Your Questions

Q

Mr. Cornwell, Just wanted to point something out, on wikipedia.org under 'The Warlord Chronicles' it says that Enemy of God was renamed Bloody Ground in the U.S.A...? I had a look around, as I thought to myself; surely this will be confusing, having two books called the same? However on amazon.com and on your own site here, there is no mention of this. Was this just a fault by the author who wrote this on wikipedia? Also, growing up I learnt from school and children books about the Legendary King Arthur. I also always thought that Morgan (or Morgause) seduced Arthur, then gave birth to Mordred. Mordred therefor I always thought as the illegitimate illegitimate son of Arthur. In The Warlord Cronicles it is different. Mordred, Arthurs half brother died, his pregant wife gave birth to a son, also called Mordred. Therefor Mordred in your story is Arthurs nephew. Also I have always thought of Tristan of being King Marks nephew, but in your books he is Marks Son. Just wondered why did you decide to change this? I know there are many differences of the mordern adaption of the story of Arthur and these are not the only differences in the trilogy, but just out of curiosity, why did you make little changes like these two? Totally not criticism, I love these books!

The Warlord Chronicles and The Saxon Stories are my favorite of your books, as I love both periods in British History. What period in time would you like to be born in? Congratulations on the OBE and I am eagerly awaiting the next in the Saxon Stories! Charlotte, Kent, England

Submitted November 9, 2006

A

Wikipedia is wrong.

Yes! There are all sorts of variants on these stories! Morgan is also depicted as Arthur's sister (and thus we have an interesting strand of incest in Camelot!), but I decided to adopt a slightly different route . . . . ditto Tristan. There really isn't one canonical or authoritative version, though I suppose most people would settle for Malory's account. I drew on some of the earliest sources, which are vague, contradictory and, in the end, confusing, and decided to confuse it further!.

I always say I want to be born after the invention of penicillin, but if I can take a few pills with me? Eliabethan London would be fun. The Regency? Probably the Regency. Arthur's Britain would be vile! And Saxon England not a lot better!

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, Just before I retired I was given as a gift your first Starbuck book. Whereby introducing me to your writings. Since then I have read (I think) everything that you have written (I might add that I am an avid reader retirement being a great help). Please, please, please when am I going to have further adventures of Starbuck, Thomas of Hookton and of course our beloved Sharpe? Although I do feel that having killed off most of his group in Waterloo, can he go anywhere without them? So I must hope for more Starbuck or Thomas. I might add that in the absence of anything new, the previous books are becoming very dog eared. Very best wishes to you may you as one man continue to put pen to paper for the enjoyment of many. P.S.A sequel to Gallows Thief wouldn't go amiss. Thank you for all the pleasure you have given to me Yours sincerely, Trish Southgate

Submitted November 9, 2006

A

A sequel to Gallows Thief is a good possibility. There will be more Sharpe, Starbuck when I can get back to him, but the Grail Quest series is done and I'm not sure there will be more of Thomas of Hookton.

Q

I have searched for your "writing advice" and cannot find anything except references to it. Does it still exist? If it is could you let me know how to access it, please? TB

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

To find the piece of 'writing advice' go to the Frequently Asked Questions page, scroll down to the 10th posting and click on the link for 'writing advice'. Hope it's helpful!

Q

I have a question about the Grail trilogy. I remember reading somewhere that you were annoyed at the renaming of the first of the books for publication in America. This got me thinking about the titles of the books and I've been itching to ask you this for ages: is the significance of the titles that they highlight once again the parallel between the life of Thomas Vexille and his cousin Guy vexille? That in each book the title could refer to either character? In addition to their similar physical appearance, and their simultaneous quest for the grail? Does the symmetry represent not only the battle between good and evil but their reliance on each other for their very existence? Is Guy Vexille the antichrist!!!! Ok maybe I'm taking it too far. But was that your thinking? If so, congrats its very clever and subtle, and am I the first to notice?! Lovin Uhtred by the way, what a delightfully evil b*st*rd! Looking forward to the fourth one.
Paul Vincent

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

You're the very first to notice! Congratulations! I hadn't even noticed! But if you think I was being subtle and clever, then I'll take your praise. Actually I wasn't being either. To be really honest I can't remember what I was thinking when I devised those titles!

Q

Thank you for your wonderful books, they are all addictive; however, please, never stop writing the Sharpe series. I very much enjoy the inclusions of food and drink from a mug of tea to Enemys Christmas dinner (that was incredible) and, of course, garlic sausage. You write quite a bit about engineers (Hogan is grand and I was heartbroken when you finished him off in Siege). What sources do you use regarding military engineers and engineering for that time, are there any others that you recommend, and what is your opinion of military engineers?

Also, I was fortunate to acquire some of The Complete Sharpe Collection HarperCollins paperbacks published in the UK and they contain forewords that you wrote several years after the novels were originally published. The forewords are wonderful! Were they written exclusively for the UK publications? I have not been able to locate any US publications that contain them. Thank you for writing your lovely books and for answering questions, Sharon

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

I like Military Engineers! They were terrific! Somewhere I have a history of the Royal Engineers (can't lay my hands on it right now), but there's a lot of good stuff in Philip Haythornthwaite's Weapons and Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars and, of course, because military engineering was so vital, there's a lot in any good history of the Peninsular War - though you have to ferret it out.

