Your Questions

Q

I'm very much looking forward to publication of The Pagan Lord - after Derfel Uhtred is my favourite of your characters.  Will you be coming to the UK for a publicity tour this autumn?
Phil Mobbs

Submitted July 16, 2013

A

No, I am afraid I am not available for a book tour this year.

Q

Is the Aella killed at York by the Lothbrok brothers possibly a descendant of Aelle, or was he an Usurper? Would Alfred the Great be of the same lineage as Cerdic, if not a direct descendant?

Luke

Submitted July 12, 2013

A

The Aelle of the Arthur books is totally fictional, but I suspect I borrowed his name from the Aelle who appears in the Saxon stories – so they’re related that way, but no other! And as far as I know Cerdic isn’t in Alfred’s family tree . . .

Q

Mr. Cornwell:

1356 seemed to me like it had been edited to fit a certain length format...  Was there really 2 books there squeezed into one???  Too many things/great characters stories were resolved with mere brush strokes at the end IMO...  Sad, as I wanted more.. Really, I felt rushed the whole book long from one part to another to be honest...

IMO, your greatest strength in doing superlative historical fiction over the years has been your use of humorous characters to add depth and texture to your stories - ie, Wagon Master-General Colonel Claude Runciman, Thaddeus "Pecker" Bird and Father Martin (my personal favorite funny man evil villain in all swashbuckler literature) (from your "single novel" best book??? - the talking saints - where you so boldly risked crossing the line - it worked too! Wow!!)...

I don't think, you had the room to accomplish this in 1356...

Finally, the Hookton stories should go on - it deserves a better climax...  It is your best series after the Starbuck series - (the best series on the US Civil War ever written) IMO

Anyways, thanks for the years of wonderful reads...  You made my life more fun...
I hope, you continue to..

A Yankee

Submitted July 12, 2013

A

No!  The book is one of the longer recent books, but it certainly wasn’t shortened, or compressed from two books. I am aware that I tend to write very tightly, and that means there’s more going on than in some other writers’ books, and I suspect that was what caused your disappointment, but that is the way I write and I’m too old to change – I find it incredibly difficult to ‘pad’ a story!

Q

Hi Bernard.
Thanks for your books. You have brought English history alive for me.
Just two short questions:
1) Would you classify yourself as a sceptic?  Just about all your books (with one significant exception) present magic, spells etc., as clever illusions. Is this your view?
2) Can you recommend any of your books that cover the Norman invasion?
Thanks for your time.
Gerald Carey

Submitted July 12, 2013

A

I’m a sceptic!  Especially about religion!

 

I haven't written a book that covers the Norman invasion - and I'm not sure that I ever will.

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I have written to you before and I would just like to say again how much I enjoy reading your books. I hope you will continue to write for a long time to come.
On this site I read that you are planning a non-fiction book of the Battle of Waterloo. My question to you is, will it also contain a more truthful account of the actions of the Prince of Orange, and the Dutch forces in general? I hope so, but in any case, I will enjoy reading it.

Regards,
Eelco Wijnsma
The Netherlands

Submitted July 12, 2013

A

I think it will! I hope it will!

Q

DNA says my family were Britons. And yet they lived near Hadrian's Wall back into antiquity and up to modern times. How does this fit with the concept that Saxons overran and killed the Britons pushing them West?
William Ogle

Submitted July 12, 2013

A

It fits perfectly as long as you add north and south to west!  The Saxons pushed the Britons to the edges – north into the Scottish lowlands (Glasgow is a Welsh name, and Y Gododdin, that great Welsh poem, was written in what is now Scotland), west into Wales and Cornwall, and south across the sea to Brittany.

Q

You've written novels set in the American Civil War. Have you ever thought about writing novels set in the English Civil War?  There seems to be a lot of fertile ground in that time period, roundheads and cavaliers.
Reading your Grail Quest series, excellent! Also read 1356, excellent as well.You are slowly becoming my favorite writer.

Daniel del Valle

Submitted July 11, 2013

A

I've considered it, but I'm not sure I'll ever get to it....

Q

Having just bought "1356" and then reread the "Grail Quest" but as the story jumps from 1347 in Calais to 1356 in or near Gascony and Thomas has been knighted, have I missed a book or is there still one to come please?
Roger Hearn

Submitted July 11, 2013

A

No you did not miss a book, nor do I have plans to write about the 10 years between Heretic and 1356.

Q

Andrew Jackson is one of America's greatest heroes. Revolutionary War contemporary, Indian Fighter, Individualist, Frontier General, Great Britain's canny antagonist: all describe him.  This country would be well served if Andrew Jackson was brought back to life by you.  He is our  Sharpe.
Tommon Tinney

Please: We need your talent an skill to create a work of historical fiction regarding the Battle of Stoney Creek. It is an amazing story of both incompetence and heroism. The battle, prelude and epilogue are all nicely presented in "Strange Fatalities" by James Elliot, this however is a more academic form of publication.
Once again I plead with you. I see only your talent as being useful in this case.
Cheers
Neal Shaw

Submitted July 11, 2013

A

The problem is that life is too short!  Yes, he’s a marvelous man, and would make a terrific novel, or series, but I’m wholly committed to other books for the forseeable future, so I’m afraid it’s a long shot!

 

I fear the same answer as above!

Q

Hello Mr Cornwell,

I have only recently discovered your writing and am now working through the Sharpe series (though not in sequence) As I am a soldier I became more curious why the Brits and the French always fought during the day and of course how they just lined up to be blown away. I have tried to find out whether there was some type of fighting etiquette in those days but have not read anything. In your research have you uncovered any detail as to why this was?

Regards

Mark

Submitted July 10, 2013

A

There were night actions – notably the assault on Badajoz, the French night attack at Talavera, and a number of small scale skirmishes along the picquet lines in 1811 and 1812, but it was difficult enough controlling troops in the daylight, let alone adding the huge difficulties of darkness.  Orders were transmitted by messenger and it would be remarkably easy for a man to get lost. I think it’s eminently practical to fight by daylight!  There really is no etiquette as such, but rather a response to tactical considerations. Why did they fight in ranks? Because the musket is so dreadfully inaccurate so it’s volume of fire that’s needed.  And if you disperse men then they become frighteningly vulnerable to cavalry charges.  You could lose a battalion in a minute if cavalry can get among them (as happened to the 69th at Quatre Bras, or to d’Erlon’s corps at Waterloo). And, of course, Wellington was a master at sheltering his troops on reverse slopes, so it isn’t quite as foolish as it might seem to us!