Your Questions

Hi I have just finished "Death Of Kings". Towards the end there was a mention of a girl riding with the Danes ? but she was not mentioned again. Also is this the last of the Saxon books? Thanks Julian

Are there any box sets of the Sharpe's books out there in print? It would be a lovely Christmas gift for me to suggest to my wife :)

C. S. John

Just a short note to tell you how much I enjoyed reading those Richard Sharpe stories. A older guy in our men's bible class introduce me to these novels;(he had the set of 1-11 books) I finally got down to Sharpe's Waterloo and spent over two hours in a deer blind (and there was nothing moving) so I finish the story.... Now I am looking for Sharp's ransom and Sharpe's Devil.... Just didn't want the end of those Sharpe's adventures....I have also seen two of Sean Bean's character of Sharpe.... An old friend has a set of these... Will see all before Sharpe rides off into the sunset..... Only to say that at 76 years of age I still get a kick out of the good guys winning out over the bad guys; And your bad guys are truly bad villains that you can't wait till they get their's.... One small question; were those officers,in the early British army,really that pompous, aloof, self-center, and obnoxious, and seemly oblivious as you depicted them to be? Really enjoyed your work; hope to read into some of your other work as well....... Thanks JoePaul Taylor

Dear Mr Cornwell Once again thank you for the many hours of pleasure that your novels have given me. While I continue you to hope that you will return to the story of Starbuck in the not too distant future I realise that with a Thomas Hookton novel in the pipeline probably followed by another Saxon Story, it would be at least another two years before another Starbuck novel could be published. However, returning to next year's Thomas Hookton novel, is there any possibility that Robbie Douglas will make an appearance in it?

JP

Hi Bernard, I'm going to include a visit to Castine during a week I have in the north-east at the start of November - inspired by "The Fort" needless to say. Would you have any tips on spots to visit there? The rest of the trip would be up to Quebec City then back to Boston via Ticonderoga. Thanks for all the books - I wouldn't like to pick a favourite. Best Regards, -Phil Newmarket, UK (not sure how I missed your Ely Cathedral signing - Ah, well...)

Mr. Cornwell, Just ordered Death of Kings. Can't wait for it to come out in the US so I ordered it from the UK, the internet is a beautiful thing. At the end of Sword Song I was very much looking forward to the scene where Uhtred walked into Alfred's court with his daughter. Obviously you did not write that scene as a transitions between books. Like deleted scenes in a DVD, would you ever consider writing a scene like that and posting it on the webpage? I know I will go through Death of Kings quickly and a "bonus" page or two could hold me over waiting for the next book. Russell

Hi, I just finished the Arthur's books. I'm writing a RPG about Arthur and Keltia. I found something in your book, that I couldn't find anywhere else : warriors collecting rings on adversaries' corpses, like once Celts cut heads, to prove the killings I suppose. Did you invent that ( great idea) or did you find this detail somewhere ? Thanks a lot for these great books !

Valerie Laproye

My crack at the Sharpe's father riddle: My collection of all the hints and clues dispensed so far includes the fact that we're not looking for an historical character or a fictional character as such. That suggests more of a role or type than a name. You've said he was most likely a rogue and that he may have been French. And the word we're looking for has 8 letters. So, my wild guess is: Corsaire Taking you out (removing the 'I') and putting you in (adding 'me') yields the letters corsaure, which means nothing in itself but it's an anagram of Oscurare - which was the name of a very obscure American racehorse. Oh, and there's a French comic series (and a band too I believe) called Joyeux Corsaire - happy pirate.

Helena

Your narrators in the Arthur trilogy and what I call the longbow books are very firmly certain what and who is good and what and who is evil from the first word. Arthur/Merlin good...Mordred/Lancelot bad. The women are more realistic (love how you write your female characters--one of best male writers for women), still...there's some quibbling, but no true conversions or shocking revelations. Is this by design to make for a more soothing read? Or do you, the author, see Good as Good and Evil as Evil.?? If so, please share with me. I'm stuck in the Uncertainty Principle vortex. Keep Writing! Back further in time, and more women...my 2 cents request! Anna

Mr. Cornwell,I am a big fan of yours, ever since I ran across "The Archers Tale" while shopping at a Costco store. Since then I've purchased and read the Grail Quest series, all of the Sharpe Series (even watched every episode), The Warlord chronicles, Stonehenge, Gallows Thief,and the four Saxon Tales. Now, with that being said I was very excited to run across The Burning Land. I live in Texas, but the cover (according to your site) is from the UK. (The bookstore had five hardback copies of it.) I immediately picked it up, because I've been waiting for the follow up to Sword Song. Mr. Cornwell, to be very honest with you, I was rather upset and felt somewhat "cheated" as it were, that upon getting myself situated in my library and diving into it, it began to seem familiar. By page 21 the Deja'vu really set in, and by page 24 I had to pull the cover off to see if it matched the book! You are an excellent novelist and I have recommended you to several friends and even to a gentleman across the aisle from me on a flight back from Seattle Tuesday when he asked me what I was reading. This book however has me perplexed. I even pulled out the other books to check myself and the pages in The Burning Land look like a cut-n-paste of the first four. I mean The last paragraph in Sword song is, "The long oars dipped, the riverbanks closed on us, and in the west the smoke of Lundene smudged the summer sky". The Burning Lands last paragraph is, "The long oars dipped, the riverbanks closed on us, and in the west the smoke of Lundene veiled the sky". Is The Burning Land intended to be a compilation of the first four? I'm sorry to ramble on, but I just want to get an understanding of this books intent in the Saxon series. I do look forward to the next ones release in January 2012. Thank you, and I look forward to your response. Sincerely; Walter White Rowlett, TX