So there you have it. Orange has won out over blue. The choice was difficult, the battle hard fought. But in the end, our scientific Facebook poll delivered a decisive result: 61% orange, 39% blue. And this on well over 200 votes! If the Brexit debacle or the 2016 American election had produced such clear results, imagine how much happier all of us would be. But I digress. I will reveal, only now, that the main reason I offered this image to designer Alan Jones was that I loved that bright, bold, eye-catching orange. The most popular opposing argument to emerge in our rigorously conducted poll, the idea that blue is more representative of the Arctic, would have carried greater weight if Dead Reckoning set out to reiterate and reinforce the conventional saga that in fact it seeks to challenge. I know, I know: some of you will be disappointed. Let me assure you that, come September, the book will be made available to all at the same low price, regardless of how you voted.