Dear Mr Cornwell,

I just inhaled your 9 Saxon books and came here greedily looking to see if a publication date had been announced for the 10th.

In recent years revisionist documentaries on the dark ages had me groaning. They always seemed to be based on the premise that people believed the inhabitants of the dark ages to be incompetent buffoons with no redeeming features. It seems patronising to the people of that time to suggest that the dark ages weren’t so dark because they could still build large wooden houses. Civilisation clearly went backwards for some time. That shouldn’t mean that the people of those times weren’t fascinating nor that they didn’t have an original thought. I wonder if the academics aren’t a little over protective of the honour of the people they are studying.

Which is why one of my favourite aspects of the book is imagining Uhtred pondering the lost glories of Rome. At those points the book almost feels like a science fiction post apocalypse story. I find myself trying to imagine a 22nd century Uhtred making do with old weaponry though the specifics of such a story escape me. I realise I might be edging towards breaking the contact rules. However I don’t believe this to be original or complete enough a thought to be worth anything and hereby relinquish it to the commons. If a short story of a 22nd century Uhtred did appear my reward would just be to read it. I only wanted to relay thoughts on the books.

My other thought – and I suppose my question – is on your prolifacy. Do you understand it yourself and do you discuss it with other slower or equally prolific writers? Is it something innate or learned? Is it purely work ethic or is it to do with the way that you write? I would love to see a discussion between you and a famously slower writer. For instance, to take the edge off my obsequiousness, are there qualities that slower writers tend to have in their writing that you are jealous of. Alternatively do you sometimes hear the excuses of writers who miss their deadlines and feel they just need their socks pulling up? I have no specific question – though I’m not asking for an essay in response – perhaps just a thought or two on the subject.

Many thanks for the joy,

Adam