Your Questions

Bernard, Since Sharpe and his green coated rifleman do so well at moderate range with the Baker Rifle, I was wondering how prevalent Rifle Regiments were in the British Army during the Napoleonic era. I seem to recall a few times when Sharpe and his troops were being over run by Frogs that they just spit unpatched balls down the barrell as fast as any Brown Bess could be loaded. The reason the US Continental Army of the period did not use rifles was the issue of loading speed. (3 x a minute with the Brown Bess versus once a minute with a clean Kentucky Long rifle) Your thoughts? Bob Long

Hello again Bernard. I hope your travels are going well. Just a quick question. I was looking up Sharpes Challenge on the net, out of curiosity. I'm disappointed to see your India books abused, but I hope it at least lives up to the spirit of the novels. I hope they use computer graphics or something like Hornblower did, just to enhance the scale. Anyway, this is besides the point. I've been onto the Picture Palace Productions website in a futile search for information. In their coming productions section, they list 'Gallows Thief' as forthcoming. Please tell me this isn't a vicious rumour. With Dan Brown whoring himself across all media, I would sooner see the work of a worthy author such as yourself brought to the screen. So, what do you know? Take Care, Iain

Hey I live in New Zealand and was wondering if you knew when "The Lords of the North" book is going to be released in my country???? thanks. Jason Shepard

I was truly amazed by the battle of picardy in Harlequin. ...I was wondering which tense you like best. because the Saxon stories are first person and the Grail quest is 3rd. Andrew

Dear sir, I am a great fan of all your books and I spend much of my time dreaming of long dead battles and I have always wondered just how destructive volleys of muskets were as i cant seem to find accurate statistics anywhere. So to phrase it in a way I hope you find relatively easy to answer, How many dead or wounded (at a rough estimate of course) would one volley, from a well trained line battalion of 600 men (another number if its easier) in the Napoleonic wars (British) firing at 50 yards, cause to a column of say three French Battalions (or different number if its easier). Also were we to skip forwards 50 years and enacted two battalions firing at say 80 yards at each other in line across flat ground equally well trained with rifles( in the Yank civil war) how much (roughly) damage would they cause? Sorry its a bit long winded and if the questions are a bit tricky to answer. Thanks again for the books. James Duffy

Dear Sir, I always enjoy your novels and and purchase them as soon as they are published. Do you have any plans to return to the American Civil War? I am sure your publishers keep you busy with the 'Sharpe' books as the are very popular but i found the Starbuck novels as good if not better. Many thanks Noel Andrews

Mr. Cornwell, I am just adding my voice to other requests for another Starbuck novel. Your series offers a compelling, historically-based view of the American Civil War, as opposed to the alternate history fictions that are so common. You have created a very interesting world of characters that I would like to know more about. I hope you find the time and inclination to add to the Starbuck series. Thank you for the enjoyment your books provide. Best regards, Rick Frattali Baltimore, Maryland

Dear BC, I have wrote to you a couple of times in the past, and again would like to thank you for the on going entertainment you provide. I'm glad to see Sean Bean is involved in the making of another tv Sharpe, but they pale in comparison to the books. By an approximate count, you get over 10 enquires per month on this website asking when you will revive Starbuck from his decade of rest, and I was overjoyed to see that you're finally having thoughts on the idea. I love the Sharpe series - it was what introduced me to your writing, but somehow I enjoy the Starbuck series more, I think it is because the books are almost twice the length and more involved. You plan to wake Starbuck after Sharpe, but with so much potential for more Sharpe stories, will this ever happen in your lifetime, or - if I make it to heaven will I have to stalk you around the place because you never wrote a fifth Starbuck? Thanks for taking the time to reply. Michael Campbell

I've always thought the American Civil War, like the English, a very interesting period and after a visit to Maryland a couple of years ago began reading more about it. I am currently reading the last of the Starbuck Chronicles and have found these books compulsively readable: sympathetic characters, brilliant action sequences, unpredictable plotting. May I add my voice to other readers who have urged a return to this series! Giles

....In regards to the next Starbuck book you have said in previous posts that the next book will be about Fredricksburg and cause there is a huge gap between that and Chancerlorsville could Starbuck make an apparence at Stones River. Frericksburg was so one sided it was more a slaughter than a fight while SR was a stand up battle....Tony

