768 - 1772.

Almost there time for a new one

Well, the book is cataloged and up on the Osprey website.  You can see it here along with some of the illustrations they commissioned for the book.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/Polish-Armies-of-the-Partitions-1770%E2%80%9394_9781849088558

Working up the artist notes, as I have said before is interesting.  Essentially, you set the scene you want the artist to portray, provide as many notes on the uniforms that the artist will produce and then walk away.  Yup, you have no further contact with the artist unless my editor came back with a question.  You may think this odd, but really it is the most practical.

Artists are generally not like Michelangelo brooding over their work and taking years (well some are).  Publishers can't wait indefinitely for the illustrations (some still do).  Ideally, both side use the old carpenters adage of essentially measure twice and cut once.  Once provide as thorough a description, get some sketches to make sure you are on the right track and give a deadline.  When I sent the notes in I also provided a sketch of what I thought the scene should look like.

If you don't do this, the temptation is to tweak everything.  When you are working on a cover for a book this might be possible.  Many artists work on the computer this this is not as painful as it might seem.  Still both sides want to be done and move on with the best product.  So, I didn't see the final product till it was put up on the website - all in all I think they came out pretty well.  I hope you like them.

So now I'm moving on to the next venture.  I started an imprint called Winged Hussar Publishing LLC, you can see it at www.wingedhussarpublishing.com.  I'm waiting till after the Polish Armies of the Partitions to come out before I do any other Polish history, so I am almost done working of an edition of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars.

I expect The Gallic Wars to be out as an e-book on the 26th of November.  I was trying to get it out next week, but two weeks of delays from Sandy has hurt my schedule.  A week later expect a paperback edition to be available.  The Gallic Wars is edited and updated, meaning I have cleaned up a translation to make it readable to the modern ear, added maps, illustrations and a bunch of appendices dealing with people places and things of the period.  If you have not read Caesar's commentaries, or not read it for a while this is a great opportunity for you.  It is a fascinating work of the period and while Caesar does go on at time over the mundane, the picture he paints of the time and people is quite even handed.

The Final Cover

Well, I finally got a copy of the final cover for Polish Armies of the partitions as you can see above.  The artist did a great job and I can assure you the inside is just as well done.  Yes, for those in the know, that is Tadeusz Kosciuszko on the right.  Just three more months.  Excitement abounds

Ranks and Files

So, they have changed this on my again.  Great fun.  Anyway...
Finally saw the PDF of the book with illustrations laid out.  Made the last changes and it has gone off to the printer.

Here is one of the images that didn't make it into the book.  I will make it available as a PDF download as soon I figure out how to do it.   This is the rank badges for the Polish Army 1765 - 1794. Till then..

Just a quick update to remind you I still care

I went through a bunch of corrections on all the city names we list in the book.  Many of them are listed as they were in the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.  Of course today, those cities, towns and villages are split between four different countries - so of which have renamed them.  The long and the short of it is I double checked the spelling, tracked down the name today and will make a gazetteer available on-line  if you want to track them down.

Mike Ramalho at Osprey tells me "Polish Armies of the Partitions" is now in their next catalogue that should be printed for August - still have to wait till January 2013 to receive a copy.  Still, exciting times.  For those of you unfamiliar with the work of the artist, Raffaele Ruggeri, he is an A+ military artist and I am very happy to have been paired with him.

I have a couple of short articles on the Warlord site for the Persian, Assyrians and Babylonian armies.  Here is a link for the Persian to take a look:

http://www.warlordgames.com/22771/the-early-achaemenid-persian-army-550-bc-%E2%80%93-450-bc/

Keep an eye here for more information soon.

Armies on Parade

Well, my editor has come back with some final changes, and the artist assigned finished the color illustrations. I've been working on armies based on parts of the book.  The first unit is the Crown Guard infantry circa 1770.  The figures are Eureka figures based on the Saxon 1763 range.  The grenadiers are from Triangle miniatures and the flags are based on drawings in the upcoming book.    Next up is a unit of Bar Confederation and Russian Infantry.

I've started working on a book covering the Polish Legions 1795 - 1807.  This will cover the the Legions in Italy, the Demi-brigades sent to Santo Domingo, The Northern Legion, Vistula Legion and some odd bits and pieces.  More on that as it develops.

