Bulletin Board

Dear Bernard Cornwell, I have read.a majority of your books. I read all the sharpe books as a child and a majority of my favorite Sharpe books whilst serving in Iraq. Whilst serving in Afghanistan I was enveloped by the tales of Uhtred. A majority of the time your novels were a great escape after the long patrols and endless stags. After a lengthy exercise in Jordan I read all the novels so far in the Starbucks chronicles. I believe as a character he is your best work and perfect embodiment of a raw soldier who desire is to prove himself as liable leader. I know the similarities between Nathaniel Starbuck and Sharpe are obvious and to you it must seem difficult to bring a unique twist to two characters so similar but I just hate to see a epic saga of no else lack the dramatic finale. Will he confront his brother in combat, will his father forgive him or will he die protecting a cause that stands against his up bringing?

Lee Hill

On my 4th read through of Sharpe. Just a great read!

Doug Powles

Hi Bernard - am a great fan and enjoy your books. I just wanted to suggest a possible subject for you to consider writing about, i.e. the Battle of Brunanburh (937). Very important battle between the Anglo Saxons and the combined armies from Scotland, Vikings, Ireland and Scrathclyde. Just a thought - I would love to see what you would do with it. Keep the good work coming - I look forward to your work and reread Saxon before the next book comes out. I'm 68 so please get it done before I pass on! LOL Thanks!

Susan Mercer

Dear Mr.Cornwell It has been an absolute privilege reading your novels! My fondest memories of my dad was watching sharpe on itv then for him to tell me there was books!! At this time I was 12 but read every novel about that northern scally who was an outsider but climbed the ranks in a world where money rules (very similar to today's world). Yet you still write about the sane sort of people who even though they are not born into money they fight for honour and gold and I think it's just a fantastic and brilliant concept!! I just want to say there has never been an author like you to write about the fantastic and glorious history that surrounds the British isles. I come from a very religious and catholic background but even my father who quotes he walked into a church in northern Ireland in his army gear during the 70s has to laugh and agree (at times) with damning views on how corrupt the was and had been! U wrote your Arthurian and Grail quest novels long before Dan brown tried to single handedly bring the catholic church!! Keep up the great work and although I'm not an author myself please hurry and write a few more novels about Uhtred and then go on and write about the de shurlands (whom I'm an ancestor of). Keep up the great work and England needs you more than we need bloody Shakespeare (what a bore). Richard

Dear Mr.Cornwell, I never used to have any interest in history, but last year when I was getting suspended from school for smoking cannabis I had some time to read. Honestly I was originally using your book "The Last Kingdom" to pretend to read, because well I was only 13 last year and reading really isn't a teen's best interest. However I started to read it and fell for the use of actual history mixed with tales of your own that literally make you feel like you're in the story with the characters. I read all of the "Saxon Stories" and just finished the "Grail Quest" novels and now I've started reading "Stonehenge" and "The Winter King". Please never stop writing, because your books are the only ones that catch my interest and have actually got me through some pretty rough times. For this I thank you. P.S Can't wait for the new Saxon book!

B

Dear Mr. Cornwell I have just finished all three Arthur books and I wanted to say thank you, for giving me three months of pure joy and happiness (I was reading one book per month). I discovered your work by accident. There was a book fair in my country and a salesman recommended to buy The Winter King because I told him I really enjoy mythology of any kind. I am writing to you from Serbia and besides Arthur books, The Grail quest is also translated to my language,and I hope to read it next. Sorry I am bothering you with this email, but I had to say thank you for your wonderful work. Your style is great and the way you told the story is simply unique. Now I have a new perspective on arthurian legend, and I really think your vision of it is very close to something that might have happened in Britain in fifth and sixth century. All the best wishes to you and to your family. Sorry if my English was bad. Greeting from Novi Sad,Serbia. Yours truly, Nenad

The meanings of words used in your books about the British East India Company and its actions in India by and large can be gleaned through your explanations or from the contexts themselves; however, trying to recall the meaning of one, as I browsed later after reading, I went to the computer for clarification, and this is what I found: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/terminology.html. Maybe if other of your readers would like such a reference, I myself found this to be most useful and enjoyable.

Elfreth

Dear Mr. Cornwell, Just wanted to relate a brief account of an interesting surprise I had while out shopping for a birthday present. My nephew had his birthday coming up and I dropped into the local Barnes & Noble to find an Andre'Rieu DVD set for him. As is my want, I checked out the new book arrivals and swung by the marked down books to see if anything interesting was available in hardcover at reduced price. There were a number of interesting books but one in particular caught my eye. It was Sword of Honor edited by Mike Ashley. A collection of battle stories, courage and victory (as the cover described). There were short stories from authors Joseph Conrad to John Jakes. I knew I would buy it. And then I caught in small print that you had written the introduction. Even better. I have yet to read the book as I'm now absorbed in an Alex Rutherford novel. But I couldn't resist reading your introduction in the meantime. It's marvellous, more like an essay on your craft if I may say so. Your thoughts and feelings concerning writing about war are much appreciated. I feel that much of what you say is implicit in your writings, especially in the Sharpe Saga. I think back to Sharpe's Waterloo when the infantry was required to maintain the squares to ward off French cavalry and had to just stand there and take it as solid shot ripped thru them. One can never say enough about the valor of the common soldier. But I do appreciate your putting it all together. Especially when you related your experience in the Falkland Islands. War is indeed terrible, but when it brings out the best in many men while the rules go out the window it is something worth writing about. For my part, I'd just like to say that I agree with what you wrote there. David M. Dunaj

Dear Bernard Cornwell: I have just finished your Death of Kings and though I thought it great read I also was offput by a serious anachronism. You had everyone galloping around on horseback at a time when there were few if any horses around. Almost a hundred years later, Harold's army arrived at the battle of Hastings with 7,000 infantry and perhaps a few mounted soldiers. You had 7.000 Danes and 4,000 Saxons on horseback at a time when there was no infrastructure to carry horses in those numbers through an English winter. Hay was not available as a major crop at this time for example. I have read lots of your books with great enjoyment and am not usually this picky but I felt I had to make a comment this time. Graham

Bravo on your latest Uhtred tale, Mr. Cornwell. Since I met you at SMU in 2005 the tales have grown at a feverish pace, and I eagerly await the storming of Bebbanburg that will herald their conclusion. My comments have two purposes (and I don't care if they are posted and I will always count you among my favorite authors and influences upon mine own work). One, that you should expect a copy of my first novel, signed to you, without whose influence and courage I could not have begun my career (I'm at nearly 140,000 words and while Conn Iggulden gives equal detail and William Deitrich equal plot device, you are unequaled in pacing and charicterization, plus dialogue and the romantic "little things" we call here in America.) Second, I've read of your upbringing among the "Peculiar People" and I can sympathize somewhat. I was raised Seventh Day Adventists, which is a cult unto itself here in America, and I understand your ambivalence to religion because of it. The only thing I will say, and please forgive me if I cross a line, is that the message of Christ is pure, even if His messengers aren't. You've read enough of the Bible to know, and the horrors you've described being raised under are not the work of Jesus. Far from it. Believe the message, if not always its carrier. God Bless You. Charles Scott Curtis