Mr. Cornwell,
I think it would be superfluous to state what a fan I am of your books, but I seem to have said it anyway! I started reading the Sharpe series in the mid 1990s, immediately after the break up of a relationship. Looking for a distraction from my fractured emotions, I picked up Sharpe’s Battle one day in a branch of WH Smith and devoured it (the novel, not the shop!), followed by no fewer than eleven other books in the series in rapid succession. By the time I’d turned the last page in the last of these, the ache in my heart had virtually disappeared, and a keen interest in the Napoleonic wars had been ignited! Since then, I’ve read the Starbuck novels, “The Pale Horseman”, “”Gallows Thief”, the Grail Quest series, and – right now – “1356” (a present over the festive period), which I’m enjoying immensely.

I do have a couple of questions, though. Your output of work is prolific – how do you manage it? Do you have a quota of words you set yourself to write each day? Also, in these days of the internet, research is, I imagine, simplified to a degree. However, many of your works were researched and written in pre-internet days. What was your main source for all the rich historical detail you incorporate into your novels back then? Just books?

Anyway, I look forward to your next release.

Thanks

Adam.