Your Questions

Q

Dear Bernard
You have mentioned that you are writing a fact book on Waterloo but I wondered for your next fictional book whether it will be Sharpe and if it is Sharpe, would it be Albuera.
Also you have talked about famous battles between the UK and France and I wondered if you had ever considered writing about the battle of Fontenoy?  It's not very well known in the UK yet Napoleon regarded it as the battle that prolonged the Ancien Regime in France for another 30 years and rated the French Commander De Saxe as one of the greatest military commanders of all time.
Yours sincerely
Geraint
P.S There is a new book you should read, When the Britain burned the White House by Peter Snow on the Washington and Baltimore campaigns. I know you have stated a reluctance to get Sharpe to North America but I think he would enjoy himself on this campaign and would probably get on with Cockburn who was a remarkable character, even the Army respected him (for a navy man) and called him General Cockburn which was rare indeed.

Submitted October 1, 2013

A

Sorry, the next book is not Sharpe.

 

I’ve thought of it . . . . it’s all a question of time, and I’m getting old. Maybe? Thank you anyway

 

I know the story well, though I haven’t read Peter Snow’s book yet (I will). I’ve often been tempted to tell the story of that campaign, but will I? Again, it’s a question of time . . . .

Q

Firstly, Mr Cornwell, a huge thank you for all the many hours of pleasure that your novels have given me over the years. My family have a home in the Eastern Algarve ( Tavira ) where, according to my father, Wellington fed his horses on the carab bean during the Peninsula war ( he set a quiz for my children and I on our recent holiday, which included a number of questions from that period ). With regard to your research, is it primarily home based, or have you had the pleasure of exploring the sites mentioned within your novels? Are there any plans for any other medieval fiction from the rich and turbulent times in England?

Tim Sellicks

Submitted October 1, 2013

A

I always do visit the places, because it's almost impossible to write a book about a place without walking the ground.

There are many books I'd like to write....I hope I'll have the time for them all!

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell,
I am an author with several books on Amazon.
When I type in 'Bernard King author', in their search box, you appear. I have contacted them to protest but as you sell more books than I do (by skyscraper piles) you come first!
When I questioned their accuracy I was told that is the way their system works.
It seem Amazon not only do not pay taxes they are very lenient with the truth.
Why am I giving you this guff?
It is a new story line for you. How about eighteenth century Amazon being run by a guy called Napoleon at war with an eighteenth century Barnes and Noble with a CEO called Sharpe?

Great books

Bernard King

Submitted October 1, 2013

A

What a story line! Why don’t you write it and then when folk type in my name they’ll come up with you instead?  It would be a sweet revenge.

Q

I absolutely love that you are able to bring to light many of the healing powers of the Earth that were understood by these women (Derrewyn, Nimue, Brida, Iseult).  It is truly a lost art.  The parallel between these characters leapt out at me once I read Stonehenge, then The Warlord Chronicles, then The Saxon Tales.  Perhaps that is how you meant for it to be.  Also, I think it is very important for people to know how evil the church was and still is.  It is absolutely sickening to me, but at least there are characters like Derfel and Uhtred who can give the corrupt what they deserve.  I did have one question... In The Pagan Lord, does Uhtred ever tell Edward that Iseult is the reason that he is still living?  I knew when she saved him in The Pale Horseman that he was going to be significant in future novels, and at this point, he is as connected to Uhtred as Alfred once was.

Courtney Wilson

Submitted October 1, 2013

A

I don’t think he does tell Edward that, and it’s a very good point. I think he should, and will, and I have you to thank for that! Thank you.

 

Q

Hi Mr.Cornwell,

first: sorry for my english.  I'd like to know for what Lancelot of The Warlord Chronicles is a bad guy, unlike the Mallory's Lancelot. Thank you!
Igor

Submitted September 30, 2013

A

Lancelot was a very late addition to the stories . . . and I never much liked him, so decided to make him a villain. The stories are endlessly changeable (and have changed hugely over the years), but making him a despicable coward was entirely a whim on my part!

