Your Questions

Hello Mr Cornwell. I have been collecting the Saxon stories on audio book, and the first four I have are the abridged versions read by Jamie Glover. The Burning Land is the full version read by Stephen Perring. Though Mr Perring reads very well I had got used to the way Mr Glover pronounces names and attributes voices to the characters. It was very odd to hear Ragnar in book 5 speak in a west mids accent! Is there going to be a abridged version read by Jamie Glover released? Also, not having the read the text only listened to it, I hope I have spelt these correctly - Uhtred's ancestral home is Bebenburg in the first four audio books and Bamburgh in the fifth. Can you explain this change please? Best Regards, Si

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I have read every book you have published, thanks. Please allow me a pedantic question...in " The Fort " you use the term "port", would it not have still been larboard? I read that "port" came in circa 1844, at least with the Royal Navy. Rgds Robert Marsh

The First of your books which i read was "The Lords of the North" back in May. After that I've been hooked. I love your books.I have read The Saxon Stories, The Warlord Series, Redcoat, Azincourt and just finished The Grail Series. I really do love reading your books. From all that I read so far The Saxon stories are my favorite.Now I am waiting for a copy of The Fort. How Do you come up With The ideas for Your Books? And when you Start to write them do you think ahead of the current book too what's going to happen in the next one? Or do you just take the story were it goes?

Reading The grail stories and Azincourt I could not help but notice the similarities. For Example Thomas of Hookton and and Nick Hook. Both Join the English Army as a last resort, both find bastard women in captured towns and make alliances with their fathers, and both have heavy rivalries. Don't get me wrong I loved the books but could you explain this? Thank you For reading this and Have you ever thought of coming to Toronto,Ontario,Canada? Paul

Mr. Cornwell, I have just this minute finished reading "Agincourt." It was wonderful! I really liked the love story between Nick and Melisande. I also felt military kinship with Sir John Cornewaille. However, I have one statement and one question. I wish you had included more of what happened to the English/Welsh survivors when they returned home. My question is that William Ap Thomas Raglan was completely missing from the book. I am a descendant of his and thought that he was integral to the employment of the archers in the battle. Was I misinformed? Thank you very much for reading this and for writing your wonderful book! Sincerely, Mike Smith

Dear Bernard In regards to Sharpe and whether you could get him to the battle of Albuera you have replied in the past you'd like to but its a question of whether it can be done as it would take place after Sharpe's Battle and Fuentes do Onoro In reading of the battle there were actual companies of the 60th present who had fought at both. Also a certain Dulong was also at the battle (and took command of the French rearguard on there retreat) one wonders if that tempts you more to have him and Sharpe go up against each other again? Also in Sharpe's Company Sharpe does recall being present at the previous Siege of Badajoz so it would be break chronological order if he wasn't. Please consider as it would seem ironic (to say the least) to write about the Peninsular war and miss the largest fight of that war.

Finally one section you have avoided up till now is the war of 1812 have you ever thought of battles in Canada Chryslers Farm and Chategeauy 1813 Americas largest invasion during the whole war? Yours sincerely Geraint P.S If you have not read it I can recommend Dragon Rampant on the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers and there time in Peninsular War by Donald Graves worth a read if your interested Yours sincerely Geraint

Mr Cornwell, I enjoy reading your books based on English history and recently have been reading the Grail series. I take great notice of your historic notes and the accuracy of the stories. I did notice however that the illustration of the archer has the arrow on the wrong side of the bow stave. A right-handed archer would have the arrow on the left side in the vee created between the knuckle and the stave. The bow would be tilted to the right. I have a feeling that I will not have been the first to point this out. I'm nearly at the end of the Vagabond and eager to start Heretic. Reading Azincourt got me started and I have enjoyed them all.

David Orr

Hi Bernard, Currently reading Sharpe's Battle and there are some terrific passages of dialogue running through it (Loup and Sharpe, Ducos and Loup etc etc). Do you have any advice regarding the balance between dialogue and descriptive narrative? In Battle you seem to use a lot of dialogue (top notch dialogue btw). I’ve also read that people’s attention spans are getting shorter, that no matter how good, long descriptive passages are less tolerated and that publishers and readers favour plenty white spaces which dialogue naturally provide. Do you have any rule of thumb&.50% dialogue or as much as possible or only use descriptive passages where they can’t be avoided? Finally do you have any technique to ensure you get your dialogue just right..i.e reading it aloud or recording it and playing it back? Or does it just come so easily that you don’t have to work too hard at it? Kind Regards Willie

Mr Cornwell what do you think about Agency Pricing on the kindle do you think it will hurt your sales

M Coombs

I just finished "The Fort" and enjoyed it very much but kept getting jarred by the word "forrard". You used "forward" in several places and spelled out "gunwale" so why "forrard" even when it was not dialog?

Gerald Martin

Hi again, Mr. Cornwell. Was Sharpe's father English? Alan Kempner

Is Richard Sharpe's father General John Burgoyne? Anaxagoras