Mr Cornwell,

having recently been reminded of your friendly chat with Mr GRR Martin (now some years in the past, yet I still keep wondering what sort of havoc your characters might wreck, handed actual dragons – the image of Lord Uhtred with his very own living flamethrower is one to make any peaceable soul shiver), I was then somehow moved to wonder:

What sort of person would you be most interested in writing about, were you to write a story set in the Middle Ages that did not follow the Men of War? (This question might more elegantly be phrased as “What aspects of Medieval society outside wartime do you find the most inherently interesting?”).

Now that I consider this question, it occurs to me that the connection between your chat with Mr Martin and this particular query might well be the notion of “Mr Bernard Cornwell off the beaten track” (one hopes this is not too insolent a way to phrase things and can only apologise if it is).

Thank You in advance for your consideration and Best Wishes.

E D