I can adapt to change.  I think I do pretty well with it, but I'm not a fan of sudden change.  The log-in for Blogspot seems to have changed so that it took me a few minutes to get back to familiar ground.  It happens, I swear in one of the several languages I know how to swear in and move on.  Not everything is that easy.  I also know that the next time I log-in I will also forget what I did to get back here and so I will repeat the above.  I guess I need to log-in more often.

So, that brings me to the next topic.  I have several projects running at the same time now.  Working on a book on the Polish Legions 1795 - 1808. This will entail the Italian Legions, the demi-brigades in French Service, The Legion of the North and the Vistula Legion.  I may take it through 1815 since the Vistula Legions were reorganized after the retreat from Moscow.  I am also cleaning up some translations I did while researching the Polish Armies of the Partitions and doing some work on a Roman history.  I may be publishing some of these through a company called Winged Hussar Publishing - but more on that at a later date.

So, if I haven't mentioned it lately, Polish Armies of the Partitions 1770 - 1794, is now available for pre-order on Amazon, B&N.com and all good bookstore.  This does not ship until December, but don't wait.  Click now!! Or if you prefer to browse, run (just not with scissors) to your local store.  Sorry this is what I do - shameless shill for myself and my associates.

Cover up

Hey good news.  We have a cover.  I found that this was up on Amazon - but oddly, not on B&N.com yet.  The nice people at Osprey gave me a copy so I can promote it.  Soooooo, here it is.

The ISBN is 978-1-84908855-8 or for those using old style 1-84908855-1.

It is shipping in January 2013.  That means I can still bug you with updates on this for a little while as I work on my next projects.

Keep an eye out for more information.  Till then keep well.

New Stuff - wait where did this come from

From the last time I posted on here blogger decided to change the format so I got a little disoriented (not that unusual for me).  Well, got a request from Osprey on how I wanted my name to appear on the cover.  Yeah - getting closer, and by closer I mean January 2013.  Excitement galore on that front.

 I'm starting a new project at the moment - Gembarzewski's book on Polish units 1717 - 1831 was a great resource, but very difficult to find.  I'm copying it over in Polish and will put a free PDF download on the site when I am finished.  After that I will put up a translation, annotated and with more information that I will make available as an e-book for a small fee or as a POD copy.

Just finished two articles for the fine folks at Warlord Games on Assyrians and Persians to go with their newly released figures.  There is a third article coming for a yet un-released range so look for that.  More news when I have it.

Some updates and a Pubdate

Finally we have a PUBDATE!  January 2013 is when it goes on-sale, shipping in December 2012.  The irony here is if the Mayan Prophecies comes true you may never see it.  It's always something.

The artist's notes are done.  I expect I may see some changes to the text, but I feel like a good part of the process is done.

There are some more articles up on the Warlord website - mostly Russian Napoleonic uniforms.  I am also working on some ancient history for the Persians and Assyrians just to show I'm not a one-trick pony :).

I have been busy with a bunch of non-history stuff at the moment, but hopefully more updates soon as we get closer to the print date. I'm not sure how long Osprey prints ahead of release, but this means it could mean it has to be edited, laid out and illustrated to go to print in July or August - not that long in print terms.

In any case this is a whoo-hoo moment.

Hurry Up and Wait

Well, the book has been sent to the publisher and I wait for comments and corrections.  Not to be idle, I've started a couple of projects for life after the publish.  First, starting to gather research on phase 2, The Polish Legion 1796 - 1808.  There is alot of information, the question is can i find enough illustration to complement the book.  I think so, but I'm still gathering info.

Next, I was able to get a copy of the Polish Infantry Drill Manual from 1790, that I used in my book on the Polish army.   I'm copying it over correcting to a more readable modern Polish (think where the original was like ye olde English) and then translate into English to be posted as a pdf.

I also found some great Front Rank miniatures to add to my Confederation of the Bar era army project.  The esteem able Dave Taylor has provided me an article on photographing miniatures that I will try to use to show you progress.

Best till later

It never ends

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and the New Year - I did.

The manuscript and illustrations have gone off to the publisher, now I am just waiting for changes, admonishments and suggestions.  That said, I'm still eliciting input and double checking facts.  Up to the time it is laid out all is fair game.  I'm still working on some of the water color drawings for future use - as I finish them I will attempt to put some up on the site.

