Your Questions

Hello Mr. Cornwell. I'm a big fan - read most of the Sharpe, all the Arthur, Archer-Grail, and various others. I really like the Saxon stories, although I am occasionally appalled at the brazen mindless violence of the protagonist - as in the slaughtered village in Cornwall. Neverhteless, I love all British, Irish and French medieval history, so I'm hoping as you are so prolific, that you might be planning to keep this Saxon thing going, perhaps all the way to 1066. Then, I could only hope that you might find a way to approach the Normans and Plantagenets in a different way. Only Ellis Peters has written fiction based in the civil war (Maude vs. Stephen), and I haven't found anything good dealing with the Strongbow period in Ireland. There are numerous novels out lately dealing with Edward 1st, the crusades, Wales, etc. Mostly pretty unconvincing historically (even soap-opera-ish), and not satisfying in a good old testosterone way, IMHO. AND, since you already touched on the Grail and the Pyrenees, what about something based around the Albignesian Crusades and Cathars, or after, during the Inquisition againt heretics in France, rich pickins, there, etc. Nothing any good has been written about the Waldensians in medieval France or Renaissance Savoy.. I've read the Zoe Oldenbourg novels on the Cathars and medival France, but while good, they are rather tedious and grim. But Simon de Monfort is apt villain, and that Languedoc ground is fertile with ideas and themes....I would think. Especially now, what with the Da Vince Code buzz and the lawsuit with "Holy Blood Holy Grail". That will only focus interest on the Cathars, and maybe the Merovingians (more possibilities). And then there's Alaric and the Ostrogoths. ...and on and on. Sorry to presume upon your processes. Just a fan's wish list. Thanks. Mike

Sir, First off thank you for signing my copy of Sharpe's Sword that I recently sent you it was much appreciated. My question is, I recently saw on a british old sword site that you originally had Sharpe using the 1803 pattern sword and not the 1796 heavy calvalry sword this would seem to make sense as I believe the 1796 was very difficult to weald and represented as much danger to the user as the victim. The 1803 however was much more user friendly. I own an original 1803 and a replica 1796. Thank you for your time and wonderful books. Paul Cooper-Keeble

I love Sharpe and enjoy listening to the stories via Audible.com. Unfortunately only the abridged versions (mainly) are availble to me since I am from Australia. Any chance you can prod the publishers? And will Sharpe ever become "Lord Sharpe"? Best wishes John

Hello, Like yourself I feel the Arthur books are my favourite. I first came across your work due to the Sharpe television series, which having read your books, now refuse to watch. How something as great as the stories you produce ends up like the on screen representation is beyond me, although many novels translations to screen is inferior. I say bring on Hanks and Spielberg, their adaption of Band Of Brothers is fantastic, having ready the book cover to cover numerous times, I can only imagine what they would do with Messrs Sharpe and Harper!! I'm currently reading Enemy Of God, and am looking forward to finding out how Derfal ends up as a monk and hoping that by the end of Excalibur he has inflicted some harm to Sansum, Excalibur is on the shelf ready to go. Also looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for Uhtred, last summer was spent in France deep in The Last Kingdom, fantastic. Are there any plans for Rider Sandman to reappear? Being a cricket fan also, I really enjoyed his character. My real request of you is that you produce the books faster. I can easily read 2 a week, any chance you can write them at a similar rate. In all seriousness the books are excellent and if you write 1 or 10 a year I'll remain one of your biggest fans. Regards Martin Dickie

Mr Cornwell, I love your writing, you're brilliant. Just a quick question, in the Sharpe books is there a way you pick the women names, Sharpe's women I mean. Thank you Sarah

I have just received from Amazon the 3 5-CD sets in the Sharpe Collection;Rifles, Sword and Revenge. I am looking forward to may hours of Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe and am very excited to hear that more books will be filmed. The sooner the better. My question concerns the Sharpe's Revenge Collection. Of the 5 CD's included, only two are of books, Revenge and Waterloo. The other 3 disks contain "Sharpe's Mission", "Sharpe's Justice" and "Sharpe the Legend" with "Rifleman Cooper reminiscing about Sharpe". Are these screenplay's you wrote just for the TV series? If not where did the material come from? thanks and have a good, safe trip. Larry Rubenstein

Mr. Cornwell, Having read The Pale Horsemen, I am now left with a large void. I have read all your works! I would ask you a question of your style. How, when and what are the circumstances that determine whether you write in 1st or 3rd person. I have two favorites that differ on how the story is told. Of course the Arthur series is 1st person but I loved the Starbuck series in 3rd. Thanks for your attention. John Hooper Tennessee

Hi Bernard. Not feeling too good today so I've been at home researching the Post Roman period in Britain through to late Anglo Saxon period for my illustrations. Happened to come across a BBC TV re run of a series called Meet the Ancestors in which an Archaeologist called Julian Richards tries to uncover the stories behind burials. One in particular reminded me of the scene in The Last Kingdom in which Ragnar sacrifices his horse prior to the campaign; the remains of a Saxon warrior was unearthed complete with weaponry, shield etc... and his horse! What reminded me of the said scene was the fact that the horse had been sacrificed with a blow to the forhead (sound familiar?). However, the specialist horse bone specialist pointed out a fact which I was wondering if you had heard before: horses are very difficult to kill with such a blow! What usually happened was the horse was stunned with a massive blow to the area between the eyes and then its throat was cut, often with such force that the blade would cut right through the flesh to leave marks in the backbones. Had you found evidence to the contrary as Ragnar kills the horse with a blow to the head only, or was this simply artistic license? I would be interested to hear your views. Regards Andrew Moore

You tell us in your insightful comments for first time writers to stick to the story and not educate. With the advent of the Internet, why is it that authors do not write novels with links to a web site where the reader can go and educate himself more about any point of interest - be it history, art, culture, or anything else? It seems that adding this additional dimension to a novel is the best of both worlds - it can unclutter a novel and free up and speed up the story and action, while at the same time allowing a reader to delve as deeply, or not, into any particular item of interest. Just a thought, and am interested to hear your views, particularly given the type of novel that you so expertly craft.
James Hugo

Mr Cornwell, will Sharpe ever see La Marquesa again? Also in a question I saw on your page asking about whether Sharpe's Challenge will be shown on US tv, well I have reason to belive it will be shown on bbc world wide two/three months after being shown on ITV 1 in the UNITED KINGDOM! Joe