Your Questions

Q

I have really enjoyed reading this latest series of books from the start. I first started with the Sharpe series and was hooked. Never thought that I would enjoy a historical type of novel, but guess I was wrong, and in turn it has also broadened my authors of choice, so not all bad. When is the next Warrior book in thye series out as at the moment I can find no information on it??
Gerry

 

 

When will the next book in this series come out?  I hope you're writing one now.   I love this series.

Barbara Kelly

 

 

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all of your wonderful books. I just finished "The Pagan Lord". I would also like to thank you for not killing Uhtred. When do you think we will be able to look for the next installment?

Gordon Broussard

Submitted May 21, 2014

A

The next book of Uhtred's tale, to be called The Empty Throne, will be published in the UK in October of this year and in the US in January 2015.

Q

Hello mr. Cornwell
I'm a Norwegian (northman) and Viking blood runs in my veins. That's probably why I fancy the Warlord C. as your nr 1 work. I have read almost everything else you have written also.
My Q:
Will you release another book about the great warlord?

Arild Edinsen

Submitted May 21, 2014

A

I do not plan to add to the Warlord Chronicles (the Arthur books); but I am writing the next book of the Warrior Chronicles (Uhtred's tale).  That book is to be called The Empty Throne and it will be published in the UK in October of this year.

Q

I just finished "The Pagan Lord."  When it looked like Uhtred might actually re-take Bamburgh I was so happy!  I actually thought, if I never get to read another Saxon story I can die happy, knowing he re-took his birthright.  And then he didn't!  On Uhtred's behalf, I'm going to be might angry with you if he doesn't succeed in a future book.  (As you can tell, I'm hopelessly addicted.)

By the way, I listen to them as audiobooks, and different readers pronounce Uhtred's name differently.  Is it Uhh-tred (the u as in "butter"), Oo-tred (the u as in "Yule"), or is the U pronounced like oo in "look" (which seems most likely to me, but what do I know)?

Many thanks for the hours of pleasure you have given me.

Lenore Garon

Submitted May 20, 2014

A

To rhyme with hoot, but with a slight guttural inflection - oot-red.

Q

Sir!
Of course I´m a keen reader of Your books, otherwise...
What troubles me, however, is the lack of a fifth book in the Starbuck Chronicles.
There are so many question awaiting their answers (in the fifth book)!
Will there be one?
Hopefully!
Yours
M Hedberg
Mora
Sweden

 

 

Hi Mr Cornwell. I have recently been supplying goods to a guy in America called 'Chubb Bedessee'. I thought it would be a good name to incorporate into your next Starbuck book. If you're going to write one.
regards, Frank

 

 

Dear Bernard
I have recently completed the reading of  all your books to date and thoroughly
enjoyed  them all especially the Warlord Chronicles, Sharpe Series and the Starbuck Chronicles.
Since I am obviously a Bernard Cornwell addict are you planning to write any further
Sharpe and Starbuck books?
Many thanks for all you books so far and look forward to many more to satisfy my
addiction.
Regards Barry

Submitted May 20, 2014

A

I do hope to return to both Starbuck and Sharpe!

Q

Hello Mr Cornwell -

hope both you and Judy are well.
Do you find that major historical events from our rich history are getting more and more overlooked and becoming mere footnotes to our past.
It will be the 200th anniversary of Waterloo next year, not forgetting the 600th anniversary of Agincourt, yet any acknowledgement of these momentous events are low key, if indeed they are recognised at all.
It seems that the only way of keeping these stories and events alive are through writers such as yourself, as the Political Correctness killjoys seem to think pride in our nations heritage is something to be frowned upon. How much of our past is now taught in schools? My daughter is now 10, and apart from a few cursory lessons in Roman Britain, she hasn't been taught anything prior to World War 2 - Even WW1 seems to becoming obsolete. It's wrong don't you think? If we don't understand our past, how can we learn and shape our future?
On the plus side, I hope you will visit the West country again this year. An evening of light hearted frog bashing is always a treat to listen to.
Thank you for the continuing hours of enjoyment your writing brings. I wish you would give up the acting so we can have 2 books a year from you!
Best regards
Andy Green

Submitted May 20, 2014

A

I guess the trouble is that there’s so much of the past to remember, let alone celebrate! I suspect history gets the attention it deserves, and it’s up to historians, teachers (even novelists) to remind people of its importance. I doubt we can complain about the amount of attention the First World War is getting right now, though what we learn from that? I don’t know. I am slightly involved in the Waterloo 200 commemmorations and so far that’s proving a lot more difficult – the BBC, for instance, has invested so much in the World War One programmes that it’s beginning to look as if they’ll ignore Waterloo’s bicentenary on the grounds that they’re already transmitting too much about war. And yes, political correctness does have a role here – I’ve no doubt that the curriculum is adversely affected and Britain’s colonial past is considered wholly evil, but I think popular culture has a countervailing force – I hope so!

