Your Questions

Dear Mr. Cornwell, My husband and I are both huge fans of your Grail Quest novels. Recently, my 13 year old had run out of Star Wars books to read and was looking for something new. I've known for years that he would love Thomas' adventures but I felt the subject matter was to adult for him. However at 13 I finally gave in and, with the help of some post-it notes over passages regarding the attacks on a certain Countess, I let him read them. He was enthralled and is now at a point of dissatisfaction with anything similar in the young adult section of the book store. His chief complaint is that they are too "magicy" and not realistic enough. I was wondering if you had any suggestions. I was thinking of having him read "Ivanhoe", a personal favorite from my own childhood. I am curious whether you have thought about delving into the young adult reading level as many other adult authors have done recently. I know my son would love a book about Thomas' early teen years. Anyway, any suggestions you could give would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for coming up with such an amazing adventure, my whole family has truly enjoyed them. Sincerely, Danielle Hughes

I have re-read the Warlord trilogy for possibly the 7th (maybe 8th) time. I absolutely love them. Although I do occasionally re-read some other books I have enjoyed NEVER to this scale. My wife thinks I am sad or obsessed. I just wanted to let you know how much enjoyment they have given me over a number of years and also to ask a couple of questions. Firstly, have you ever been tempted to bridge the gap between Arthur's death and Derfel's monastic life (i.e tying up loose ends) with another book?

Secondly, you use the term "fate is inexorable" at great length in this trilogy and in the Saxon books, you also use it once in Stonehenge and if I recall correctly you use it in the Grail Quest books. Other than the fact that you may well believe that fate is indeed inexorable I do find it odd that that same phrase is continually used throughout these books (and possibly in others I haven't read). Why do you use it so much? Rob Marchini

When will you be publishing MORE of the Starbuck Chronicles please as I have just finished The Bloody Ground. You cannot leave us all hanging in limbo for the next episodes. Forever. More PLEASE. John

Please finish the Starbuck chronicles.
Steve Hardy

Hello Bernard! I must first say thank you for your entertaining books. I particularly enjoyed the Saxon stories and look forward to the next adventure of Uhtred. I also enjoyed the Arthur books. My 14 year old son has also read the Saxon stories and has just begun the Arthur books. I have just finished the Starbuck Chronicles and was pleased to read at the end of The Bloody Ground that Starbuck would write again and hopefully get some revenge for Blythe and Gillespie! I was then dismayed to find that The Bloody Ground is more 10-years old or so and there is yet no further adventures! What am I to do? Having watched the Sharp series, I am reluctant to read the books, especially as I didn't like the last special made for TV as I thought it was not produced (by the tv people) to anywhere near the same standard as the initial series. Anyway, when or are you going to write a Starbuck 5? Also, when will the Saxon Stories continue? I have read virtually all your books in a space of a year! and appreciate that it took you much longer than that to write them. Many thanks. Steve Massey

I have thoroughly enjoyed every book you have written. I got started off on Sharpe, then quickly got into Arthur Chronicles, Thomas of Hookton, and have reread all of them more than once. My favorites are the Starbuck series and I really hope you do write another to take him to the end of the war and beyond maybe? Also, your Saxon series, (Uhtred)is the one I really love, I am in the process of finishing Lords of the North and really hope you write another in this series. I am a military officer and these books have provided a few moments of "get away" time while serving in the desert. Thanks again for the many well written books and I sincerely hope for many more! Jerry Bratu

Could you please advise me when your next book in the Saxon Stories will be available in the UK? A great read for me. Do please continue with this series. Thank you in advance. Sylvia Kingsgate

I have enjoyed many of your books especially the Archer series and The Saxon Stories. Question ! Will the next installment of the Saxon Series be out soon ? I am waiting for the next adventure of Uthred in his quest to get back his home. Harald Stavenas

Is there a sequel to 'The Lords Of The North'?

Jack Case

Dear Mr Cornwell. It seems an age since your last new book and serious withdrawal symptoms have set in. What's next and how soon?

Roger Gaspar

Hello Mr. Cornwell. It is very good of you to get back to me if you do. Finished the last book in the Saxon series, gotta say that Uthred is awesome and I've really enjoyed them. Aching to know what happens next. Please write more books on it because i think they are great and I want to know whether he gets Bebbanburg and alsorts. The third book was such a cliff-hanger to what would happen next. Thanks for the hours of reading pleasure

Chris Stroud

make more saxon books. Jesse

When will we get the next book in the Saxon stories? I've read The Lords of The North and can't wait for the next one.
Judy Fitzwater

I've read, enjoyed and appreciated all of your stories, from the very earliest on. Only one quick question...will we ever hear of Rider Sandman, again? John Leonard

I have just started reading the Sharpe books about a month ago and I'm already about to start reading Waterloo (I haven't read Sharpe's Fury to expensive I'm only 14 and pocket money doesn't pay £6.99 for each book!) and I was wondering if you ever find it hard to still write Sharpe books because there are so many.