Dear sir, great fan of your books but one thing I've always wondered is why other armies did not see and learn from the British army and start: 1) training with live ammo. 2) fighting in a 2 rank line and 3) employing riflemen as skrimishers. Thanks. Tom Finlay

Will you be writing any more books of the Lazender family. I have read the first 2 and have enjoyed them very much. Kim Allison

Hi Bernard. First I'd like to thank you for the huge amount of pleasure you've given myself and millions of others with your books.I've read and re-read most of them and enjoyed them all, having no special favourites (although possibly the Grail Quest and the Saxon Stories remain my most-read). The Sharpe books I'd read before the TV series, but casting John Tams, with his wonderful voice, as Daniel Hagman was a stroke of genius, and the CD of the music from the series is one of my most-played! I've just finished reading one of your older books, A Crowning Mercy, and have started reading Fallen Angels... there is a considerable gap between the two, and I wonder if you are ever going to tell us how the Campion and Toby of the first developed into the Campion and Toby of the second? Did you just get tired of the people and the era, or was there never an intent to write a series about the people and the times? Anyway, I love the way you develop your characters and your stories, and will be waiting future books with a great deal of anticipation. Many thanks. Paul Brewer

Dear Bernard, After having read most of your books, and thoroughly enjoyed them all, my most loved is Crowning Mercy. I consider it an almost perfect story. What I don't like is the Title. Why did you call it this, and not, say, "The Covenant", which would seem to reflect the plot more than "Crowning Mercy" does? And why was such a gem hidden for so long before recently being re-published? Rick Edmonds

Dear Bernard I hope you are enjoying your holiday in the far east. and if you ever get to the great wall of China it's worth a look. On another note can you give any clue on what the next project you will be working on after the Sharpe book in the Autum is released??? And after the Barossa book will Sharpe get to Albuera in the next one? I know you have mentioned concerns about time scale but a real life Rifleman from the 5th/60th managed to get to both Fuentes-De Onoro and Albuera so it is possible. And Albuera was the most vicious fight in the enire Peninsular war and speaking from a reader stand point it would be such a shame if you had Sharpe miss it.And unlike Waterloo its more tragic since that settled everything and this settled nothing with the failure of 2nd siege of Badajoz as bad as the first.## btw On a tangent if you have not read it I can reccommend Donald.E.Graves Guns Across the River about the Canadian rebellions in the 1830's and an attempt to make an Alamo of the North. And since a lot of ex-Napoleonic war soldiers like John Colbourne and war of 1812 soldiers like James Fitzgibbon and Wellington himself took an interest in that war (He got a man promoted at his urging). Have you ever thought of getting Sharpe and a young Patrick Lassan there for a last huzzah. .... Finally although you have so many projects on the go at once I do not know how you manage have you ever thought of the Crimean war and getting Harpers son there. Ian Fletcher and Natalia Ishchenko's A clash of Empires on the Crimean war is also worth a read. Enjoy the rest of your holiday! Tony

Mr. Cornwell, I promise that I won't take too much of your time considering that you're booked enough as it is. As an Irish American interested in knowing, and also out of curiosity, is it true that Irish soldiers serving in the British Army between the American Revolution and the Napoleanic Wars were the finest and most aggressive shock troops in the World? Additionally, according to Wellington himself they were mainly responsible for Britain's preeminence in its military career. Though I guess one could make this equally strong case for the Scottish Highlanders and the Gurkhas as well, yet I still believe that the Irish were the best of the best! From what I've read certain units of Irishmen could strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest German Hessians, and those guys knew how to fight (the Hessians!)! Thing is, you know way more than I do regarding Britain's military history, and you certainly have the authority to repudiate any assumptions that I may have concerning the role that the Irish played as fearsome red coats charging into battle under the Union Jack. From reading Sharpe's Battle I could easily ascertain that they proved to be the decisive factor in the final clashing of bayonets and cold steel during those moments that mattered! They had balls, that's for sure (they were courageous beyond measure!)! Mr. Cornwell, thank you very much for your time and best of luck, Taylor Ahern, N. Quincy Massachusetts. p.s.- your books are simply outstanding, often exhilarting and flawlessly detailed, though of course you know that!