Dear Bernard You obviously have a multitude of loyal fans and I count myself as one of them. Ive read all your books with the exception of Azincourt, which Im saving for my next holiday. So it was with great interest that I read that your next book will be a follow up to Redcoat, because, (takes a sharp intake of breath), I didnt really like Redcoat very much. I guess its a matter of taste but, for the record, I felt that it fell between two stools. Generally your books have a clearly identifiable hero/cause opposed by what we British would call the baddies. In Redcoat, whether its because you now live in America or because senior management hails from those shores, the boundaries seemed to blur. It wasnt clear who, cause wise at least, I should support or which audience you were writing for. The hero was British and the cause seemed American. Its hard to reconcile that even after nearly 250 years. Possibly North American readers feel the same about the Starbuck series. In the rest of your writing there is no such conflict. Am I making sense? Is it something you recognised from the original? Will this change in the follow up? Thanks Chris
Well, it isn't a follow-up - it just happens to be another novel set in the Revolution. I think you'll find this one less ambivalent, mainly because almost (almost) all the interesting characters are on the American side, but who knows? I'll be interested in your verdict.