I was also wondering if you ever felt sad when you have to kill of a semi-main character or a very likable one like general Nairn (sorry if you don't spell it like that) p.s hope you never stop writing the books and if you're asked would you make a video game of Sharpe?

Matthew Watson

I have just finished the three Saxon stories end on in ten days. I have not been so keen since reading all the Patrick O'Brien novels in sequence when laid up with a leg in plaster. I am pleased to see that you actually reply to fan mail , which I think was pretty unlikely in O'Brien's case. As I suspected many of the people who seem to contact you are men, and I wonder how many seventy year old women enjoy your books. I am gob-smacked by your ingenuity and sheer graft; you don't just research one period and stick to it. Thus I venture a few comments and questions. As you have evidently studied the psychology of fighting men in various periods, but also have to write for a modern audience, I am curious about your amoral, violently homicidal, Uhtred as hero figure. As a girl I took huge interest in arms and armour, siege engines and battle tactics, and read about heroes skewering each other in the Iliad, Norse and Icelandic sagas, Froissart, Mary Renault and C.S. Forester. Now I perceive the pure horror of hand to hand fighting and wonder how average men coped with this, let alone women. Have you good evidence that the pagan Danes enjoyed torturing their enemies slowly to death or do you just make it up, and does your readership ever comment on the frequent bloodbaths? What with all the rape and pillage and not much in the way of careful child rearing, I suppose murderous psychopaths were ten a penny or is it all about warrior culture? Your complex Alfred is a more interesting character and pretty convincing given the evidence. I also recall very small scenes better than battles: when the marshwoman on Athelney hopes vainly that the armed man will retrieve her lost children and Father Pyrlig instructing a slave how to cook cheesy scrambled eggs.

Another question is how you can perform the amazing genealogical feat of tracing your ancestry back to eleventh century Bamburgh? I hail you as a fellow Bernician, as almost everybody with my surname comes from the Lothians. I see myself as a reasonably tough genetic mix of Pict, Scot and Norse ,adding in my mother from Ulster with the nordic name of Kell. If my ancestors had not been tough, I would not be here - and neither would you, but the best most of us can do is go back a couple of hundred years. I shall make a point of stopping at Bamburgh this year, on my way north as I have intended to do for years but always swept past in train, coach or car. I do hope you visited my local Saxon sites of West Stow and Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, though they are from the pagan period. Last question - Thyra and the dogs. Frankly this seems OTT. Where did you get the idea? I presume you are keeping Uhtred alive until the Battle of Brunanburgh, which seems a good point to end. I shall be interested to hear how he will age in a period when few people did. Alison Fairgrieve

Finally HAD to jot off an e-mail to the author who has absolutely (to my great pleasure) monopolized my life of late. The catalyst was BBC America's "Sharpe's Challenge" last autumn--from there it has been a compulsive rollercoaster ride from Amazon, to libraries, to a harried (but accommodating) book mobile person. While tracking down and reading the Sharpe series I dove into Starbuck, the Grail, Saxon and Arthur series (more readily available here in the wilds of North Carolina). I just finished FALLEN ANGELS. What a MARVELOUS ROMP! The impeccable chases, fights and confrontations were definitely, and distinctly, "Cornwell." Mystery, action, romance--what more could one wish? " I actually did wonder how much "help" you might have received from the female side regarding the "romance" angle. Speaking of "romance"--why in the world did they change the plot in the SHARPE'S SWORD film? The book's EL Mirador passages are so revealing of Sharpe's conflicted character (temptations, eh what?) AND the dialogue "fleshed" him out more completely than ever before. This time one could hear him breathe! I have a close friend (an author) who claims that she feels like she is in a "time warp" when I mention passsages of her 1980's historical novels. In remaining so very approachable , it seems that you realize your characters continue to be as vibrant and real as the day you breathed life into them. I've sent you too many words, but I feel better. Many thanks for the extraordinarily exciting, and I hope continuing ride.
Marsey Peterson

Mr.Cornwell please tell how you pronounce Uhtred,is it like oo-tred or something else,also what is the corect way to pronounce La Roche-Derrien, thank you. Andy Boatman

I've just finished reading "Sharpe's Rifles", and I wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your books. I finished reading the Thomas of Hookton series, and not only learned more history, but found new admiration for the bravery of the soldiers of the past. It seems to me that your research is immaculate, and that you have a passion for the subjects you write about. I used to feel that Dorothy Dunnett was my favorite historical fiction writer, and I'm curious if you've read her works, especially the "Lymond" series of historical novels? Your fan, Andrew