Your Questions

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell,
I am a student with the task of studying certain authors works and developing a 3D model of something from their works. In the list of authors you are one of them and I am most pleased to find that as I am an avid reader of your books. My aim for this course is to produce a 3D model of what would be Uhtred's home, Bebbanburg. Bamburgh castle we see today was built through the 11th century onward. What would your interpretation of Bebbanburg be? I vision a small hold with stone buildings of the warriors and families of Bebbanburg surrounded by a palisade. Thank you for your time and thank you for your works that feed my imagination.

Yours Faithfully
Michael Saiger

p.s this course has given me a great excuse to read the series of Uhtred again.

Submitted January 28, 2014

A

The folk at Bamburgh would probably be pleased to help you!  There’s a good deal of archaeological work being done there, and I know that in the Saxon period there was at least one stone wall across the isthmus. On the whole, though, the fortress would have been of wood – a stout palisade, probably of oak trunks, and the summit of the hill crowned by the great hall with lesser buildings all around it. The area immediately to the west of the present castle is a low-lying playing field (if I remember correctly) and that would have been a shallow harbor in the 9th Century. There really was only one viable approach, from the south, and it’s there that the stone wall was built. Beyond it would have been mostly wood.

 

Q

Hi  Bernard..

I have just finished the "Pagan Lord" and Uhtred has been severely injured and Bebbanberg  has not been taken! When is Uhtred going to finish the job and get retired in his own Castle??  I am surely anticipating the time that the answer will be on the market and in my e-reader.
I am 82 years and have read scores of other authors books and 'tales' but somehow missed those you have wrote. I am making up for that now!! Thanks and keep up the great work.

Jack

When is the next Uhtred novel due out?
John Bell

Submitted January 28, 2014

A

Well I am writing the next book of Uhtred's story now and hope it will be ready for publication (in the UK) in October.

Q

My name is Thomas Sculley. I was surprised to see the name used in 1356! Sculley is usually spelled without an "e". I do visit Ireland often to visit my in-laws and have only seen the Scully version.  I thought you might share some insight as to why you chose to use the "e" version and any background as to a Scottish connection. Many thanks for your works!

Tom Sculley

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

I wish I could answer your question! I have no idea where I got the name. As to the choice of the ‘e’, I suspect that it’s only in the last couple of hundred years that we’ve standardized spellings, even of names. We have a few of Shakespeare’s signatures, written by him, and all spelled differently! People tended to write as they heard, and I suspect both versions were used over the years.

Q

I just finished The Burning Land (loved it), but I couldn't forgive Uhtred for burning the last copy of the Mercian Chronicle! Was there ever any such document that we know of, or is that your invention?
Michael Newman

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

Oh, that’s totally my invention! And it was put there as a tease!

Q

Have you seen where they are going to reconstruct Cnuts warship in Britain?
Carl Dominello

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

I did see that, and I hope it happens!

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell.

I'm a great fan of your job. I really love the way you write your books, with all the descriptions of the landscapes and the look and personality of the characters. I've just finished the 6th book from Saxon Stories and I'm eagerly waiting The Pagan Lord to be translated to portuguese! Meanwhile I'll begin to read the Warlord Chronicles.

I'd like to know how do you write about the places of your books, as they are from ages gone by and the world has changed. Have you been to all these locations to describe perfectly the landscape? Do you use any research method like books or the internet, and if you do, how do you know they are reliable? Or you just create them from your imagination?

Thank you very much!
Maílson.

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

I’ve visited most of the battlefields (when we even know where they are, which can be problematical for some in the ‘dark ages’). Some, like Ethandun, have hardly changed over 1500 years, while others have been built over, but even so a visit will give an idea of contours. I also collect old maps when I can. One example is the battle of Neville’s Cross – the site is now covered in houses, but an early 19th century map and a visit told me a lot. I never visited Toulouse for Sharpe, mainly because the site has been wholly developed and there were more than adequate maps from 1814, but usually I don’t like writing about a place unless I’ve visited. As for reliability? That’s iffy sometimes. I just finished a book on Waterloo and consulted an 1815 map of (what is now) Belgium, and it didn’t mark the major roads that determined the shape of the campaign. I kept digging and found the same map, but reissued a year later, and it did have the roads, obviously the fame of the battle had prompted the cartographer to revise his work! In the end, to be honest, it’s a mix of research and imagination.

Q

Hello Bernard:When I discovered the Saxon Chronicles series, you had already published five of the novels, and I blew through them, unable to lay them down. However, since I read so many novels and stories, I find myself - in the case of my favorites - reading the entire series (really, a single story) again to familiarize myself before diving into your newest book.So, to my question - do you read your entire series of books for a character in order to ensure your plot and character develop follow a rational arc (assuming you haven't outlined the ending of the Saxon Chronicles)? Or is your memory, and your connection to your stories such that there is no need to revisit the story? Just curious.I find myself still gasping even upon my third reading of the story at certain points. It's familiar but feels new!  Thanks!

Eric

Seattle, USA

 

Uhtred, Uhtred, he's our man.  If he can't do it no one can!!
Dear Mr. Cornwell,
That is the new mantra around my home now that my husband, our daughter, and myself have finished the Pagan Lord.  Magnificent.  You never disappoint.  You have created and endearing character. Your prose in unequaled right from the first page.    This summer I am going to begin the entire series again to be ready for the next story.  There is a question.  When you brought Fr. Pyrlig into the story near the end I was overjoyed.  He is one of my favorites.  And after all the time he was gone from the story he was just exactly as I would have remembered him.  So how do you achieve that?  I can understand it with the major characters.  But do you have a written outline of "personalities"  you created to jog your memory?
Thank you for giving my family endless hours of reading joy and fodder for conversation.
Karen

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

I couldn’t possibly re-read them!  I hope I have just enough in my memory, but what I do is have a file on the computer which contains all the books so far, and I’ll use the ‘search’ function to remind myself what I said about a character in a previous book.

Q

Hi Bernard.
Love all your books. I've read them all and visit your site regularly to see when the next book is being released.  I notice in response to one of your fans comments that you have written a non fiction book about the Battle Of Waterloo. Can you tell me when this will be released?
Regards
Mike.

 

Hello,
When is your book about the battle of waterloo going to be released?

Sam

Submitted January 27, 2014

A

We don't have the publication date yet, but I suspect it will be early 2015.

Q

I am a very old lady (!) who really enjoys the "Sharpe" books - in which book did you kill off Obadiah Hakeswill?
thank you for your reply!
Joan L.

Submitted January 24, 2014

A

That would be Sharpe's Enemy http://www.bernardcornwell.net/books/sharpes-enemy/

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell,
Being a late comer to the Grail series, 1356 and Azincourt (about halfway through this now), can I just say how much I have enjoyed this series (and all your other books - I think I only have The Fort left and then I shall be pacing the bookstores again) - is there any sign of a sequel to Azincourt?
There is so much of the English v French story still to be told, and yours would be the best pair of hands to do it!
With much admiration, and many thanks for hours of reading joy
Shirley Mitchell

Submitted January 24, 2014

A

It's not in my plans at the moment.