Bulletin Board

Just last year I discovered, via internet, that I descend from Afred the Great. So, was glad to hear that someone was writing about him. I and all my family have weak digestion. Wonder if it came down the line from 1200 years ago, or thereabouts. Har har. My line is from someone named something with the ending 'the unready'. Sounds like us. Adn then there was a Godifu Gifa, I believe. It's really wonderful to read about these people, and I like to think maybe I'm in some painless way seeing them through your work. Well, anyway, good luck, and thanks. Dorothy Miller

Hi Bernard I've just finished reading the Starbuck series. I'm a Brit who has been transplanted to Maine and so have quite an interest in my adopted home and found the series of even greater interest as they gave me more information about this land. I know you have been asked before but I hope that Nathaniel will be coming back before too long. I discovered your books when I read the Arthur series and then went on to the Grail quest, the Saxon stories and Stonehenge. Somehow or other I haven't got to reading the Sharpe books - I think because I first became aware of them through the publicity for the TV series and I don't like Sean Bean - talk about feminine logic! Many thanks for the many hours of enjoyment that your books have given me. Luckily I still have new ones to read and maybe one day I'll give Sharpe a try. I'll just have to think of him as looking like Harrison Ford (in his younger days). Jacqui Morse

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your writing. I started reading Harlequin, and I haven't read any other authors books since. I'm currently reading Redcoat and I'm not showing any signs of slowing. Your style of blending history and fiction is fantastic. Thomas E. Till

Hello Mr. Cornwell. I'm from Brazil and I'm just writing to congratulate you on your Arthur's trilogy. I've just finished Excalibur and I'm glad to say that it's astonishingly cool and the best I've ever read. I've been recommending the Arthur books to everybody I know and the ones who read them also agree that they're one of the best reading. You've got many fans in Brazil! It took me about 2 weeks to finish reading the three books 'cause the more I read, the more I longed for the outcomes. Now I'm gonna start to read The Grail Quest (here, A busca do Graal) and I'm sure it will be quite great. I hope they publish all your books here, in Brazil. Thanks for everything. Roger A.S.

Sir: I have just finished "Pale Horseman," which I enjoyed immensely. Over the past six years I have read all of Sharpe's, Starbuck, Grail Quest, the Saxons, the thrillers, Stonehenge, and nearly all of your other novels. I have always been an avid reader of history, but your novels have truly brought history to life for me and increased my interest and appreciation for that subject. By the way, I was introduced to your work via the Sharpe's episodes that appeared on PBS. My only quarrel with you is that now, knowing that the next Saxon book will be out in the UK three months before it will be sold in the USA, I'm going to have to make a trip to London in June! Keep up the great work and thanks for the many hours of entertainment and enlightenment. Mark Anderson Sacramento, CA

Mr. Cornwell: I have enjoyed your Arthurian series and began reading the Last Kingdom. While reading, I mentioned to my wife that I should try writing my family history - as a novel as the early history is lost as to details. Then in reading your Acknowledgements, I noted you are writing this series in the same manner. I am descended from Haakon, Earl of Lade (now Trondheim. the family has a collateral relationship with Canute and migrated to Normandy - where your folks and mine met on the fields of Hasting. Now in reading this series, I feel like I am reading news articles of the 'other side'. Very interesting and most intriguing. I will follow your series with great interest. Keep the works coming!!! Dr. Ladd

I have just finished The Archers Tale. I found it to be one of, if not the best, historical adventures that I have read. I am at a loss as to why I haven't read any of your books to this point. I plan on correcting that and will be getting the rest of your books in this series. I then look forward to going on to your Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles and beyond. Thank you for bringing this period in English history to life for me. Ralph Self

Dear Bernard, Hopefully you'll remember through the mists of time I contacted you last year asking your views and knowledge of my home County, the beautiful Dorset. You kindly wrote a lovely reply saying how much you loved the place and would visit Knowlton Church in the next life, as you believed Dorset was your ideal Heaven. It was wonderful to have a Dorset archer to read about and I can't wait till you have written the book on Agincourt. What I wanted to say was how great it would be to have Thomas of Hookton amongst the archers pouring the metal hail of death on the French nobility. I can hear you and others say that would be impossible because of the time between Heretic and Agincourt but let's not forget one very important thing.Thomas drank from the Holy Grail and "he who drinks from the grail shall recieve eternal life". It took a long time to become skilled with the Longbow,so after all that time I think Thomas would be reasonably handy don't you?Maybe that was the reason so many French met their end at Agincourt. Best wishes from Heaven, David A Wimborne, Minster, Dorset

I just finished The Last Kingdom. I groaned inwardly when I realized it was in the first person narrative, but soon got over it. The protagonist is wonderfully flawed! In any event, I read the Historical Note and was interested by your position that the berserkir were merely myth. They may be, but you may be interested to know there is some evidence that the name may have originally meant "bear shirt" and refers to norse mythology relative to "shape-shiting" and lycanthropy myths. John MacDonald

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I have read all your books incl.all the Sharpe novels.My library at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland gets them all for me (and lots of others) I am 70 years young..and enjoy your books immensely.regards John F.