I want to write a newsletter about the Ottoman Empire in the Age of Napoleon. Do you want to read it?

If so, this is what it will look like and it will cost you about $1 per issue or $4 a year. The eight-page format will be standard, though, if we get a long article, we may occasionally go up to 12 pages.

If you're interested, send money. If you have a question, or better yet, know something worth sharing, send it along and it will probably appear in a future issue.

My own interest in the Ottoman Empire in the Napoleonic Era is an off-shoot of my interest in historical gaming. About 10 years ago I wrote a small pamphlet concerning the Ottoman Empire for miniature gainers. While it was clearly a first effort and contained a number of important errors/omissions, it was still well received in the hobby.

It was immediately followed by the release of several lines of figures for the Ottomans of the period and the statistics for Ottoman armies began to be regularly included in most Napoleonic rules sets.

But even more important was the creation of an informal network of people interested in the Ottomans. This group helped me correct several errors I'd made in the first pamphlet and helped me discover many additional sources of information and avenues of research.

With the new information, and at the urging of George Nafziger, I expanded the pamphlet into a 100-page booklet, The Crescent Among the Eagles, last year.

But there is so much more to know and I'm eager to share what I've already discovered. This newsletter seems like the next logical step. Let me know how you feel.

Our title, by the way, comes from the title of the official translator in the Ottoman imperial court who was known as the Dragoman.