Your Questions

Dear Mr Cornwell, I have a terrible confession to make, I have been flirting with another historical Author who I shall not name here as it would be rather churlish to do so on your website (suffice to say Ghengis Khan never seemed cooler!) He was good, but you know how it is, you always remember your first! And so I returned to your works; Sharpe to be precise, and as I was reading I found myself unable to picture your version of Sharpe, instead Sean Bean's accent, appearance and demeanour; swam behind my eyes. I was wondering has Sean Bean's amazing performance affected how you see Sharpe? He really did an amazing job as Sharpe!! James

I have read most of your work and enjoy and appreciate your abilities to weave fact into fiction. I recently read Agincourt and it held me "chair bound" I wonder any chance of a follow on for Hook? He seems such a wonderful character living at a fascinating moment in English history not to develop futher.
Graeme Rand

Hello Mr. Cornwell, I have always been a fan of your books and have read all of the Sharpe Series, the Saxon Chronicles and most of the others. I have been involved in writing my own historical fiction for the last 21/2 years. Its about WW2, and I started with an idea, and thought it would be so easy to just write and the book would be done in no time. Was I mistaken, I've done reams of investigation, interviews, and probably read over fifty books on the subject.Also, Ive just returned from a trip to Normandy and visited the beaches and the American and British cemeteries.. Now, I'm at about 70,000 words and five revisions, and still not finished.. Three questions please: 1. how do you make sure that sentences or phrases from the many books you read don't somehow slip into your writing,

2. are books about WW2 still popular, and

3. if I can't find a publisher in the US, will it be worth a try to find a UK publisher, even though none of the principal characters are British? Many thanks. Alan

DEAR SIR, I LIVE IN GREECE WHERE YOUR BOOKS "SWORD SONG" AND "THE BURNING LAND" HAVE NOT BEEN PUBLISHED YET. I HAVE READ THE ARTHUR BOOKS, THE GRAIL QUEST BOOKS AND THE FIRST THREE OF THE SAXON STORIES. COULD YOU PLEASE INFORM ME ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THE "SWORD SONG" AND "THE BURNING LAND". ARE THEY ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED IN GREECE? YOUR'S SINCERELY. VASSILIOS FOURNARIS

Dear Mr Cornwell, I am truly in love with your Saxon Stories series (and hope for many more to come!). So much so in fact, that I've decided to centre my English A Level Coursework on King Alfred. Quite what this will entail I don't know. But i had one query about the chap. In your books, he is portrayed as a superb statesman and scholar, and a just man. But not so much as a warrior, at least himself personally. Of course, this is where Uhtred comes in, but nonetheless I've taken for granted that Alfred was a frail chap, not really up for a shield war or anything of the sort. But all these websites i encounter seem to say (assume?), he's a 'great warrior' or had 'great military prowess'. Of course, I'm sticking with your depiction of Alfy, but i was wondering if you hadn't any comment regarding this? Maybe just that a great warrior king astride a magnificent stallion is more romantic that one, who ultimately, might have been hobbling around on crutches? Thanks :) George p.s. sorry its so frightfully long

Hi, Straight into it. Why do you make Uhtred so dumb? He gets oathed everywhere he goes and winds up unable to kill the people I want killed - here's a few: Guthred, Alfred, all the priests, the rest of the priests and any priest who's still alive? Also, maybe unintentional but the saxons, hobbled by the priests as they are, come over as real wimps. Were the Saxons wimps? I'm descended from one most likely and many Danes I see are more wimpy than me. ;)

Rob

Dear Mr Cornwell I have read many of your historic novels and always found them enjoyable. I'm currently reading The Burning Land. The period of history I particularly find fascinating is the English Civil War. Have you never considered writing a novel from this period? Kind regards Steve

Hello Mr Cornwell; I would like to take this opportunity to commend the books you have written and published, especially the series of Saxon books and the Grail Quest. I find your research very good and as an academic myself I often wonder how you actually remain so accurate throughout. I have recently re-read the Uthred saga and actually found myself looking for any inaccuracies. I only found one slight one in which you describe Uthred preparing for battle and slipping his arm through the straps of his war shield and holding his Seax with a shield hand. However was it not the case that shield design of the day constituted a central grip behind the boss? if this was the case then holding the handle of the short-sword (wasp sting) would have been problematical to say the least and very unlikely in a battle of that time. I am being picky I know so please forgive me as I do immensely enjoy your work and they offer an absolute release for for me from the turgid and dry text I work with on a daily basis.

I really found your work (Azincourt) quite faultless in its research and as my hobby is Archery I connected with the hero immediately. In the UK at the moment there are whispering s of a BBC production on the book is there any substance? Anyway thanks for the works as they certainly take the keener edge off my days

David Farley

Good Sir, Been looking for someone called a knifeman--an expert with the knife. But wait...specializing in the gutting of horses in battle. Was there such a soldier? Could you point me in the right direction? Many, many thanks for the great reading. Respectfully, Daniel D. Junkin

I have just listened to two of your books, Winter King and Enemy of God, and I absolutely love them. The reading done by Mr. Dane only adds to the greatness. Thank you both. But I believe I heard it said in one of the books that the farmers of the time were growing corn. That seemed like a pretty easy historical inaccuracy; was that just to see if we were paying attention?
Scott Scattergood