Your Questions

I enjoyed reading your book, "The Fort" on a number of levels.  It appears that my 7 times grandfather may have served at Fort George on the Penobscot.  I know for a fact he was one of the disbanded men of the 74th Regiment of Foot, which was signed up a number of men from Western Scotland in 1778 and which went to Halifax.  There were 10 companies, and 8 of them went to build and defend Fort George, and the other 2 companies went to the American South during the Revolutionary War.  After the war, the 2 Southern companies were returned to Fort George and they were all disbanded to St. Andrews in what is now New Brunswick.  I have a couple of questions.  Did you do any research into the 74th Regiments history at the British Archives in Kew, and do you have any list of the men who served at the Fort?  There are a lot of Canadians who can trace their lineage back to the disbanded men of the 78th Regiment of Foot and it would be helpful to determine where these men enrolled and which of
them served at Fort George.
Thanks,

Bill

Hi Mr Cornwell

On a trip home I picked up old Readers Digest condensed editions of Sharpes Eagle and Sharpes Gold, from the early 80's in which there were many fine illustrations from Neville Dear.  As they were my introduction to your novels as an impressionable 10 year old the paintings have stayed with me (especially the confrontation between Sharpe and the Provosts, and the wonderful expression on Harper's face).

Do you remember these illustrations and did you have any involvement in their production? Despite Sean Beans great performance I think that my image of Richard Sharpe still comes from these images.

Regards

Steve

Mr Cornwell,

as a Charleston resident, happy to see you are a part time resident. I first saw Charleston many years ago from the deck of a ship and have called it home ever since. Really no place in the States like it. As a Navy Officer I first found Sharpe's Gold in one of our training ship's library and that started my interest in your books. One of my CO's had given me Rifleman Dodd a few years before so the Sharpe's series has been a great addition to my reading. I have read all of your books except 1356, which is next on my list, but I can't wait for your next effort. I really love the Uhtred series and, interestingly enough, my wife and I travelled from Winchester to Skye with a stop at Bamburgh Castle on our honeymoon before the first book came out. We endured 40 kt gusts walking up the ramparts, really a wild place. It was a great trip!  I hope that you will have a book signing in Charleston for the next in the series. My military commitments involve rotations to Afghanistan and a lot of time away from my family due to the requisite training involved, but I will send my wife if you promote the book in Charleston and I can't attend. Anyway, wanted to take a minute and let you know how much I enjoy your work. Thanks again.....

Scott Tetrick

Hello Mr. Cornwell,
I have just discovered you and am a big fan having just completed the Saxon Chronicles.
As a hobby, I am a student of religion and am interested in how Christianity may have influenced the "Dark Ages" and set it in motion. If you've read Tom Harpurs The Pagan Christ, he gives examples of how Christianity took away from the Gnostic and Pagan beliefs of a person having direct communion with God absent the rules imposed by the Church.
My question is this: Have you thought about writing of the Dark Ages as I noticed a timeline absence in your collective writings  which absent the years 900 to 1300 or thereabouts. It may be interesting to discover what was going on during those times?
Sincerely, and I look forward to reading more of your works
Mark Stumacher, MD

Hi
I’ve developed the habit recently to explore the places I read about in novels using Google Earth, so as to get a feel for the geography, scenery, weather and perhaps even the people to be found there.
I’m currently rereading Stormchild after I don’t know how many decades, and so of course I’ve been trying to find the Archipiélago Sangro de Cristo, the Isla Tormentos and the Estrecho Desolado off the Chilean coast, without much luck.
Is the Isla Tormentos entirely fictional, or did you base it more or less loosely on an existing island you saw on a chart somewhere?
(I’m reading a Reader’s Digest condensed version, which doesn’t carry the usual disclaimers about stuff being entirely fictional and so forth. My apologies if the full length version actually does).

Thanks and Regards
Pieter Beneke

Hi Bernard,
I was just wondering if you ever are tempted to have characters from one era pop up referenced in another; it would be great if Uhtred on his way campaigning in the south of England stumbled across a reference of a Young Saxon warrior who achieved greatness fighting against his own people for some long forgotten English warlord; and reflect on the irony! It's been a kind of theme for me imagining all the heroes in your amazing books to be some how related throughout history culminating in Sharpe as the last embodiment of the reincarnation until he of course incarnates as Andy Mcnab who ironically was in the green jackets before joining the SAS the natural incarnation for the chosen men.. Hang on this is getting to be like a Michael Moorcock novel! But seriously is it much of a temptation as a nod and a wink to your many, many fans?
Thanks for indulging me
James

Hello.

This is a message from an Irish Sharpe fan. When I finished my final school exams all the way back in 2004, my parents bought me the entire VHS box set of Sharpe (from 'Rifles' to 'Waterloo') because I was massively involved in historical re-enacting (albeit with an American Civil War group). Since then, I've packed such activities in and become something of an armchair general, whilst maintaining a strong interest in military history, and particularly in the aspects which deal with the Irish diaspora.

So naturally, you can imagine how much I enjoyed Sharpe's Battle. However, having done a little bit of research on Spain's Irish regiments, it doesn't seem that they would have needed any extra training (even from a warrior like Sharpe). Was the story of the Royal Irish Company based on any event in particular (which may have been overlooked by my own sources), or were you using artistic license?

Regards,
Justin Scannell

P.S.: I've got all the Nathaniel Starbuck series. Top class!

Hi,

being a Scot, and having been told many a time that I was havering by my grandmother growing up in Glasgow, I thought you might like to know that essentially it means 'talking nonsense'. I would assume when the Douglases talk of the French king havering, your intended meaning was dithering , or something of that nature, suggesting an inability to make a decision ?
Thought I should pass on the information, in case nobody else realises, or bothers.
Keep up the good work.
Alan

I have just noticed that on the re-issue of Sharpe's Trafalgar, the cover art claims that Sharpe travelled home about the Revenant. Obviously this is a mistake; he travelled on the Calliope, and later the Pucelle. The Revenant was a French ship!
Daniel

I read you books the Fort quite a time ago. At the moment I am a PhD Student working on naval impressment. In the Fort, you give an extract of a document for the american naval commander to use impressment, would you please have the reference of this document, so I can research it for my PhD. So far I have been unable to locate it

Jeremy Young