They were written exclusively for the UK, though the US branch could have used them if they wanted. Which encourages me to say that Penguin have just re-issued the whole Hornblower series with brand new forewords by me.

Q

hello Mr Cornwell, I am a 17 year old student living on Vancouver Island Ccanada. I'm currently reading The Lords of the North and I have just gotten to when the "red ship" arrives. How you descirbed the boat made me think that I should make a model of the red boat. So I started to think if I should make it from the image in my head or use the image from the U.S cover. I started thinking again and thought " hey maybe if I email Bernard Cornwell he might send me a picture of what he wanted the boat to look like when he was writing the book." So that is what I am wondering, if you could possibly email me a picture ( if you have one) of your vision of the red ship. thank you, sincerly Dan Taylor

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

Gosh! And I was on Vancouver Island only last week! My dad lives there. So, what you do is this! Go to the library and ask them to secure for you (by inter-library loan scheme) a copy of Li>The Viking World by James Graham-Campbell - and you'll find some good stuff in that book. You might find a book dedicated to Viking ships - if so I don't know it offhand. What you're looking for (internet?) are schematic drawings of Skuldedev 5 - Skuldedev being a site where a number of ships were discovered (they had been deliberately sunk to make a breakwater). Skuldedev V is a medium sized longship, a warship, about 60 feet long (Skuldedev 2 would also do, but she was over 90 feet). If you can find drawings of Skuldedev 5 then you're off to the races. Good luck!

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell, Thank you for your reply to my question on Starbuck. I will be anxiously waiting for his return. In the meantime, I will read about Mr. Sharpe. I have two questions though. First, because I am not familiar with this series and, there are so many of Sharpe's adventures, should I read them in the order of their writing, or by the historical year? Which way better follows the life of Sharpe? Secondly, how many more adventures might you foresee for Mr. Sharpe? So far, I haven't read any of your books that I haven't been riveted to. Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing your marvelous ability to bring history to life. Donna D'Muhala

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

I generally recommend reading the Sharpe series in chronological order. To find a correct listing, click on the Sharpe books page of this website. Not sure how many more books there will be - maybe three or four?

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I've just finished reading The Winter King and it absolutely fascinated me. Usually I don't read this kind of books, this time too I was lent it by a friend who adores your books. But now I definitely count it as one of my all-time favourites. It's a coincidence that being an English major I have History of the English Language classes this term where we also deal with the Old English language. To tell you the truth, I've never been very good as far as Linguistics concerned but your novel changed this and now I'm looking forward to my end term examination that constitutes of a pronunciation test in which I've become very interested indeed thanks to your book. So much that even my own teachers can't seem to answer my questions. Somehow I'm extremely interested in the Old English pronunciation of the letter "y". We sometimes pronunce it as "i" and at other times as "ü" the way French people pronunce the letter "u" today. I wonder whether you have any friends who could explain me the possible rules of pronunciation of the letter "y". Yours sincerely (and definitely very grateful if you could give me some answer to my question), Melinda Mucsi from Hungary

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

Um, not certain! Probably two forms - one very similar to our Y, the other more like i. Not helpful, I know. I'm an amateur with this stuff - I can read Old English (though a dictionary helps) and I do read it for pleasure, but I've never taken a linguistics course, and I note that my OE dictionary doesn't have a pronunciationm guide (which I hoped it would so I could answer you and sound authoritative). Sorry!

Q

Dear Bernard, after noticing that you grew up in Essex and that you are writing about the Vikings would a novel on the battle of Maldon ever be in the works?????

And in regards to Sharpe. Will Sharpe get to Albuera it was the first geunine Allied victory of British/Spanish and Portugese all figthing side by side as well as the most vicious and at Albuera it's said the French used Napoleon's famed mixed order of both coloum and line. I wondered if there were any other peninsular battles that it was used???

btw I can recommend the new book 1715 on the Jacobite rebellion of that time as worth a read and wondered if you had ever considered the Jacobites at all??? All the best Geraint

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

A tale of Saxon idiocy! Yes, it tempts me because I know the site well. But when? Lord only knows!

I honestly don't know. If he does then it will be the next Sharpe book, and I won't begin writing that for at least a year, so I don't have to make the decision yet. It tempts me, it really does, but I've rather boxed myself in for time - not sure I can get him there, but we'll see. Not sure the French really mixed line and column except by accident (they were blinded by the rainstorm) - except that the column was always supposed to deploy into a line eventually - it was just that they rarely were given time.

Another tempting one! Don't know. I have the book, and enjoyed it, but though I really am tempted there's so much else to write first! Thank you

Q

Dear Bernard I was introduced to the Sharpe books by a friend last Christmas and I have to say I'm hooked. I listen to the audio books going to and from work. What a great way to pass the time. William Gaminara's reading adds to the enjoyment. I have a question: I thought Sharpe killed Obadiah Hakeswill in Sharpe's Fortress. However, he has just turned up again in Sharpe's Company. I realise the latter was written before the former, but I don't remember reading any details on how he survived the snake pit. Have I missed something? Kindest regards Eric McCashey

Submitted November 8, 2006

A

The snakes wouldn't touch him! He survived. He couldn't be killed (says so in the scriptures). If you were a snake, would you bite him?