Your Questions

Dear Mr.Cornwell. Have just finished reading DEATH OF KINGS which has left me wanting to know more about our Saxon ancestry. However, my first love is still the Sharpe series - will there be another novel in the foreseeable future?

Rob Cottrell

Hello Mr. Cornwell. Thank you for another great read in Death of Kings. I frequent your site and have certainly noticed that many of your readers (myself included!) are clamoring for more Uhtred, or more Sharpe, or more Thomas, or more Starbuck, or more of all of the above. I noticed from your bibliography that as recently as a few years ago, you published multiple novels per year. With so much interest in your various works, are you the least bit tempted to go back to such a release schedule? Of course, I'm afraid with even the most diligent of effort, we'll always read them faster than you can write them.... Thanks again for your wonderful stories. Best regards, Shawn

would you consider a series of starbuck goes west?

Gene Kite

Dear Mr Cornwell, Firstly, many, many thanks for giving me so many hours of pure reading joy; not since discovering Dickens as a young man have I enjoyed one person's writing so much. I have read so much of what you have written and love it all, especially the Saxon stories, but above all, the Starbuck Chronicles. So ... to my complaint! You simply cannot leave Starbuck where he is - can you? As a Brit with a long abiding passion for the American Civil War, I long to know what he did after Antietam and then after 1865. It's been 15 years since vol IV and you have written so much since then, surely you could now put us all out of our misery? There are many of us out here holding similar views and some of us don't have a great deal of time left! With the greatest respect and many thanks again, yours very sincerely, Roger Sillence

Dear Bernard On a previously asked question dated 7th Nov 2001 on whether you will be writing any further stories on the starbuck chronicles how long do you anticipate to have a new book out on this it's nearly 2012 and we are desperate to know how the series will continue Kind regards

Leigh

Dear Bernard, I am addicted to your books! I started with the Grail series and have now moved on to Sharpe (in between I have read several others too). I wish you had written the battles in Lord of the Rings, your battles are superbly written. I have read up to Sharpe's Sword and will not watch the corresponding TV episode on DVD until I read the book. I made the mistake of watching Sword last night, which is not in the correct order (I missed the Enemy episode). Of course in Enemy I believe Sharpe gets promoted to Major, so in the Sword episode he is already a major, unlike the book. If you followed all that(!) this leads me to my questions. Why did the writers of the series change the order? Why did they change the stories so much? Where was LeRoux's sister for example? Looking forward to getting more Saxon books (I have 4 at the moment), although I have the rest of the Sharpe's to read, 3 Starbucks and 3 Arthur books also! Stonehenge and Stormchild will have to wait. Keep up the good work, wish I could make it to one of your signings, thanks, Nigel.

Bernard. The relationship between Alfred and Uhtred seems really similar to that between Eisenhower and Patton,the great organiser and the fighting soldier. Patton was a fanatic would you be comfortable classing Uhtred in the same way or do you feel that he just has really good mission commitment but falls short of fanaticism?

Andy Houghton

Hi Mr Cornwell, firstly let me say what a massive fan of yours I am & have been since stumbling across Sharpe's Waterloo in my high school library. I have read all of your novels, often multiple times! I am leaving Perth, Australia for an extended working holiday in Europe & my question is do you have any recommended tours or particular sites that would be best for visiting. Useful battlefield companion books of the Peninsular War/Waterloo would also be appreciated. If this is covered elsewhere on this site my apologies as I could not find it. Once again many thanks for the countless hours of enjoyment. Scott Crawley.

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I have been an avid reader of your books since I was 12 years old and proud to say have read and own every single one. This being said, I have to say Death of Kings is probably one of the best. The Grail Quest being my favorite series of all time, I have to say this book as on par with Heretic. The paragraph on the battle joy on page 322 is haunting. However, being drawn into the plot of your latest book, what does the last line translate into English again? Again, a fantastic book, keep them coming!

Wes Spence

Hi, my brother & I are both big fans of your work and have been working our way through your back catalogue of books over the last few years & am currently halfway through your Sharpe series. Not so long back I read the late Michael Crighton's Pirate Latitudes and as much as I enjoyed it (and I don't intend to be disrespectful to him) I couldn't help but hope you might write a book or series based upon privateering & piratery in the future as I much prefer your writing style. The thought has come back to me recently having recently read Sharpe's Trafalgar and the Pucelle's pursuit of the revenant as well as in Sharpe's Eagle with Simmerson's threat of Sharpe's being busted down to Lieutenant in the West Indies. I best stop before I find myself suggesting an amateurish plot line to you. You're no doubt bombarded with book requests & suggestions but like the rest I've carried on anyway, but I would be grateful if you would consider publishing a book(s) of this type & would no doubt be first in line to buy a copies for me & my brother. Thank you Ian

Hello I just finished Death of Kings and have to say its now my favorite of the Uhtred books so far, taking the place of Lords of the North, which up until now was my favorite. This is the first of the Uhtred books where I didn't have the urge to smack Uhtred across the head for being too much a self indulged, arrogant pain in the a55. I guess its because my first Saxon love is Derfel, and he and Uhtred are so different. Then again Uhtred never had Arthur to admire, and Merlin to take him down a peg, all he had was Alfred who helped make him even more of a arrogant sod by being so damned pious. But don't get me wrong, I do love a good Uhtred book. It's part of the charm and appeal to me when I read those books, to seethe with frustration, and want to give both Uhtred and Alfred, a clock around the ears. Death of Kings kept me guessing and wondering, and I loved that, not to mention this new Priest Cuthbert who reminds me of someone I knew in high school. I would also like to say that I take great offence, on your behalf, when some pious little 5h1t calls your books anti-Christian, especially when some of the most lovely and adored characters of your books were Christian. Sure there are some real villains amongst the cloth, but so there were amongst the Pagans. Grand thing about your books is the humanity, in all its horror and beauty. Not a hint of pretension unless it be from the mouth of a character who's will is their own. Keep up the good work. I had a question. I do a bit of writing from time to time for fun, and I enjoy coming up with new ways for characters to kill and maim each other, do you find the same thing enjoyable? Finding new and imaginary ways for one character to do another character in?. Are there any areas of history, in which a modern day historian has spoken about, which you have found to be just an over-cherry-picked under researched bunch of rubbish, concocted in an attempt to strengthen their theory?. Because I have recently found some nonsense of the very type, such as a modern thought on the Saxon Invasion of Britain as having been just a fashion change, and was curious if you had had run into such nonsense yourself? Regards Damien Silson.

You write of Essex, Wickford, Foulness. Did you live at the Mayphil Hotel Battlesbridge with Mrs Cornwell And Mr Hall approx 1950? Michael Watson