The results of the survey (see below post) have been extremely interesting. I am going to leave the poll up until next Friday, so there is still time to vote.
There have been nearly 150 respondents, for which we are very grateful. Lots of folks have wanted to make their opinions and thoughts known, and we are extremely appreciative for the effort. Thus far, the Maryland Campaign is far and away the favorite subject for the next "Complete Guide," garnering about 40% of the vote. That one is indeed next, as Steve Stanley and I signed the contract for that book several months ago.
The Valley Campaigns, the 1863 Cavalry battles, and Petersburg have "fought" back and forth for second place. All the other choices in the poll have also been popular with many respondents, except for Mine Run and (surprisingly) Appomattox. I didn't expect Mine Run to do very well, but I was a bit taken aback that Appomattox got very few votes.
The written comments in the poll have also been extremely revealing. I have been reading them with a great deal of interest. One respondent reminded me, for example, of a minor skirmish during the Maryland Campaign that I'd completely forgotten about. Perhaps because the poll is anonymous, respondents feel free to speak their mind and all of them have been very positive.
There's still about a week left, so even though the Maryland Campaign work will indeed be next, we encourage people to still vote if they haven't yet. The answers are helping drive us toward what will be the project after that. Later this year or early next year I will put up a similar poll about that subsequent project and I expect it to be even more interesting.
By the way, many folks have been asking about the progress on the audio tour supplements for The Complete Gettysburg Guide. Steve is nearly finished with the package design for Volume One - The Battlefield, and I am recording the audio in a nearby professional recording studio this coming Wednesday, April 14. The 2-CD digipak for Volume One should be available no later than mid-May, with the subsequent two volumes to be released over June and July at the latest. They all will also be available as downloads, likely sooner than the digipak releases. Volume One is the audio tour of the entire main battlefield, on 2 discs (total 150 minutes). The package will contain several of Steve's maps.
The studio producer has been very helpful guiding me through the somewhat complicated process of producing a professional recording, and has been making it both easy and fun - and quite a learning process.
Stay tuned for more!
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