In conjunction with this book, I am working on some miniatures to tie into this period.  Currently, I'm painting up soldier of the Bar Confederation.  Eureka Miniatures has a Saxon range for the 1760's that works well for some Polish soldiers of the years 1763 - 1772.  They also have some lancers that work with the minimum conversion.

At the same time, Trent Miniatures has a range of figures for the Revolutionary wars in Italy which include the Polish Legions. I did a quick uniform guide for them, but I'm hoping to expand this into my second book - we'll see how that works.  I will probably update this to include some info on flags in the near future.

Totally unrelated, my good friends at Warlord Games have a new line of Russian troops from the Napoleonic Wars, so I am working on a quick uniform painting guide.  More info on that when it is finished and if they use it.

Our story so far...

Geez, I feel like one of those bloggers - "I know it has been a long time, blah, blah blah." and I realise I am one of those bloggers.  This reminds me of one time when I was a lad and my roommate had a bit too much one night.  He grabbed a roll of toilet paper on the way to the bathroom and dropped it, but held on to the end of the roll.  For some reason he thought pulling on the end would make the roll come to him - it just kept moving away. That is like where my time has gone of late, but I have been busy.

So, the manuscript is 98% done, the black and white illustrations are ready and finished writing the text to accompany the color illustrations. I am now starting to work on the artist notes so you will all have excellent pictures that Osprey books are known for.  There is a limit to the amount of original art these books can contain so we all have to just deal with it.  That said, I am going for a broad spectrum of normal (lancers and infantry), different (Bar Confederates) and exotic (Janissaries).  I'm sure I will go back to add more information post-publication, but that is a project for another day.  My initial plan is to create additional info as a pdf to download.

On a different note I have done some quick uniform guides for Warlord Games dealing with Polish World War II and Prussian Landwehr (not related, but both of interest to me).  Check out their website, all sorts of goodies and great miniatures. If I can only convince them or the Perry's to do miniatures on this period my work will be done - for now.

I have procured some great material of late.  Gembarzewski's 2 volume work Wojsko Polskie 1807 - 1830 as well a Morawski's illustrated book on the Legions - always planning ahead.

Passing the Bar

Here is the last of the Bar Confederation Cavalry sketches.  Only 2 will make it into the current book.  If anyone has preferences let me know.  Next up will be probably be some infantry from the Barist period - both Government and Confederate.

More Cavalry

Did some more sketches of Bar Cavalrymen for your review.  Not all of these will make it in this book, but we need choices. I have a couple more I will be adding shortly.  I am sending the text for feedback at the moment.

Don't be too judgemental

I started working on the artists notes, so really trained artists can do the center colour plates.  In order to do this I started some watercolor sketches of potential units.  I will be putting up pictures indescriminantly, give me feedback if there are units you want to see more of.  Today I am focusing on the Confederation of the Bar cavalry.  I'm trying to get a good cross section that will give you the feel for the period.  More to come over the next few days. Please let me know what you think.

Why e-books will save publishing

I just received another of my Polish language books in the mail on the Polish Army in the 18th century.  A great book with some good source material, but it still falls short.  The reason is the economics of making a full color book means it is either very expensive to get everything you want in, or you are forced to leave things out to be able to publish it at all.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these new tech people who say books are dead in physical form.  I like the feel of a book, when it is well made it is a thing of beauty, but the finances of publishing means that you can do somethings better in e-books.

First, not everyone has a color e-reader (nook, i-pad, etc) and I find there can be formatting problems in some of these devices to allow color pictures to be seen properly, but when you have a lot of illustrations, it is far cheaper do use an e-format.  For some people this may mean physical books might have websites to provide extra material on-line, or it might mean that at some point e-book sales may be used to help provide impetus for physical books. There are books and information that may not be viable in physical form, but will be allowed to get published in e-book.  I remember a few years ago at Book Expo seeing a book entitled "Birthing Techniques of Azerbajan".  I'm sure it was of use to people who study these things, but how could they afford to publish it?  This is perfect for an e-book.  The drawback is you can publish anything at any time and some non-professional stuff is already creeping onto POD and e-versions at Amazon, but the potential is there for a new burst of information.

In terms of history and especially military history, when studying armies, units and uniforms a picture is worth a thousand words and e-books may be the best way to allow information to get out there.