Mr. Cornwell, Waes thu Hael.

I must confess to deriving a certain savage joy from the well honed insults that Uhtred hurls at his foes. The contents of his word hoard are every bit as sharp and unyeilding as the edge on Serpent’s Breath. I was curious to know if, when you are writing them, you have to test them by reading them aloud. I have a vision of you, sat at your desk, roaring out insults. Are you ever tempted to use them in anger on uninvited telesales callers?

Incidentally, here in the Stour/Orwell estuary, we still remember the sea battle between Alfred’s fleet and the Danes that you wrote about. In fact, my son’s school jumper has a viking ship on it and the class pet is called Guthrum.

I’m looking forward to the seventh novel in the series. With any luck, age will not have diminished the sharpness of Uhtred’s tongue.

Regards

James