Info from Christer...
Hello, dear friends and supporters,
Good news for everyone: The brand new edition of Black Cross Red Star, Vol. 3 is soon completed and will be ready for delivery next month.
See:
https://vaktelforlag.se/produkt-kategori/english/This is nothing like the old, 2006 edition: It is a completely new book, with a 250 % larger wordcount, many, many new and previously unpublished photographs from the pilot veterans’ private photo albums, and, above all, an immense wealth of previously never published and hitherto completely unknown, quite dramatic facts directly from primary sources – of course from the official archives in both Germany and Russia, but also from many private holdings, such as veterans’ organizations’ collections of primary documents, etc.
I would appreciate if you would take the time to read this rather long, but important message.
Since I started working anew on this series with Volume 4 (published in 2019), each volume tends to surpass the previous one in the quality of the material, and that definitely is the case with this volume, which, among other things, covers the air war during the first stage of the Battle of Stalingrad. I have so many really thrilling facts that not everything could fit in the manuscript text (I have to limit the book to 384 pages to keep the weight below 2 kg, or otherwise the postage will be too much), but instead I have placed such material in photo captions, so that very many of the photos and photo captions in principle are small fact boxes. In that way, I can have more photographs in this volume than in any of the previous ones, which is a good thing because I have so many more excellent photos for this one than for the previous ones.
As in the previous volumes since 2019, this one also has aircraft color profile by the expert Jim Laurier, very clear professional maps by Samuel Svärd, and photos of all aircraft types mentioned in the book on the inside of the dustjacket. And, of course, it has the same paper and printing quality as in the previous volumes since 2019. And hardcover, large format (A4).
I do all of this because I know that with this book series, I am breaking absolutely new historical ground – this is the complete and detailed history of the world’s largest air war, the one on the Eastern Front, told for the very first time. Because of that, this series will be a reference work for many years to come, and if nothing else, I owe it to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in that huge air war to make the book about their fight and suffering a very nice book.
But, of course, it is expensive. And the Black Cross Red Star series probably is not the first book that “beginners” start with when they have started to get interested in World War II. It is a book of interest mainly to the experts, either those who have already read “everything” on the subject and are hungry for a book where every page contains something brand new, or those who have a special interest in the Eastern Front. I feel honored by that, but at the same time, it means that not very many copies of each volume are sold.
I am also publishing this by myself, paying for the production out of my own pocket; a “normal”, commercial publisher would be out of his mind to pay so much for the production of a book that would sell just as much even if it was only half as large, had no color profiles, and was in softcover. To publish it by myself is the only way to tell this hitherto unknown history in such a detailed way and with such a “luxurious” package.
But it is a big economic risk-taking.
I am completely depending on pre-orders and, not least, any crowdfunder that I can get, to make this project come true.
I know that the economic situation in the world has made it difficult for people to support this project, and the old generation which is most interested in this subject is slowly fading away. I have asked for pre-orders and crowdfundings, and I am most grateful to those of you who have pre-ordered or even crowdfunded this volume. However, although many of you are enthusiastic, I am afraid that I have not yet received pre-orders or crowdfundings to make me break even on this volume.
That, however, has been the case at this stage with every volume. After I have reminded people about this, I have – at the last minute – received new pre-orders and crowdfundings that have “saved” each new volume by making me break even. I have even earned a small profit for my work from each of the previous volumes.
But now I am in the situation again where I am getting nervous about the funding for the production of this new volume, and this is a plea for all of you who are interested in the subject that if you have not pre-ordered this new Volume 3, please do consider to do so, or, even better, to crowdfund it.
I am sending this email also to those of you who already have made a pre-order or even crowdfunded it. Please accept my sincere gratitude for your support. If you can help spread the word about this volume and the whole book series (only very few people know about the existence of the Black Cross Red Star series), I would be most grateful. If you know of someone who would be happy to receive it as a Christmas present or similar from you, it would be fantastic.
If I sound a bit desperate, it is because I am. 🙂
I would also like to apologize to those of you who have emailed me orders for the book or asked for a confirmation that I have received your pre-payment: I have not replied to any emails in the past few weeks, and that is because of two reasons: First of all, I lost someone very dear to me, and that took away my energy for some time. (It was, thank God, not my wife or children.) Secondly, I have to work very, very hard (to finish the work on the photos and photo caption for the book, so that it is published in time. So far, I have written the photo captions for 14 of the 18 chapters in the book, and they cover 52 pages in Word. I hope you can accept my apology for not having replied to your email yet; I will, but I take the liberty to prioritize getting Black Cross Red Star, Vol. 3 finished in time. I feel that I owe that to my supporters.
After Volume 3, I will immediately start working on Volume 6, which will cover the air war on the Eastern Front during the period August 1943 – February 1944. I have a wealth of very interesting information from that period, and I am just “dying” to put it in print.
Would you like to support the new Black Cross Red Star, Vol. 3 with a crowdfunding of USD$ 120? That will help to maintain the high graphic quality of the continued book series, the photos, etc. All crowdfunders will receive a signed and individually numbered copy. Or would you like to pre-order a copy at the ordinary price USD$ 85?
If so, please email me at vaktelforlag@gmail.com
…and please transfer the payment to my Paypal account:
vaktelforlag@gmail.com
Please select the alternative "To family and friends" to avoid the Paypal fee of 6 %, or add 6 % for Paypal fees.
I also need your postal address and phone number.
As for the postage for sending the book, I will return on that issue once the book has been sent to the printer (it takes about four weeks for the books to be printed and delivered to me).
Looking ahead at the future, I feel that the completion of the whole series, Volumes 1 – 8 after the year 2019, is looming ahead. So what shall I do after that? Any suggestions is welcome. I do think of maybe writing a full-blown chronicle in several volumes on JG 52, with as much information about its opponents in the air as I use to write.
Please don’t hesitate to forward this email to anyone you might think might be interested.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Black Cross Red Star series, I attach an excerpt from Volume 5.
All the best and many thanks in advance,
Christer Bergström
Vaktel Förlag
Strandgatan 2A
S-633 43 Eskilstuna
Sweden
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Topic: Black Cross Red Star news (Read 289 times)
