Mr. Cornwell, I just wanted to drop you a line and say thanks for writing Pale Horseman- the character of Uhtred is coming along nicely- He reminds me of a Saxon Achilles wouldn’t you say? I also find him to be a fascinating dark-mirror image of Derfel from the Arthur books-is that at all intentional?

I also wanted to say that since I last wrote I have completed the second and (I believe) final draft of my novel and I’m now about to embark upon the long soul-crushing process of finding a literary agent- but I couldn’t have got this far if not for your inspiration and words of advice. I wanted to sincerely thank you for everything. I also had a few more questions… 1. I noticed that in your later novels your chapters are shorter-Pale Horseman had only 13 I believe. Yet your earlier books sometimes have 20-25 chapters. Is this intentional? How do you think chapter length draws in or captures the reader? How has your thinking on this changed over the years? Do you give any thought to it at all or do you just let the story take you wherever it will?

2. Recently, in a used bookstore, I discovered an old historical adventure novel from the 60’s titled ‘In The Company of Eagles’ written by an author named Ernest K.Gann. It’s a WW 1 era story about a French fighter pilot and his German nemesis dueling with biplanes in the skies. It was really good. Very “Red Baron”. I Googled the author to discover he was actually a WW2 fighter pilot. His other books have titles like “Fate Is The Hunter”,”Blaze of Noon” and “Island In The Sky”. Have you ever read any of his work? If so what are your thoughts? If you haven’t heard of him, I humbly suggest seeking out his work.

3. After reading Your Starbuck sequence I went back and read ‘The Killer Angels’ by Michael Shaara. I rarely read about the Civil War because I find the time period a tedious-but with Starbuck I made an exception. I wanted to ask, since ‘Killer Angels’ is the only other well-written Civil War-era book worth reading, did Shaara influence your work at all? Not just on Starbuck but with military adventure writing in general?

4. I think your website is the best designed, most accessible author site around- but is there any way you could post more of your interviews, articles, forwards, SAS bulletins, book reviews, etc…? It’s always a pain tracking this stuff down if you live outside the U. K.

5. I’ve noticed that Sharpe actually fought in France on only a few occasions- The very end of Sharpe’s Regiment and again in Sharpe’s Siege-which you’ve said was an entirely fictional action. Have you ever considered marching him into the battles of Brienne, Laon, Arcis-sur-Aube, La Fere-Champenoise, or Montmartre? Those last death rattles of Napoleon’s Grand Army would seem to be an ideal place to tell more stories without having to go all the way back to the Peninsula or Austerlitz. Anyway, thanks again for your time and generosity. R. Kulb