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell

Good morning, I just wondered if you are doing any book signings in London or in England someplace this year?

thanks
Sean Smart

Submitted September 27, 2013

A

Sorry!  Not this year.

Q

Bernard:

Love reading the questions. Everyone seems to think you can easily produce outstanding books on almost any historical subject. Like asking Paul McCartney to write a song..of course he can. But do you want it to be well done or just done? Please continue to put the best you can into your books, for as long as you can. Subjects and characters must grab the teller of tales, not by forced upon them. I live in Wareham...Mass. Close to you. Have you visited the Higgens Armory in Worchester? World class collection of armor, if you've not been do so. You will love it. By the way my son plans to have two dogs. Uthred and Ragnar! Thank you for what you do. Always worth the read...and a big fan.
Andrew

Submitted September 27, 2013

A

I am sorry to say I have yet to visit the Armory in Worchester, MA but it is on the list!

Q

Mr. Cornwell,
I have been reading several of your series lately; the Sharpe series and the grail quest in particular.  I enjoy them immensely, especially the historical perspective, but it seems that in each novel there is almost an anti-Catholic bias.  I know the church had many issues during these periods, but it seems to be a major emphasis of yours.  I would appreciate your perspective on my question.
Respectfully submitted
Bill Falls

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

‘Almost?’ Well, for a start it isn’t anti-Catholic, because in most of my books there is no alternative to Catholic (i.e. they’re pre-reformation), so I’d recast the question as anti-Christian. One of the prime causes of the reformation was the corruption in the church, and it’s utterly impossible to understand anything about the church without being aware of the enormous corruption that riddled it from top to bottom. Which is not to deny that there were not some good priests and nuns, and I feature many of those in my books (and no-one notices), but such people were most unlikely to rise up the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and that, in essence, is the problem. The church was just about the only way for a low-born person to gain worldly advancement, so it attracted the unscrupulous, the ambitious and frequently, the malicious.  Wolsey is an example of the ambitious, but there are thousands of others.  This was an organization that became obscenely rich and defended itself by sentencing its opponents to death - think of the crusade against Catharism – when de Montfort asked the papal legate how they could tell the true Christian from the heretic he was told, with the church’s authority, ‘put them all to death, God will know the difference’. You couldn’t make that stuff up!

Q

Mr Cornwell

First of all, thank you, for the hours and hours of pleasure you have provided me, I have read every single book you have published and loved every one of them. I thought Sharpe would be my favourite for ever, then I read Starbuck and then Uhtred and then Thomas !! Now I am not sure, maybe Starbuck actually as I was not expecting him to be as interesting.

Second question is what are your future plans after the Pagan Lord, will your next book be Sharpe, Starbuck, Arthur or the death of Uhtred maybe, or even something completely different ? will there be a rough timeline for when we can expect it ?

My last question is who is your favourite character ? and so on which book is your personal favourite ?

Tim

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

The book I am writing now will be my first non-fiction book - on the Battle of Waterloo.

Hard to say...I've always reckoned the Arthur trilogy are my favourite books - maybe because they were such a pleasure to write. But I find Uhtred is almost as much fun and I take huge pleasure from Sharpe...

Q

Your endorsement for Mr Scarrows novel, "I really don't need this kind of competition" had me in stitches.

it made me wonder if you wonderful novelists do worry about sales with other novelists? I'm afraid I have to admit to having culled my book spending habits of late since having a little addition to the family so I try and hunt down your latest books in the library. Do you make much money (royalties?) from having your books in the library?

I promise to buy your books full price when (if) I have more disposable income!
Stuart Harvey

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

Do I make much money from libraries? Well, Britain has the PLR scheme which pays a pittance for books borrowed, but only for those books that were actually written in Britain, which I think is five out of fifty. So no, but it’s churlish to resent that! I do urge my friends, when visiting libraries, to move my books from the fiction section to the theological shelves, thus hiding them forever and maybe forcing the library to go buy more copies, but I don’t know how effective that is. Whatever, you’re welcome to the library copies, and congratulations on the addition!