Bulletin Board

I just finished the first book of your Grail Quest series. It was a great book and I look forward to reading everything that you have written. Thanks! Sean Kenny

Hi, there was an Australian on your Bulletin board asking where he could find the DVDs based on your Sharpe books in Australia. Don't think there is an Australian outlet because I don't think they ever showed the series here. However, I managed to buy the boxed DVD set from a company called BlackStar that has since changed its name to Sendit.com. They offer the 14 DVD series for 85 pounds sterling which is about 200 Australian dollars.. Here is the URL www.sendit.com/circle/search?words_sharpe&f-dvd&x-15&y=12 The only catch for an Aussie is that you must either have a multi-zone DVD player or ring the people who sold it to you and ask for the code to unlock your Australian zone machine. I did this last year and at last got to see Sharpe and Harper on the small screen. Everything is scaled down of course, companies rather than battalions etc, but I still enjoyed the series immensely. cheers Andy Piggford Perth Western Australia ps when are you writing another Sharpe or Starbuck Mr Cornwell? pps I haven't enjoyed a series more than yours since Alexander Kent aka Douglas Reeman writing on Bolitho and his Royal Navy and Marines and before that CS Forester on his royal Navy and even the Rifles. Good on you mate.

G'day Mr.Cornwell, Just thought I would drop you a quick line to ask if you have or would consider making your book, "The Last Kingdom" into a movie. There is tremendous potential for developing an amazing script for, "The Last Kingdom" as the story surpasses much of what Hollywood has been pumping to the masses for some time. It could be quite an epic in the right producer or directors hands. You should try to drop the idea into a few studios hands. Just a friendly suggestion. Sincerely, Dave

I just finished reading "The Last Kingdom" and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. As a biographer of King Alfred and an historian of Anglo-Saxon England, I approached the novel with some trepidation. I tend not to like works of fiction set in the eras that I study and teach because too often the characters are given modern sensibilities alien to the period so that the reader can better relate to them. Although I disagree with some of your interpretations and choices (e.g. on the military organization of ninth-century fyrds and the identification of the ring upon which the vikings swore at Wareham), I was not only entertained by the book but found your representation of King Alfred quite plausible. I liked that you presented him as a complex figure: genuinely (and obsessively) pious and, because of that, anxious about his carnal desires, a determined war leader, a generous but demanding lord, and a shrewd judge of character, who could be manipulative and ruthless if the situation warranted it. I thought that you also handled Alfred's illness well. I found your unromantic treatment of vikings refreshing. As you comment in your historical note (and as I have also argued in my publications), the term 'viking' describes an activity rather than a people or a tribe, which is why I prefer not to capitalize the word. You captured that well in the novel. I look forward to the second and (I suspect) subsequent books in the series. yours, Dr. Richard Abels

As a long-term fan of your read-more-than-once books, particularly the Warlord Trilogy, I thought I would tell you I got deja vu reading the last chapters in A Crowning Mercy. One of P D James books used the remote, ancient chapel at Bradwell-on-sea on the Dengie Peninsular in Essex, as the violent backdrop for the final chapters. But since your book was first published in the 1980s, you used it first. My job involves writing about property and I have just received details of a similar-size chapel for sale nearby in Steeple. It was built for the Peculiar People, who would appear to be peculiar to Essex. I am not peculiar to Essex, but I live there now. Thank you for all the historical detail you put in your novels. That's why I have to read them again. I need to find out what happens, then I need to go back and fill in the detail! At least that is my excuse. This is an excellent and cunning device of yours, for which I thank you. It keeps me amused for the hours I spend on the train when I visit my Mum who still lives in London. Many thanks. Barbara Butler

I just wanted you to know that I have enjoyed reading your books. My mother found a 'not for public sale' copy of Sharpe's Trafalgar in a thrift store several years ago and I've been hooked on the series since. (I was reading the Hornblower series and trying to wade through the Jack Aubrey series, so I imagine she thought she'd found me another naval book.) I also love to read the Starbuck series. I live in northern Virginia so many of the battlefields are right in my backyard and were regular fieldtrip destinations during school. Anyways, in return for her hooking me on you, I loaned my mother 'The Last Kingdom' last month, because she likes that particular time period. I had to buy a second copy, she won't give it back. Araminta Shie

Mr Cornwell I really enjoy your Sharpe series and have read 15 so far and have the remaining on order. I don't usually write to authors but this series is fantastic. I started with you book Redcoat . I hope Sam Gillipin makes a return. Living in the heart of the war of 1812 here in Baltimore and growing up on the Canadian Border in Western New York I can only can hope a campaign thru is in the works. Thanks again John Aiken RN Baltimore MD

Sir, I am hopeful of being a published writter soon, and just wanted to tell you thank you for your books. Reading a good book inspires me to get back to work. Thank you, Larry Acree

Dear Mr. Cornwell: I must confess, I am not a very well read person. I have MAYBE read 10 books in my entire life (40 yrs), cover to cover. I feel that is about to change. I was in an airport and picked up a copy of "The Last Kingdom". I found myself not wanting to put the book down, nor did I want the story to end. For some reason the life of Uhtred Ragnarson spoke to me, although I understand that the story is ultimately Alfred's. I am very much looking forward to the continuation. Thank you for the journey. Mark

(Bravo) I just finished the last Sharpe's Book and have started on The Gallows Thief. I thoroughly enjoy your writing and characters. Keep up the good stories. Sam