 

Q

I've just bought the Winter King series again for the fourth time (every time I lend it out I never get it back).
Do you think you might get round to a tiny little short story detailing the end of Derfel?
I like to think he kills Samsum before he goes.

Michael Davidson

Submitted May 20, 2014

A

I doubt it - I have no plans to add to the Warlord Chronicles.

Q

James Clavell wrote one very good book and then a couple pretty good books which explore this truly fascinating era in world history.  However, readers of you and, in my opinion your only true peer in Patrick O'Brian, are truly spoiled and demand more battle and humor in a masterfully written historical fiction work.

You shot down the suggestion to explore the Moore's occupation of Spain in your fan mail the other day, but have you considered a book which takes place in Asia during the Tai Pan era?  Truly wild and history of which the importance cannot be understated. I am a Yank in the aviation industry, and actually do business with a company with roots to those events!  Research the Swire Group based out of London if you want to have your mind blown.

Anyways I am very interested in your thoughts on this era.

Ethan C

Submitted May 16, 2014

A

I fear I have no thoughts, knowing almost nothing of Far Eastern history, and at my age I’m most unlikely to start researching. I am sorry! I’m sure there are others who do have the fascination and the knowledge to transmute it into good stories.

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell

I have just finished reading Azincourt  and it is a masterpiece.
No surprise really  because when it comes to historically fiction you are simply the
best writer.   I wondered if you have considered writing about St.Edmund  king and
martyr,slaughtered by the Danes  and our original and true patron saint,

regards
Doug Martin

Submitted May 16, 2014

A

I do tell his story in The Last Kingdom – though you might not like my version very much?

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell .

Eagerly awaiting your  new books .   The cover for the non fiction Waterloo suggests to me  fear , urgency , strenth  & desperation .  Going by the cover the book  will be a true rip roaring  book .   Some years ago I bought two paintings by Chris Collingwood  to raise money to rebuild the walls  at  the farm house at Waterloo called the Struggle for Hougoummont  , do you know if the wall was every rebuilt ?
Are you able to give any indication as to how the new( Waterloo) book will be told i.e.  from the French or English point of view or through a third person ?    Hopefully, there may be the chance to meet you again at a book signing  .
Very best wishes
John

Submitted May 16, 2014

A

I know the preservation of Hougoumont is ongoing, but I’m not fully aware of all that’s happening there.  My own book on Waterloo looks at it from the point of views of many people, Dutch, British, Prussian and French – really an attempt to convey what it was like to be there on that horrible day!

Q

Reading your tales of Utred and the manner in which he is able to use his multi-language skill reminded me of my grandfather.
As a 14 year old he went to sea on trawlers from Lowestoft, fishing the North Sea, in those days, about 1900, the East Anglians and the Frisian Islanders were able to converse when they met at sea such was the closeness of the local vernaculars.
I have often wondered how the ancient saints got on trying to convert folk who spoke a different tongue, ie Patrick was Brithonic, some say Welsh, so how would he have managed with the Goedelic (Irish gaelic)  Were all these "tongues" a lot closer than they are today?
Most of Wales speaks what I call "open mouth Welsh"  or did, where as the North Walians speak a nasalised form and used to have a significantly different "dictionary". I remember reading somewhere that the tribe of Cunedda was paid to moved by the Romans from the area now around Edinburgh to the Roman fort at Segontium (Caernarvon) about 350AD, so whilst the basics remained the same there were differences, do you think that this would have applied on a wider scale around the North Sea, or am I plucking at straws.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope it has not drawn you away from something more enjoyable.

Roger M Evans

Submitted May 16, 2014

A

I really doubt that the languages were closer than they are now, in fact I suspect the opposite! I remember from my childhood going to Somerset and being totally unable to understand the local dialect – it was English, right enough, but the accent and the idioms were so extreme that they were impenetrable. Even thirty years ago I knew a man in Devon whose accent was so pronounced that most of us needed an interpreter! And when I visit Northern Ireland (Norn Iron to the locals) with my American wife she’s completely flummoxed!  For fictional purposes that really has to be ignored (or else the dialogue would be clogged with endless interpreters), but it doesn’t seem a stretch to imagine that the Norse languages and Danish would be fairly easy to comprehend, and similarly the English dialects. Welsh would be a huge problem to Danish or English speakers (probably still is!). Hywel Dda appears in the new book and, to my relief, there’s evidence he spoke English as well as Welsh. As for Patrick – well, he would have learned Irish Gaelic when he was first captured as a child and enslaved, so he’d have had few problems when he returned on his mission.