Your Questions

Q

Hello Mr Cornwell, I have wrote before thanking you on the many years your books have captivated me (they still do!) so I will not do it this time. My question though is that my birthday falls this Thursday (17th August) and I know from the years I've learned about the Napoleonic Wars that the battle of Rolica was faught on this day. My question is this - I'm pretty good at guessing that one day you will join the Prey/Rifles gap between years and battles. Is Vimerio/Rolica in the pipeline for Sharpe? Thank You so much. Stephen

Submitted August 17, 2006

A

Happy Birthday Stephen!!! Vimerio/Rolica are not in my plans at the moment, but it's possible they'll feature in one or more short stories some time in the future. Have a great day!

Q

Mr. Cornwell, I am curious to know if you and/or your publisher will be opting out your works in the Google Books Library Project. The project seems like a clear breach of copyright laws, and I was curious to know your opinion. Daniel Granados

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

That's a question for the publisher (obviously it affects me, but the publisher will be fighting the battle first). So far as I know the Google project is not aiming to 'publish' books in copyright, and if they do then doubtless swarms of lawyers will descend on them, I shall become obscenely rich as a result of the damages, and then I shall be able to give up writing altogether and concentrate on living a life of sybaritic ease. This doesn't sound like a bad idea to me . . . . .

Q

Hello Bernard firstly I have just finished Lords of the North and yet again the Tales of Uthered has surpassed my expectations, a great book and looking foward to the next one in the autumn. I would like to ask that is there any chance Major.Starbuck will be brought back to us, in the last novel of the civil war series there are many battles left to fight and years of adventure ahead it seems a shame to leave such a great character with lots to offer in the wilderness when so many more tales could be written, I know your busy with new projects and the last Starbuck book was many years ago but will we ever even in the distant future read about Nate and his men charging with that Rebel Yelp it seems a massive shame never to hear from Starbuck and his brutish pals again. Cheers JIM, South London

Sir, I just recently retired from the military after 24 years. My last duty station was in Germany and was able to visit England several times. I am stating that just so I can let you know how your books put me back to places I have visited and enjoyed so much. Although Sharpe is my wife's and mine favorite (we have the Videos), will there be any more Grail Quest and Starbuck novels? You are a wonderful writer and have give me many hours of being sent back to the past. Ernest Casey

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

Starbuck - yes; Grail Quest - no.

Q

Good day to you. I would like to say thatI have read the Lords of the North book already and again simply amazing. My question is can you give me any info on the Sword that you have on your website? I have been interested in making a sword that looks like Serpent breath from the saxon series. I know some one that can make replicas. Thank you, and keep them coming. Bob McCaffrey

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

I assume it's the pattern-welded sword of the Saxon series? I know there are folk who can still make pattern-welded blades. They're difficult to make, but rather beautiful. I'm not sure what information I can give you because, so far as I know, there wasn't a standard design as there was, say, in the Napoleonic era. Individual blacksmiths made their own swords to their own designs, but there is, I suppose, a generic sword - straight bladed, cross-hilted, heavy pommel, symmetrical point. One place to begin would be a book - Viking Weapons and Warfare by J. Kim Siddorn - Tempus Publishing - 2005 which has a chapter on Viking swords which are not really different from Saxon ones. Good luck with it!

Q

Sir, I am currently a little more than halfway through your Sharpe series and I find that there are a remarkable number of similarities to some of my own 21st century military experiences. Many of the basic elements (minus the gore and bravado) of Sharpe's challenges and experiences are far more current than you may be aware. For example, I am an officer who came up through the ranks and I can completely empathize with Sharpe's character. The difficulties in mixing with either the enlisted or the Wardroom, the sometimes amazing incompetence of senior leadership, and the inequities of the class system that exists in parts of the military are all challenges I have had to deal with in my career. I find reading your books entertaining, educational, and oddly therapeutic. Another remarkable coincidence is, like Sharpe, I too chose to get closer to the fight in order to overcome career obstacles. Please do not think that I am some wanna be Sharpe, I can assure you that I am definitely not, I was just wondering if so little has changed in 200 years? Very Respectfully, LT Anthony S. Miller P.S. I encourage my troops to read your novels for professional development.

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

I don't think anything changes much! Costumes change, weapons change, manners and conventions change, but people don't, and that's why we seem doomed to go on repeating history. The same jealousies, ambitions, envy and anger drive folk today as they did a thousand years ago, which is why behaviour remains much the same. We sometimes put a gloss on the past, as if it was magically different - think of the 'Age of Chivalry' and ask yourself when that was? During the harrowing of the North in the 11th Century? Or under the Plantagenets when a king (one of the Henrys) put out his own grand-daughters' eyes? Or the Hundred Years War and the chevauchees that simply burned, murdered, raped and destroyed vast swathes of the French countryside? Or Agincourt, which was a murderous slaughter? It exists in the imagination, and in the safety of an irrecoverable past, but in truth people don't change and so things, as you say, remain the same!

