Sir, At the University of Texas I was able to take a series of classes on the History of Warfare from Dr. John Lamphear. At one point I asked him if he knew of any works of fiction based on military history and to my dismay he told me he didn’t know of any. Purists, eh? A friend of my professor told me of Fraser’s work about Harry Flashman and I’m sure you know how wonderful that series is and I know we all wait feverishly for Sir Harry to fight in the American Civil War. It wasn’t long afterwards that I saw Sharpe on the History Channel. I enjoyed them. I also read your civil war novels. At the time I considered them an amusing sideline to the Flashman series. However, I then came across Derfel Cadarn and his story of Arthur. I’ve bought about a dozen sets for friends and just finished reading the trilogy for the fourth time. I cannot gush enough about how much I love your take on Arthur. You put so much life into it that I am convinced that it is the original and only telling of the legend. I feel that it is a stroke of great fortune that I recently picked up the Saxon tales and lo and behold “Lords of the North” just came out right as I finished the second book!! I then consumed “Lords of the North” in one day, and went back and re-read all three again. I hope that you’ve found a nice groove with the Saxon Stories and that you plan to keep the story going. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I certainly hope the wait is not too long for the next one, and the next. While I love the Arthur books, I am spellbound by Uhtred of Bebbanburg. You’ve given Alfred the Great a chance to leap from the pages with life and color, and I think he deserves his chance to be firmly listed as one of the great captains of history. We owe you a debt of gratitude for bringing him to us. You weave your stories so well that I feel as though I’m part of the saga being sung by bards. I was once a soldier, long ago. Your writing has given me a very solid vision of Valhalla to yearn for. I don’t want clouds and harps, I want to fight amongst my brother warriors, die gloriously, and then drink and fornicate the night away and start all over again in the morning for eternity. Your writing gave that to me and I am forever grateful. I wish you a long life and a bottomless inkwell so you can bring other great men for us to read about. Respectfully, -James Peacock