Bulletin Board

More tales of Rider Sandman PLEASE!!!! and of his friends too..Marius Geary

What are you doing reading this useless email when you could be writing more and more incredible stories. Thank you for The Grail Quest and your other works. I have my brother hooked on The Arthur Books and I won't share mine with him. I thought one more custormer would make you write more. Stop reading these fan letters and get back to work. Bruce Young

I was interested in the question and your answer about the pronunciation of "lieutenant". My dad served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 20 years, and he always pronounced it l'tenant. Neither "loo", like the Americans, nor "left", but an elision. He said that this was traditional in the navy - since I took everything he told me as gospel, and he was a confirmed anglophile, I assume that may have been the case in the Royal Navy as well. Jeanie Dubberley

I hope you DON'T write a sequel to Gallows Thief!! I have read all your published books, including the Susannah Kells' trio, and the above is the only one I didn't enjoy. I avoided it for quite a while, because I didn't see you in the Agatha Christie mode and it looked so morbid from the cover. However, in the end, the praise from other readers persuaded me to buy a copy... It is morbid, the plot is difficult to swallow and Sandman is two-dimensional. This got me thinking, because all your books are rather savage. But somehow you get away with it - I think because: a) the savagery is realistic - for example, the playing with bones and fortune telling from entrails in the Arthur series must be nearer the reality of the period than the Troubadour-Age, chivalric-tradition -inspired accounts which started off the modern Arthur legends. b) this is coupled with a certain wry, dry humour - which allows the books to be novels, not just social commentary on the awfulness of the period. c) je ne sais quoi. I've never seen such negative feedback as this on your website! Understandably so! So will understand if this doesn't appear! However, I can fully concur with your readers' appreciation of the other books. I agree that it would be better if you could write them in a couple of days, and it took a few weeks to read them... though I'm not sure how the finances would work for you in that situation! ...Looking forward to the next one! Isabelle Griffith

Would you ever think of taking the Arthur books to film or as a tv special. I think it would be a winner & it would be great to see who would be cast as the roles of Arthur & Deferl. Richard Carberry

Dear Mr. Cornwell, You needn't take the time to respond to this. But having started both your Sharpe & Arthur series--enjoying them a lot--I thought you might like to know how I came upon you. (You've only been writing 20-30 years, right). I got a "hankering" for an author my Dad turned me onto 30 or so years ago, Rafael Sabatini. I was delighted to find three volumes back in print. And there were your introductions. They were so well written, with such appreciation, that I just had to see what you were like as a novelist. Sabatini would be pleased to see how you've continued the tradition. Sincerely, Bruce Wood

I'm a 23 year old law student in Birmingham, uk and unfortunately have spent the begining of this year reading the Sharpe novels instead of doing my work which means that I have received a flurry of scowles from my partner. I have only read the first five so this question is probably a little premature but here goes. I thought Trafalgar gave Sharpe an exciting new scenario for battle and wondered if you were ever tempted to create a series dedicated to sea battles, I would love to read about Chase, Collier, Clouter and Hopper on other adventures. Thank you very much for filling my study leave with excitment and adventure. Lewis.

Ahoy Mr. Cornwell, I've been a fan of your work for a number of years now! I've enjoyed reading and watching all of the Sharpe books and movies and own them all. I'm so glad that you continue to "fill in the blanks" of the series with new books now and then. I just finished up the last Grail book and I'm glad that I figured out where the Grail was hidden. My question to you is this:Do you have any plans for a side series of books for Captain Chase from Sharpes Trafalgar and Sharpes Prey? Quite a few people in my book circle are into the "nautical fiction" genre and we would all love to see Chase have his own set of adventures. Thank you for sharing your great talent of writing with all of us. K Thompson

Dear Mr. Bernard, A month ago I finished reading the 3 books of the tales of king Arthur, I really love it. I read other books about the theme, but none impacted me so much as yours. Here in Brasil where I live, they're making lots of success. Now I am reading Harlequin, and I can't wait for the next one! Unfortunately, here in Brasil it takes a long long time to translate and publish a foreign book! I really like your work. It's great to know that there're so many quality books waiting to be read out there... I can't wait for the next part of Thomas's history.... Harlequin is great. I don't wanna ask you nothing! I just want to say that your books, especially the king Arthur's books are the best thing that I've read in my whole life (and believe me, I read a lot!) Best Regards of an "fan" from Brasil, Vasti.

Dear Bernard, Well. Where to start ! I basically just wanted to thank you for the books that have given me such enjoyment. I have just, within the last hour, finished Heretic. I enjoyed it and the others in the series greatly, as I have enjoyed all your other historical novels so far. I have Redcoat and Gallows Thief to get to complete the collection. A second hand copy of Sharpe's Waterloo started it all and I've read it 3 times so far. I actually had a copy of Sharpe's Eagle in a Readers Digest condensed book, but still went out and got the original and the rest and had read them all within a year. I can't really say that I have a favourite, but I can say that I have never been disappointed with any I've read so far. Having finished Heretic, I came to your website and was rewarded by finding Chapter 1 of Sharpe's Escape. I've just been watching Episode 2 of Sharpe's War that I'd taped from the weekend and Busaco was mentioned. Now I'm going to get to read about it. Great. I look forward to it. Thanks again, Ian p.s. Someone mentioned a finale' for Sharpe, though I agree to some extent with the writer who hoped you'd leave him on the farm. ( I have just seen the Christmas novel. ) His son, Patrick, can carry the torch now. However there is always the Alamo. Though there would maybe be one too many heroes. Ian lRutland

Just finishing Heretic, and enjoying it to the last. Mr. Cornwell, thank you for your article on writing advice, and the reference to the Historical Novel Society. Having grown up with your books I look foward to many years of your exciting works. Jesse Hamilton