Hi BC,

Huge fan of your writing/Characters… Especially Uhtred & Derfel.

Two quick questions.

1) I have been trying to find anything period correct that may be a real-world indication of what Hywelbane may have looked like. Did you have any real world inspiration for Derfel’s sword, or an artist rendering before writing the Warlord Chronicles, or did it develop as the story progressed?

2) I just picked up a copy of Death of Kings, TPB. Love it; your Saxon stories are just fantastic. Being an ‘organized’ guy who keeps and collects his favourite books, I ran into an issue with this recent book. I actually went out of my way to wait for the TPB edition, as all my other books of yours are the same size and stored very nicely on my shelf. After harassing all my local book stores, it looks like your publishers are putting out a different size book now. I now have one odd book in my Saxon Stories, when before, even your different series reasonably matched each other.

Did you recently change publishers/distributers… Or am I just out to lunch.

Anyway, fantastic story telling, and great characters. I know its not possible, but would love to have more Derfel. I am re-starting the Warlord Chronicles for the 3rd time, and it just gets better. Hands down my favourite books… ever. Including GOT, my previous favourites, until I read your interview with GRRM.

Take care and keep them coming.

-Jeff Curtiss
Vancouver, Canada.