Your Questions

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

First of all thank you for the fantastic series The last Kingdom - The Burning Land. The provided many hours of reading joy!!

In the last book of this series there is a slightly disturbing historic error. With the (unwanted) risk of being pedantic I would like to bring this to your attention. Also because this event must have had its impact on your ancestors as it did on mine. My ancestors lived in Frisian in these early days.

In the night of the 13th and 14th December 1287 there was an enormous flood bringing disaster to the north of the Netherlands (Frisian) and to the east of the UK (Bebbanburg?). Only after this flood the map in the book is correct, before the flood there was no inner sea.

Perhaps this is a new historical fact for you? In that case I hope you enjoy this kind of historical facts as much as I do.

In no way has this a negative impact on the pleasure of reading your books!

Thanks again!!

Kind regards

Roland Heringa
Amsterdam
Netherlands

Dear Bernard,

It has been a while since I had a question for you, but thought I would ask your opinion on a matter or homage or plagiarism.

I am a huge fan of Sharpe as I am of GMF's Flashman, and on the latter subject have noticed a vast amount of books come out from other authors, from the new Flashman series about an equally cowardly relative through to someone even reinventing Flashman for the modern age and placing him in the Gulf War, someone else has written a book making him a WW1 pilot and now we have 'The Speedicut Papers' which is, in my opinion, a whole load of cashing in on someone else's hard work.

I wondered what you thought of this yourself, and also what your thoughts might be (I am horrified to even suggest this, mind you!) if someone did the same to you, such as inventing Sharpe's brother to do the same feats, or writing a Lassan series, putting Sharpe in the Crimea or writing 'The Patrick Harper Diaries'...the list could be endless.

Would you be angry, sue someone, or accept that imitation was a form of flattery?

Personally I think the whole practice abhorrent, but would be keen to know your thoughts?

Kind regards, as ever,

Ricky Phillips

I just returned from 7 weeks travel in Europe during which time I blundered across Uhtred of Bebbanburg.  The current TV series on the Vikings alerted me to my total ignorance of the place of the Danes in our historical journey.  I read 1356 early in the year and loved it.  I wish you had been my History teacher - I would have paid more attention.  I noticed the first in the series, was enthralled by both the story and the historical roots, then read all 7 while visiting Denmark, York, Ireland and other places where the Danes left their mark.  What a wonderful juxtaposition of literature and life.  Thanks for the experience.  As a Christian who loves Jesus I have been fascinated by the complex way you have presented Uhtred and his spiritual perspective and I have many times wished I could have a conversation with him.  I find myself wondering about your own personal spirituality.  You seem to me to deal with the Pagan and Christian characters you invent in a way that is complex,
genuine, non-stereotypical, and with a realism that is at times both painful and inspiring.  I'm not sure how many more of these you can generate but you MUST bring us back to Bebbanburg or we shall die unsatisfied.  How long before Uhtred rises from his near death experience to fight again?
Allan Meyer

Dear Mr Cornwel
As an avid fan I've read all your books and enjoyed everyone of them.  I understand that it must take some time to complete a book but if you can find a way to speed up the process it would be appreciated as the wait is often painfull (a bit of overtime maybe?  Please can you confirm if there will be a follow up to the pagan lord?
Kind regards
Steve

Not the end please?
Jim

Sir;

This book (The Pagan Lord) was fantastic. In fact,  I love all your work.  I read it in 2 days and I can't get enough.  When will the next book of the Saxon Saga be out?  Half the people I work with go nuts for your writing.
Thank you very much for this great entertainment you provide.
Cheers,

Terry Blanchard.

Do you think you will ever do something on Rome?

Jeremy Hillock

I am enjoying the Warrior Chronicles immensely! Is there any chance you can reward Finan for his longstanding service to Uhtred and let him live until the very end? Except Uhtred, Steapa and Finan all former bigger characters are gone now or on the way out, which may be as nature/author intended, but nevertheless feels sad. I would love to see Finan coming into his own at the end, after having fought for Uhtred's dreams for most of his life.

However you plan Finan's story to go on (or not), I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Thank you for giving me so much pleasure with your books.

Sincerely,
Claudia

Dear Mr. Cornwell
I've just finished The Pagan Lord, after re-reading, in chronological order, the previous six books in the series.  In all the books, Uhtred mentions the phrase " Wyrd bith ful araed"  You explained the letter which looks like a Greek delta as being pronounced "th".  In the Pagan Lord, there appears another Old English letter which looks like a 'd' with a tail.  I hope you know what I mean, as I can't replicate it here.  Have you any idea how it is pronounced, please?
I hope there are more books in the series, soon.  Like many of your readers, I want to see Uhtred back in Bebbanburg, which is not far from my home on Tyneside.

Having read most of your books myself, I introduced my brother-in-law to his first, Azincourt.  He couldn't put it down.  Another fan hooked!

Kind regards,

Alan

Mr Cornwell,
As many others I would love to see the Warlord trilogy made into a TV series or film. However, it dawned on me recently that some of the anti-Christian (and anti-religion) themes of the books may well cause problems.
Is this something you ever considered?
Many thanks
Dean
PS: I have absolutely no issue with how religion is portrayed in the books, but I imagine there are some that would!

Dear Mr Cornwell
When you are writing, do you ever forget a  minor character? Leaving the reader wondering what happened to him?
If you do catch your error do you go back and re-write the section where they leave the story, or do you insert a line further on in the story?
Also, have you ever or ever considered writing a story from the perspective of the second character in the story, say Finan or Harper?

Joseph McCalmont

Dear Bernard,
My initial reason for writing to you as that I have received an email about Easter Island and further excavations there and though it is not in your usual scope, I wondered if you had any thoughts on this.  You have provided so much information about Stonehenge and I wonder how do the time lines of Easter Island - an area on the other side of the world  - relate to some of these amazing STONES we find in UK?
PLUS importantly I was so pleased to see that you are promoting help for our returned service people who may have fallen through the cracks.  I don't know if we have anything similar here in Australia BUT I will certainly bring it to the attention of my ex service friends and with the local RSL club.
Thank you for your books and particularly for the information you have provided on Stonehenge - the history of the UK is so fascinating and the remnants of previous peoples will always throw up amazing things and questions of HOW ON EARTH DID THEY DO THAT!!
Cate Capp