I was just wondering if you have finished the Sharpe series or are there other books coming?
Oliver Corbisiero
There will be more Sharpe!
Hi! Your books are truly great and inspire the imagination. I just have a a few questions. Firstly, from a history point of view and your own, why would so many warriors follow a man like Alfred who had never really seen a battle or faced an army himself?
Also, where did you learn many of the battle and fighting techniques of that time? and how much of it is your own imagination?
Martin Norman
I suspect Alfred created a political structure that made dissent impractical . . . . he had enough powerful supporters to deter rebellion. And success breeds success . . . Alfred's approach to war was practical and highly intelligent, and it worked. In an age when heroism on the battlefield was celebrated he came up with a system that deterred battle - the burh system - and one result of that was to make Wessex comparatively safe from Danish attacks - they nibbled at the edges, of course, but never solved the problems he created for them. That meant that the great landowners, for the first time in a generation, could feel safe and that, surely, persuaded them (in Yeats and Sellar's words) that he was A Good Thing. Alfred's leadership is really, I think, the leadership of high intelligence . . . . much rarer than we might think!
There are a number of books that deal with it directly, so obviously I read those, and the Saxons left us a wealth of battle-poems, and those are a good source, but it's all supplemented by imagination.
Hi again, Mr. Cornwell. My question this time is about the Danish war-axe, the REALLY big ones that stood about four feet tall. I wonder how it was used in the shield wall. It seems to me that this weapon really requires both hands for an effective strike, and this would preclude the use of a shield and its protection. If you used a shield, you would be limited to weak, one-handed strikes with the axe. I wonder, could the large round viking shield be slung over the upper left arm? This might still allow for powerful, double-handed strikes with the axe. Alan Kempner
I doubt the strikes would be as weak as you imply . . . these guys practised, which in effect means they worked-out. And slinging a shield on the upper left arm would be impractical, I think. I'm sure, at times, they used the axes one-handed, but when two-handed they surely relied on their neighbour to provide the protection of his shield - or just relied on the effect of the weapon itself to create a zone of safety. Don't think I would have wanted to get within hitting distance!
Hi Bernard Your replies to those fans who clamour for more Sharpe are starting to sound frighteningly like the replies you give the Starbuck fans ie - "will get back to it one day"! I've always taken this to be a euphemism for "I've moved on now why don't you?" so I am getting a bit worried as I love Sharpe! You've stated that he is one of your favourite characters so I'm hoping that there will indeed be more stories. Personally I'd love a collection of short stories perhaps post-war where Sharpe gets to meet up with men he's befriended over the years ( from both sides).
On another note entirely I understand that filmakers buy the rights to books and then adapt them for movies/TV - and you always say you have no problem with the way your Sharpe books have been adapted- but what happens when there is no book to buy eg Sharpe's Justice which wasn't based on anything you'd written? Do they buy the rights to the characters rather than the book? How do you ensure the integrity of your characters? Just curious.... best wishes, Fiona
There will be more Sharpe! I'm not sure exactly when . . . right now I'm giving him a rest because I need to refresh him, but he's too close to me to abandon!
I don't ensure it . . . I've taken the view, right or wrong, that if TV producers want to feature my characters then good luck to them! AS for the stories they invented? I don't feel bound by them, in the sense that I don't incorporate those events into my mental version of Sharpe's life story . . . . I see them as useful and entertaining apocrypha!
Hi! After about 30 years of reading little other than non-fiction (about the "dark" ages, aspects of religion etc) I heard you on radio talking about what was then the new Uhtred series. What a revelation this has been for me. I find that I can access aspects of history through your books that pure non-fiction cannot satisfy. Insights into "real" lives, people's motivations and internal conflicts etc. Particularly, aspects of how religion operated upon people which seems to be a constant and very interesting theme through the various periods you cover. All this coupled with ripping yarns. Thank you. I can understand that you avoid 1066 and all that - what a depressing period. But what about the English settlements when Cerdic, Cynric, Hengist and Horsa came up against the Celts, their Christianity and the survivals of their original religion? Just a thought! All the best and please keep writing. Pete PS. Thanks for keeping Uhtred true to his faith.
There are lots of interesting periods! But life is short . . . .who knows?
Thanks for your message!
Hi Bernard, Thank you for your response regarding plot complexity. I think you do yourself a disservice saying that complex plots are not your forte. A Crowning Mercy comes to mind as a very fine book where the plot is more complex. One final question if I may be so bold. I am currently writing what I think may be a pretty decent historical novel (It may never see the light of day but I get a buzz from it anyway). I actually love writing when I get going and derive great satisfaction from it once I've completed a couple thousand words. But getting started feels like being back in school looking forward to homework. Have you ever had similar feeling?? Also I am currently at approx 45K words. Right now and on occasion I can't figure out where to go with it. If I sit down and struggle over a few hundred words I usually get restarted. It's almost like struggling to get an old car started in cold weather. Do you ever have similar problems?? Once again Bernard thank you!! Regards Willie
I'm afraid I don't get the homework feeling . . . . . I think it's very difficult to write when you have no idea whether anyone (other than your long-suffering nearest and dearest) will read the finished product . . . so inevitably you're assailed with the idea that you're wasting your time. I had that feeling very strongly when I wrote my first few books, but now, after almost 50 novels? No . . . .
But I do get cold-weather problem . . . . you just sit down and write, and something comes!
Dear Mr Cornwell, I am currently reading your Sharpe books and am very much enjoying them! I read on the "Your Questions" section of the website that you write your books chapter by chapter as you like to discover what is going to happen in them, with the Sharpe books at least you must have a rough idea about what is going to happen in them as you do research and you have the battle that it will end in etc, I was just wondering how much of a rough idea you have for a story before you start writing it? Do you just know that it's going to end up at the battle, and how Sharpe gets there and who he meets along the way is a mystery? Or do you know the route he will be travelling and the people he will meet but just not the adventures that he will have? Thank you for writing such wonderful books. Richard
It's genuinely a mystery. I've just finished Azincourt . . . at the beginning, when I started what is now the prologue, I knew three things: first that it would end up at Agincourt (duh), that the hero had to be at Soissons, and that his name was Nick Hook. That was honestly it. Everything else in the book came to me as I wrote it . . . . . it doesn't seem to me to be a very efficient way of doing it, but it's the only way I know how.
Ref. Sharpe's Devil. Miller states:"I'd march from here to Toronto..." The setting is 1820-1821. Was that city not still called York at that time? Enjoy reading your novels. Thanks for all the pleasure. John
Yes it was . . . .
Dear Bernard I seem to recall that Sharpe had a daughter who married a rifle's officer. Is there any chance that this rifle officer would make an appearance in a future book?
and my final question have you ever thought of writing a novel around any of the following people Hareward the wake, Robin Hood, Owain Glyndwr, William Wallace, Dick Turpin? Kind Rgds Phil
I'm honestly not sure! I mean it's possible . . . . . but right now I couldn't say (same response for both questions).
I am recently out of high school and I am trying to write a book taking place sometime during or around the First Crusade. I have read your Saxon Stories and enjoy them, I am worried about coming up with names for towns, cities, and castles in England during the middle ages. I am also worried I will have trouble in general because I am from the U.S. and am kind of writing from across the world. Any source ideas or anything like that?
Jamie Gibson
oh, use the real names! Who cares if Winchester was called Wintanceaster? It's pretentious of me to do that . . . . but if you really want to know then get hold of a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names . . . . but if I were you I'd use the modern names!