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, I am a student of Matamata College in New Zealand(year 9, age 14), My Future Problem solving class has been asked to do a reserch assigment on something we really enjoy and I have chosen to do it on you, and why you write. (I'm a huge fan of the warlord chronicles) I would be ever thankful if you could tell me: How you grew up, where that was, and possible influences that had on your life, What inspires you to write and why, >From a huge fan, Kaitlin Wiles.

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

This is going to have to be quick, or else I'll have to write a book. So; I grew up in South Essex (in England) where I had the misfortune to be adopted by a family which belonged to a religious sect called The Peculiar People. I hated the sect and I didn't much like them. They disapproved of frivolous reading and military service (among many other things) so naturally I became interested in books and in the military. That led to my discovery of C.S. Forester's Hornblower stories which caught my imagination. I read them all at least twice and, when there were no more to read, went on to read non-fiction histories about the Napoleonic Wars and so discovered the tales of Wellington's army in Portugal, Spain and France. I tried to find novels that told those tales, but no one had written them, so, much later, after I had escaped Essex and the Peculiar People, I decided to write them myself. Once that had started I decided to write other stories about other periods, and the Arthur books came from a lifelong fascination with the stories of the round table. Those, I suppose, are the major influences - a love of reading, a love of history, and an enjoyment of telling tales. I think I always wanted to be a writer, but I had a very successful career in television, and it wasn't until I met Judy, an American, that I began to write - she couldn't move to Britain for family reasons, while I could go to the USA, but I couldn't get a work-permit, so I said I'd write a book instead. Which I'm still doing - and I do it because it's the best way I know to make a living! I get paid for telling stories! Can you imagine a better job? I can't. Hope this helps!

Q

I have been watching Sharpe on BBC America. It is a great series, I will be buying all the books to read them. I have a question. Can you tell me the dates of each of his promotions fron Leuitenant to Major. It seems to me that in Sharpe's Seige he is a Major and in Sharpe's Mission he is a Captain, but Mission comes after Seige, Thanks Tony Foote

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

Off the top of my head I can't, and, forgive me, I don't have time to sift throught the books. But I didn't write Sharpe's Mission (that was a TV programme) so I'm not responsible for what they said in that! The authorised version is in the books - the films are extras, and great fun, but I don't feel bound by anything they make up in them. That sounds odd, but there it is.

Q

Hi Bernard, this is another question about the Saxon Stories not when the next one will be out but rather about the content. Is Uhtred's yet unborn daughter going to be the mother of Athelstan? The prediction was that she would be the mother of kings. Ann Madonna

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

Don't know! Honest. I'll have to see what happens . . . . and I really don't know what is going to happen to most of my characters, so I write these things and hope they come true!

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell, First of all, many thanks and congratulations for your King Arthur Trilogy. I´m from Brazil and it was a big pleasure for me discovered some important details from king arthur's legend. BY the way, I´d like to asking you regarding King arthur's coat of arms. You say in your book it is a bear with a sword. As I know till there, was the dragon and the cross. I had tried for several times to found this BEAR (Arthur´s coat of arms), on the internet and also in a lot of books but I didn´t find it. Could you please send me a picture or you may can indicate where can I find it on the internet? I´m really appreciative! Looking forward to hearing from you. With my best regards, EDUARDO

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

Not sure I know of any illustration . . .and, of course, as there is much debate as to whether Arthur even existed then it's unilkely that there would be an illustration, especially as his era long predates the period of formal heraldry. You can always make it up (which is what I do).

Q

Dear Bernard, Ive just finished reading The Lords of the North which I thoroughly enjoyed and I wondered do you ever visit the areas you write about to get a feel for the ground? I appreciate the landscape would have changed quite considerably. I also wondered if the location inspired you in any way. I read from your replies that there are further books to come, already looking forward to the next instalments for Uthred. PS Im sure you must be fed up answering (but I have to ask) this question, is there any chance of a conclusion for Nathanial Starbuck? Cheers Neil

Submitted August 16, 2006

A

I always do visit the places, because it's almost impossible to write a book about a place without walking the ground. But that said I do then try to simplify the terrain to make the story easier to follow. And, as you say, things have chabged hugely - though not at Ethandun which is much as Alfred and Guthrum left it. Athelney (Aethelingaeg) is unrecognisable because monks later drained the land, and much of the area about Durham (Dunholm) has been built over. But contours don't change much (though river courses often do). I use vast numbers of maps - I love maps - I'm just beginning the fourth Uhtred book and have pinned up two and a half inch scale maps of the Thames Estuary on a vast wall - because those maps are a really good guide to the area covered by the novel.

Yes, there is a good chance for a conclusion for Starbuck.