Your Questions

good day Mr Cornwell
i have just finished the gallows thief and once again you have entertained me with a cracking yarn ,i would like to know if we may hear of some more adventures for  Rider Sandman and Sam Berrigan,as i would love to know how they get on after the events of 1817 ,love to know how things work out with  Eleanor and Sally.
Have you thought of continuing their stories or is it a case of never say never?
i must say i hope you do as i think you could come up with some great adventures or gallow thieving for our heroes and heroines,if not i look forward to new stories with great characters you always create so well . oh well back to Uthred story need to read before next installment arrives later this year.
best wishes to you and your family
Rich from Evesham.

Dear Mr Cornwell

I am a massive fan of your books, especially the Starbuck and Sharpe series, and following the success of the itv television series wondered whether there has ever been any plans to extend this into video games. I am personally not a huge gaming fan myself and rarely get into a game long enough to complete it, but a game involving your detailed plot lines and character stories would really appeal to me and I think would be very successful. Furthermore, if some of the actors were to get involved and provide their voices for the characters it would add to the authenticity and familiarity for fans, and with the complexity of modern video game technology it could prove a very entertaining project and allow for much embellishment on the characters' traits and behaviour.

Has anything like this ever been mooted or tried out?

Thanks,

Sean Philpotts

Dear Mr. Cornwell,
I finished reading your Warlord trilogy a couple of weeks ago, and I thought all three books were very moving. I've read quite a few versions of the Arthurian legend at this point, and I would probably rank yours as my favorite along with T.H. White's. Thank you for such an enjoyable reading experience.
While I loved all of your characters, I must say that for me, the three prominent women in the books (Guinevere, Ceinwyn, and Nimue) really shone. It seemed to me that they were all very cognizant of the restrictions by which they were bound in the patriarchal society in which the story takes place, and you depicted quite brilliantly the very different, but very compelling ways each one responds. I especially loved the end of "Enemy of God," when Nimue gives Derfel quite a powerful--even feminist, I thought--lecture of sorts when he says something insensitive (hope this doesn't spoil it for those who haven't read yet!). Did you write these three wonderful characters with this feminist perspective in mind? Did you write them as complex and as empowered as they are mostly to appeal to modern sensibilities (I personally found all three relatable at different points and in different ways), or do you think women in their positions at that time could really have responded as they did?
Forgive me if this has been asked before, but I'm very curious as to the thought process behind these awesome female characters!

Dana

I really enjoy historical fiction, and have loved both the characters and story lines of your Uhtred and Sharpe books.  I am amazed at the number of volumes you have produced and the historic detail that you bring to the reader.  Can you share with us a sense of how you go about your research efficiently and who your team members are who help carry the research and accuracy burden?

PS - I can't wait until January's for your next Uhtred release.

Tony Gogan

Hello Mr Cornwell,
As a fan of all your books and of history in general I was wondering if you ever considered a story about the Crusades. Apologies if this has been asked before. I am sure that this  period of history would provide a wealth of heroes / villains and all sorts of wonderful adventures. Keep up the excellent work.

Best regards
Andy Pidgeon.

Hi Mr. Cornwell,
I'm currently researching the Battle of Crecy and I found the account you give in Harlequin very convincing; in fact it very nearly ties to my thinking of how the action occurred. Could you tell me the sources you used and how you wrote your account of the battle? Also, special interest of mine was directed to how the English line kept moving forward to engage the French. Can you detail how you pieced that account together, especially the part where the Prince of Wales ran ahead of the main line, which I found really interesting?
Thank you so much
Taylor

Hello Mr Cornwell

I have been a massive fan of your books since first reading Sharpe's Rifles many years ago and have tried to read all of your books since (most of which I also own).  I have always been very interested in history and so seeing history come to life in your books is always very rewarding and enjoyable for me as your descriptive writing style always creates the world's you write about almost instantaneously in my mind's eye.

Perhaps it is because of this that for a long time I had always wanted to write my own novel, something that I finally accomplished last year.  Unfortunately however, having written my self published novel called Shadows of the Past and having published it as an ebook on Amazon and many other of the top ebook sites like Kobo, I am somewhat at a loss, as I feared I would be, about how to market my book.

My novel is an adventure novel but with a heavy plot reliance on history, both from the 1960s period when most of the action is set, and from World War II, perhaps inevitably because I have always most enjoyed military history.  I wanted to portray that conflict and what it must have been like to fight in the jungles of Burma, both by placing my characters there, albeit at a later time, and by actually portraying the Battle of Sangshak as it was fought there.  This was largely because I feel many people always think of World War II in Europe but not the other theatres of operations in which it was fought, so that I wanted to bring this battle alive for my readers both as a means to raise awareness as well as enjoying the research and writing process.

However, perhaps inevitably with self publishing a book, I have not had the success I desired.  I know this is because, as mentioned, I knew I would struggle with marketing my work which, if I'm honest, is something I have little idea about how to do.  Unfortunately, to be successful on Amazon requires readers to review your work, but it is reaching these readers that I am struggling with.  As such, I wondered if you might be kind enough to give me a little advise with regards to choosing an agent to help promote my work since I think this is the only sensible route for me to take now in order to get someone with more knowledge of the marketing process to help me.  I have found your Writing Advice article useful regarding this, but really wanted to ask if there are any major potential pitfalls to avoid when choosing an agent?

Any advice you are kind enough to give me on this is greatly appreciated, as is your time.  And of course if you would like to read my book I would be very honoured if you were to do so although I know not everyone, myself included, likes the idea of ebooks.

Kind regards

Ben Herd

Do you have plans for another Sharpe book?
Thanks,
Doug

Is there going to be a follow up to 'The Pagan Lord? (God I hope so)
I have never had so much more fun, then reading The Saxon Chronicles. I'm hopeful  Uhtred see's a England under 1 banner before he dies. My guess is as Uhtred ages he slips into the role of a Field General, watching the flanks & orchestrates massive army rather then being up front in a shield wall. (Age will catch up to you)
Oh, I was rooting for him when he 'almost' captured Bebbanburg.....Those Damn Dogs...! Fun Stuff.

Mike Armstrong

Dear Mr Cornwell
There is one thing that still puzzles me, regarding Alfred The Great. As you have beautifully explained in Uhtred series, it was Alfred who had set the foundations for united England. But why "England" and "Angelcynn"? Why not "Saxoncynn"? After all, Alfred himself was West Saxon, and he ruled Wessex. Plus Wessex was free and fighting while much of the the territories settled by Angles were devastated and conquered by the Northmen. Maybe Alfred was trying to make the idea of unity attractive to suffering Angles, therefore "Angelcynn"? Or is there something else to it? Once again, thank you for your time and patience.

Miroslav Subašić