Bulletin Board

In reply to the question about books on the vikings, there is a local historian who has 2 books out about vikings on the Wirral and surrounding areas. Ingimund's Saga, Norwegian Wirral, & Viking Mersey covering the Wirral, west lancashire & Chester by Stephen Harding. Peter Brown

Hello Mr Cornwell, I would just like to thank you for recently signing my copy of Sharpes Siege via John Yorke at Editions in Shrewsbury. The book had great sentimental value to me apart from the fact that I think it's one of your best. I was also wondering what you felt about the Richard Howard "Lussard" series of books. I think they are almost, but not quite as good as yours. Many thanks, Greg.

Hello Bernard....I inherited a copy of "The Life of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington" published soon after his death in 1853 so I take naturally to the "Sharpe" books and TV series. The Canadian "sideshow" to the Napoleonic wars was the War of l812 along the Niagara frontier and in Lower Canada as you know. In "New Brunswick, A History: 1784-1867", W.S. MacNutt recounts how 550 rank and file of the 104th Regiment of the Line (New Brunswick Fencibles) marched 700 miles in 52 days in the winter of 1812-13 through the wilderness from Fredericton to Kingston. Perhaps Wellington could get the Royal Navy to send Sharpe and the "Chosen Men" to the New World to take on the Yankees some day! I hope to see you on May 7 in Vancouver. Cheers for now! Peter B. Clark

Mr Cornwell. Greetings. May I say sir that I have read every Sharpe book and watched the TV shows over and over and enjoyed every minute. I have just received my copy of Sharpe's Escape and read it in one afternoon. It is by far the best of them all. It is thouroughly exciting, enthralling and is one of those books that you cannot put down. I cannot wait for the next. Long may you reign as the premier military thriller author. I always thought that Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope and the like were ace, but the Sharpe series surpass anything else. Keep well Sir, and long may you write. Kind regards, John Cooper

Hello! I love and admire your books,...so much that I feel compelled to comment on one aspect of them concerning firearms. All of us are constantly seeing in movies and reading in books that persons struck by bullets or shot are pushed, thrown or flung aside by the force of these projectiles. This is not the case in reality. A shot person, if killed instantly, drops straight down as though puppet strings had been cut. Many times people do not react at all for varying lengths of time and do not know they have been shot. I have spoken to quite a few men who have been in combat and while they all agree on the various and unpredictable reactions to being shot, they also agree that there is no apparent reaction to kinetic forces during a bullet strike. I am 70 years old and have been a hunter all my life. I've seen countless large and small animals and birds shot with just about avery kind of bullet and shot you can imagine. No animal or bird can be seen to be pushed or thrown by being hit. They either collapse instantly or travel a short distance and then fall. The actual bullet or shot strike is rarely visible and the body is not pushed by it. The very high velocity of these objects means that they travel through tissue and bone so "instantaneously" that no kinetic reaction is visible to the eye. I have many times heard comments from knowledgeable firearms folks about this mistaken idea, which is especially prevalent in films. As you know, America is full of people who know a great deal about firearms and I am certain that many of them are among your readers. I hope that you will take this mild critiscism in the spirit in which it is meant and to increase the realism of your fine writing,....which has given me countless moments of pleasure and for which I thank you. Tom Warner

Thanks! That's all. Just Thanks. Randy Jackson

Dear Mr. Cornwell I just wrote you a message but I left one thing off, PLEASE do no make any more movies of the books, I loved the Sharpe books, but was absoloutely horrified by the films, the only thing that kept me watching them was the comic genius that thought hed edit the script and my amusmant at Sean Bean who I think is a great actor. A few examples, in the film of Sharpes Gold, the only connection I could make with the book was the fact that Sharpe led troops behind enemy lines. 2) Much as I think Sean Bean acts Sharpe well (infact I think the films were very well cast) would it have been so hard to have died his hair black. 3)Sharpe nor any of his men ever miss, even when in Sharpes company the troops are fitted with smooth bore muskets, and fire at the walls of Badajoz from a good 50-100 yards their bulets allways hit. There is quite a long list of complaints, which I can not stress enough are not directed at the books. William Richards

Mr Cornwell. I was first introduced to your wonderful Sharpe series about a year and half ago now by a school friend. I never thought that Historical fiction was really my kind of thing but the adventures with Sharpe and Co. have changed my mind on that and I am trying to read the series chronologically. I have recently finished Havoc, though I am not as far through the series as I would like to be! mainly due to distractions and other books which have interested me. Though I must say that I see a patern which appears in all the books of the series which I have read so far and that pattern is that in every book Sharpe always seems get the girl (even if that girl is already his wife). So I was wondering why it was that in Sharpe's Havoc you decided to let him remain a free agent and let the great character of lieutenant Vicente get the girl instead. Hope you can answer this. Euan

Your books are great fun to read and I am on the Sharpe's Gold and it is not as good as the other ones but I have got all your books. Jordan Wells

I just want to add my voice to those who would like to see the return of Starbuck - he's really a much more interesting character than Sharpe. I don't suppose you have any alternative, but I find it a bit disconcerting the way new Sharpe stories keep being slotted in between books I've already read. I always like to read stories in sequence. Incidentally, I'm very impressed by this website - it is one of the best of its type that I have ever encountered. Simon Townshend