Your Questions

Dear Mr. Cornwell,
I thank you so much for your interesting, well investigated and extraordinary well told books. I´m very interested in history, so I have read nearly all your books.
I´m especially pleased of your Sharpe-books and so my question is: Will there be another Sharpe and if yes, can you say when?
Sincerely Yours
Daniel Zielke

I have read most of your books.  Uhtred and Richard Sharpe are my two favorite characters.  I am looking forward to reading The Pagan Lord but are you planning on writing any more Sharpe books?  Have you thought about writing about Sharpe in his later years?  Thank you for all of the wonderful stories you have written.
Tom DeSimone

 

I have enjoyed your Sharpe series but wonder have you ever considered doing a book on how Sharpe was made the man he was. You have hinted at his childhood and early life but while I fully appreciate he is a fictional character, I believe that your many followers would like to read an account of his early life.
Gary Doyle

Hi Mr Cornwell,

I know you're a busy man but if you fancy watching something interesting in between writing your books I thought you'd like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urtO2Jh1n5I
You are after all the man that got me interested in this. Is it also true that you may be coming to England this year? Looking forward to the Pagan lord.

Kind regards

Ian

Your historical novels, so well researched and imaginative, lighten and enthral my life. Thank you.
Each new B.C. novel is a source of great anticipation and pleasure.
I wonder why no one has done a good book about the Stuart dynasty? Both the rise and fall, ( and reach) of this family, from Breton minor nobles from Dol en Bretagne, to
Scottish king's vassal and Steward, to sovereign of England and Scotland, and patron of the Arts, darting between protestant and Catholic beliefs is staggering.
Nigel Trantor had a try but did not go back to the origins.Can you guide me?.
Stephen Pollock-Hill

Hi,

I'm just about to finish 'Azincourt' - again! I am fascinated by the period.  My question: During the marriage of William and Kate the Shrine of Edward the Confessor was mentioned several times as [the] 'most sacred part of Westminster Abbey'.  This caught my attention and I wondered if any of your novels are set during his reign? Many thanks for reading this,

Hugh

Re-reading Uhtred's stories, and I'm wondering if there's a source where I could find "the song of Aegir, god of the sea, and of Ran" (The Burning Land) or of Ravn's chant at Ragnar's sacrifice to Odin (The Last Kingdom).

You have got me happily immersed in Nordic and Anglo Saxon culture to a quite remarkable degree.
Edith Munro

Mr. Cornwell,

at the end of the fourth book in the "Starbuck" series, "The Bloody Ground",  you said, "Starbuck will march again." It is now 17 years since that promise. You have left us in 1862. Will there be more books in the series?
Jim Brown

 
Hi,
I was just wondering, if like you say, you get asked mostly when Starbuck will return, why do you not do it? Surely it would please your fans and line your pockets at the same time. I for one am eager to fine out what happens to Nathaniel after Sharpsburg. My partner and I intend to call out first son Nathaniel after Starbuck.

Ash

 

 

Dear Sir,
I'm writing to let you know how much I hope that you will someday write more books of the Starbuck Chronicles.
Though I've read many of your other novels, both serials and stand-alone books, I found your portrayal of the American Civil War uniquely moving and that's why the Starbuck Chronicles rate as my favorite among all your work.
Moreover, I can't help but feel as a reader that the story ended rather abruptly midway through the war. I understand that you are no doubt occupied by many other projects and books that you hope to finish in the near future, but it would gladden me and your other fans to have a new Starbuck adventure to read.
I very much look forward to hearing the next one announced.
Regards,
Aram Zadeh

Hi Bernard,
A big fan of your books, I am currently reading Excalibur, which is just super. I actually think the Arthur series rivals Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series and I can’t give you much higher praise than that?
My mail relates to the finding by divers of what archaeologists believe was a Viking Sunstone near Alderney. Apparently the calcite stone allowed  Vikings to navigate in foggy and inclement weather by virtue of the fact that when held up to the sky, the stone would reveal the position of the sun even before dawn or after sunset. I am wondering if you have heard of Sunstones and if, maybe you could incorporate the use of a Sunstone in the next Saxon story? You might find the following link interesting/useful.
Kind Regards
Willie
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/not-just-the-stuff-of-legend-famed-viking-sunstone-did-exist-believe-scientists-8521522.html

I've just finished my second read through all your Sharpe books and loved them, better than the first time! I am curious about the unusual mention of my home town, Toronto, in Sharpe's Devil. When I was young we always said "... from (?) to Timbuktu" but you have Major Miller say ".. from here to Toronto.. " I wonder was it a common expression at that time to say that? or was it simply a nice alliterative?
Christopher Sears

Hello Mr Cornwell,

I would just like to thank you for creating these amazing stories. Because of your Sharpe series, it has inspired me to study history and I have never regretted it. I have happily and joyfully read your Grail Quest Trilogy and 1356 as well as your King Arthur tales and Uhtred stories and I am very much looking forward to the release of 'The Pagan Lord'.

So inspirational have your stories been to me that when studying my degree in History, my BA dissertation was a comprehensive study of the Medieval English Archer between 1328 and 1348 - essentially encapsulating the stories of Thomas of Hookton. When studying MA Military History, my MA dissertation was a comparative study between the army of Sir Arthur Wellesley at the Battle of Talavera and the army of Edward III at the Battle of Crecy to show the changes and continuities between the two periods. My inspiration for this was 'Sharpe's Eagle' and 'Harlequin' and even though I was told by many of my lecturers that I was crazy for undertaking such a study, I still came out of it with a very respectable 2:1. My studies of these two periods have shown me how well researched your stories are and you should be commended for the amount of work you put into each one. Because of the success of my BA and MA, the University of Hull has offered me a PhD placement to write a thesis on the social change of the English Archer between 1314 and 1415 provided I can get funding for it (which doesn't seem likely). Again, I can only thank you for your inspirational stories that have allowed me to achieve what I have achieved.

Apologies of this is turning into a gushing fan email but I am grateful to you for your stories. There is an academic query involved in all of this: while reading Robert Hardy's 'Longbow', I noted that at the front of the book, you wrote a piece where you said that both Wellington and Benjamin Franklin wanted to create units of Longbowmen to fight in the Napoleonic Wars and the American War of Independence. I have used these two facts to much enthusiasm in my BA and MA dissertations but I have been wondering, what were the original sources you got these two facts from? It's a curiosity to me that I am interested to know.

Anyway, thank you again and I look forward to more of your stories in the future!

All the best,

Elliott Brindle

Hello Mr. Cornwell,

When you were writing Steapa and Leofric, how old do you envision them being? Uhtred describes them as being older then him, but at the time, he's only 2 years old. When I was 20, everyone seemed like an old man to me.

On a related note, as a historian, how different do you think England as it exists today would be if the Danes hadn't invaded and conquered every English kingdom other then Wessex? Do you think unification at some point would have ocurred, or would we still be looking at many small countries within the Island itself? I know that a little over 1100 years has passed, and lots of things could have happened otherwise, but just wondered your thoughts on this.

Luke