h3>Sikh War Book Update, March 10, 2012
It's been almost five months since my last update, so I thought I would fill you in on what's happened and what didn't happen during the interim.
What didn't happen:
From late December through late February, not terribly much. But, there are good reasons for the lack of input:
I did not stop writing right up until December 23rd or so; I kept threatening to, but I knew myself, so I kept at it until I finally needed a break. Almost seven straight months of writing, with only a day here or a weekend there to catch my breath.
But, like I said, I KNOW myself, when I finally stopped, it was hard to get back into gear and I found a lot of excuses to avoid doing all but the most cursory work on the book.
Of course, there were legitimate reasons, such as I had other projects, articles and games to work on, along with a few "household" issues and of even greater importance, my accountant had a severe health issue and literally dropped from the radar for two months, forcing me to look for another accountant. Fortunately, just before making an appointment with someone I didn't know, my accountant emerged from the depths, with a new junior partner and I was able to square my taxes away two days later (refund arrived yesterday, as a matter of fact).
Again though, I continued to read, scribble notes, do this and do that, but never quite wrote anything, until last week, when…
What I have accomplished.
I was able to get back in touch with an old acquaintance, Major Agha Amin, late 11th PAVO Cavalry Regiment, FF, when I found a new version of his old "Chillianwala" article online. The latest version was full of rare artwork and a superb set of maps, which would be a goldmine if we could get Major Amin's permission to use them. My old Email link did not work and I had to ask around, but several helpful folks on CSW and TMP provided me with his current Email and we were soon in contact.
I told Major Amin about my project and asked if I could include his article, to show an Eastern point of view in regards to the Sikh Wars. I also explained to the major that I would edit his article for grammar and spelling only, while keeping his original arguments and statements intact. Not only did the major generously give me permission to edit his article, but was kind enough to send Patrick and myself the original maps, in scalable format, so they would be crystal clear, no matter what size Patrick ended using. Major Amin was also kind enough to allow me to add commentary to some of his more controversial remarks. The funny thing is, I did write several comments, but the vast majority of them are complimentary and agree, at least to some extent, with Major Amin's original statements. Go figure.
In return for Major Amin's trust, not only did I keep my word, but I also provided links to his original article and the more recent one, which I gathered from another blog. I want my readers to know how honest I am when it came to not changing a single word of Major Amin's arguments and intent and the best way is the link to the originals, the grammar and spelling may have changed, but not one word of intent. I strongly disagreed with the major on a few issues though and stated as such in my commentaries, but Major Amin was kind enough to give me final clearance yesterday and the article, some thirty two (32) pages long, is now in the hands of Patrick Wilson for final editing.
Both Patrick and I are very pleased with this small coup and can't wait until you read both the Major's version and view the spectacular maps he created.
But wait, there's more…
My friend, and fellow 19th Century history author, Mike Embree, devoted a very large chunk of his spare time in proofreading my "finished" chapters and sending them back to correct. I can honestly say, that on average, I accepted at least 75% of his suggested changes and made sure I triple checked those few I didn't agree with. Whenever I asked him to check or read something, he did so cheerfully and even asked for more work. I finally let him off the hook around mid-January with my most sincere thanks, his first words back, "let me know when you need me to read some more chapters".
Doctor Robert Pye, studying over in England and also working on his Sikh War book has also joined the team by providing Patrick and I with a very rare booklet that we will include for Free as part of the Sikh War Sourcebook. On top of that, he's working on getting us some full color period maps to accompany the book he most graciously provided us, let's all hope that he's successful.
Neil Carlton, Dennis Mckinney and Chris Ferree are also on board and are either adding new information to their original chapters or, in Dennis' case, working on something completely new, but very important and overlooked before, until Dennis came up with the suggestion out of the blue. The best thing about Dennis' article is that it will be of equal interest to history buffs, historians and wargamers.
So, as you can see, this is becoming very much a team effort and we're all doing our best to make sure that the best information is in our hands before the book is sent off to Patrick at TVAG to print, and believe me, we're getting there.
The printing schedule is in flux, due to the break, but Patrick and I do assure you that the book will be printed in 2012, THAT MUCH we know for sure. Stay tuned!
Andrew Preziosi
