Bulletin Board

Dear Mr Cornwell I must say that I vae only started reading your books over the past few months but the Sharpe books have had me on the edge of my seat. I rush home from work just so I can read the next chapter of my book. I hope that you will continue to write many more books in the years to come. The way you write shows that you have a dedication and passion for what you do and an accurate idea for history. James Farmer

I came to your novels quite late and do have to own up that the interest came through the tv programmes which I have recently seen again as my children bought me the box set of Sharpe. I became absolutely hooked and during my summer holidays have read every Sharpe book including Sharpe's Fury. I think that I shall have to re red them in case I missed some of the detail in the excitement of the stories.I do so hope that you are considering another book in the series. I am sorry to have to tell you that despite reading your descriptions of Sharpe I still hear and see Sean Bean and Darragh in the roles. I would really like to see Sharpe's Devil in film. They could change the storyline slightly to suit the age of the characters. The advantage it would have over India is that it would not be so hot and so the action could be quick and vibrant. There would not be so much dust to mask the actors. Whilst, as my 18 yr old daughter says, I could not commit Sharpe to fighting for ever, there is a part of me that can not accept that he hangs up his sword. I do not want him to age too much and I need him to keep on fighting. It is all too sad to think of a world without Sharpe and his commrades. He is important in his own world when fighting. People can appreciate his worth and despite the fact that some are horrid to him you know that right will out. When he gives up he will just disappear. I can not quite accept that he and Harper can lose contact when their friendship was so complete. So please make me a very happy woman and write another Sharpe story. Thanks. Ann Crawford

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I know you hear it a lot, but you are a wonderful and inspiring author. I am a history buff (leaving for Scotland in a year to study), and I am reading your Arthus books right now. As I have studied the lifestyle and warfare in the British Isles during the late pre-history and early medieval periods, I get excited to see how you incorporate actual practices and mention sites that have significant archeological significance. I, too, write about things I incorporate from my studies (screenplays, so far). Anyway, just wanted to let you know that you are by far my favorite contemporary author. Take care and God bless! Sincerely, Elizabeth p.s. Did you know that Alistair Moffat quoted you in his book titled "Before Scotland" on page 185 when he mentions the phrase you use for Merlin's doorway? (the 'ghost fence')

You need not respond...I only wanted to say how much I have enjoyed everything you've written. After visiting Britain in spring of 2002 I wondered what Trafalgar Square really meant. That's when I discovered your Richard Sharpe series. I enjoy them so much and marvel at the courage and conviction of people during that period. I only hope that our current crisis does not last as long as the Napolian reign. Thanks for the wonderful insight to very courageous people in very desperate times. Shirley Augustyne

I noted in a posting from Jake Govorchin the request for an audio CD version of the Arthur trilogy. I too would like this but alas I have contacted all known English language publishers of the various versions to try to track down a copy; all to no avail. Isis Audio Books who published the version read expertly by Edmund Dehn were the only ones to reply with anything like a plausible answer: The master copy is now too old to produce anything like a good version on CD! I say rubbish! I have an MP3 player which can be connected to a cassette player and I have transferred my own versions onto this for listenning on the move and the quality is excellent even though my cassette version is so well used that its wearing out. I cannot recomend this version more highly to your readers. All three stories are so well read, they take your story to another level. If I can do it on simple home equipment, the publishers themselves with larger budgets and better equipments should be able to digitally remaster and produce a good version. Copies of the Isis versions of the Arthur trilogy and others of your books in audio format can obtained at very good prices from http://www.audiobookcollection.com.

To get to Winter King try: http://www.audiobookcollection.com/viewtitle.asp?id=IAB960608&page=search

Enemy of God try: http://www.audiobookcollection.com/viewtitle.asp?id=IAB960804&page=search

Excalibur try: http://www.audiobookcollection.com/viewtitle.asp?id=IAB971203&page=search

All audio books from here are complete and unabridged, postage is very reasonable and their prices are the best I have found in the UK. I hope this is of interest, Andrew Moore

Thanks for your many, many riveting tales. Having read nearly all your books, I've recently begun re-reading several series -- which ain't quite up there with your OBE but it's as much honor as I can confer! 'Just finishing re-reading "Sharpe's Fortress", and turned to Le Carre's "Our Game" which turned a moment of clever wordplay on Sholokov's title "And Quiet Flows the Don", which led me to start the "Don" today. ...And which leads to a petty observation on Sharpe's Fortress. Within the first twenty pages of the "Don", there are two evening observations of a waning moon. This brought to mind Sharpe's observation on the waning moon as he and his cavalry friends road back in the night from the temple/"cockpit" where he'd dispatched the two Jinnis. An astronomer I'm not, but methinks there are perils in writing about phases of the moon: the lunar phase reflects the moon's rising/setting to the sun's rising/setting -- it ain't negotiable, although adjustment is required for season and lattitude as one gains distance from the equator. At the equator, a full moon rises ~6pm, a fourth-quarter half moon rises at ~midnight, and a sliver of waning moon indicates a moon which arose just before the sun (~6am) and set just before it (~6pm). It greater lattitudes, the summer rising and falling might deviate considerably from 6am/pm, but the waning mooon would always preceed the sun by a some degrees. Riding back on a dark evening one could not observe a waning moon -- which had already set. Nor could Russian cossacks lay in a dark field looking up to a waning moon unless they were there just before sunrise. No damnation intended here; and no reply needed, although if I've blown my cosmology, smite me freely! 'Apologies if I'm repeating a long-ago thrashed-out pettiness but my googling didn't find it. I've greatly enjoyed your writing and eagerly await your latest books. 'Wish your books could be released in the US as soon as they're available in the UK, but I suppose that hangs as much on book tour schedules as on "translation" schedules and legal issues. 'Spose I should order them from London and see if my language skills are up to the Queen's spellings. :) Sandy McMillian

On page 321 of the paperback edition of The Last Kingdom, you say that the Solent is the sea south of the Isle of Wight. I believe the Solent is the area of water between the IoW and the mainland and so is north of the island. Mike Willcox

I for one am waiting to see what you'll be working on next. You would make this fan very happy if Nate Starbuck was to go looking for Billy Blythe. Keep up the fantastic work. Joe Holtgrewe, Fenton Mo.

Just for future information (in case you include cottonmouth (moccasins) in a future book; the Cottonmouth and the Moccasin (or as sometimes called - Water Moccasin) are one and the same. Not two different species of snake. regards, Bill Wetzel (born in, and former resident of Louisiana and frequent fisherman and hunter around Louisiana's Bayous).

G'day Bernard, Firstly I just wanted to thank you immensely for getting me through my final year of high school! I first ran into Sharpey in Tiger at 16 and have plowed through all of your books since. I absolutely loved being able imagine Sharpe, Uthred and the others in their various historical domains through my final year history classes. Sharpe is a great idol, he has put me in good stead with the ladies, a Napoleonic James Bond as it were, and Uthred gives me great tips for the shield wall that is the rugby scrum. So really what I'm getting at is that while your books are a top read and really exciting, they have many other hidden attributes. Cheers! p.s I will be in the UK in late October as part of my gap year travels. Will you have any book signing opportunities?
Tom Griffin