Your Questions

Q

Bernard, I normally as for hints and tips on my writing, but I have a genuine query here. Now, reading the Last Kingdom, you mention the pillaging of the monastery at Streonshall near to Eoferwic. My missus was born and bred in Strensall and we're curious because we never knew there was a monastery there. Have you any idea where it was or where we could find more information about it? Cheers Bernard. Iain Culkin

Submitted October 25, 2004

A

I'm answering this off the top of my head - I think it was a nunnery? And the source is the late (and therefore suspect) Roger of Wendover. It seems highly likely that there would have been a religious house there, and equally likely that it vanished under Viking attack (lots of monasteries and churches disappeared in that period). Where was it? Not a clue! Probably under the bus station by now.

Q

Mr Cornwell Absolutely love your Sharpe series , and I would like to ask the following. Do you ever regret making Harper 8 years younger than Sharpe, thus making him illegible for the earlier books set in India? He would have been great as Sharpe's constant sidekick throughout. Nick R.

Submitted October 25, 2004

A

No - because the books worked well (says he) without Harper. It would have been nice if he could have been there, but there you go!

Q

Your new book the Last Kingdom was brilliant as ever. When is the next in the series due out? Have every book of yours I know of, my favourite has to be the Arthur series will you write more? what happens to Derfel? same question on the Starbuck books. You have a lifetime of work ahead of you but for my sake please finish it quickly. Tim Stanbridge

The Last Kingdom - Excellent, I would have finished it in two days if I had not been working. Any rough dates for the next one's release? Was there a character called Arthur in the book? You refer to Waella cousin of Arthur being killed, did you mean Alfred? I also liked the way you incorporated links from the Warlord Chronicles, such as the Princess being stolen and the thousands of dead because of her. Brilliant, it really makes me feel a link between the mighty Derfel and Uhtred. I have long felt that the Warlord Chronicles were going to be my favourite books of all time, I now think the Uhtred books will be up there along side. Please concentrate on more dark age books as I think that is what makes us both tick. Thanks Chris Pollock

I bought "The Last Kingdom" at Heathrow Airport on Friday and finished it by Sunday morning in Chicago. Mom is from Copenhagen, and my brothers and I get the biggest laugh when she calls us "dumb Americans (especially at the Thanksgiving table after a few glasses of red wine). My brothers and I believe we have some distant connection to the Danish explorers, and this has been reinforced during my many business trips to England and Scotland. I always find an excuse to have a colleague bring me to a cemetary (they think I'm morose). But the cemetaries are SO much older than any in the States. The stories they bring to mind are fantastic. I visited an old church building in the Midlands with a friend. He told me Vikings had plundered this place, and centuries later the legend lived on. Crazy as it sounds, I touched the stone walls and got a creepy, cold feeling. I'll never forget it. I can't wait for the sequel to "The Last Kingdom." Any idea when it might be released? Also, can you do your best to get this series made in to a movie! You characters are just as endearing as those in the "Lord of the Rings"...Kathee Pass

Submitted October 25, 2004

A

The next book in the series, tentatively titled The Shadow Queen, will be out, most likely, in October 2005. No plans for any more Arthur books - but I do hope to get back to Starbuck someday. Sorry for the typo - yes, I do mean Alfred.

Q

I'm still laughing at your response to the question of how Hakeswill escaped from the snake pit. Priceless! which got me to thinking. How in the world did you ever come up with that wonderful character? Had you ever heard anybody use that 'Says so in the scriptures' expression, or did it just come to you? Mike

Submitted October 25, 2004

A

It just came, but I'm sure I've heard people use it - I think the point is that whoever uses it is usually of a pious nature, so it seemed apt to give it to Obadiah, that most Godly of men.

Q

Anachronism-re 100 years war as arabic numerals were not really used until 15th century how could Thomas the longbowman quarter the field and multiply by 4 to estimate enemy numbers. I love historical novels but anachronisms destroy my fantasy and enjoyment. Please respond. Do you know something that I don't? especially about mathematics. Meriel Hernandez

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

Forgive me, but I don't quite see the objection. It isn't as if Thomas was doing sums on paper, for which, I agree, he would probably need arabic numerals. But a rough division by four doesn't need paper, does it? The words half and quarter go back well beyond the 15th century, or am I missing something? Alas, I cannot tell you what you know and I don't, but if it's about mathematics then I suspect your knowledge outstrips mine hugely! Mind you, I did once get 11% in Maths O-Level, which is the highest I attained in four tries.

Q

Hi To start with Last Kingdom is great. How long does it take you to research your books? As the detail in Last Kingdom and the Arthur books is great. I know it is your job to make us feel like we are there, the detail really makes it for me. David Seale

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

The amount of research depends on the book. I don't spend too much time researching Sharpe these days, partly because I've spent forty odd years reading and researching the period, so much of it is now second nature. On a new book, in a new period, there might be three or four months concentrated research first, but I'll have spent two or three years reading about the period before that - and I usually keep on researching as I'm writing - as I'm doing now with the second book about Alfred the Great.

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell. I recently finished the Grail Quest, and realized that you probably have to do a lot of your research in languages other than your own - Old English, Celtic, Spanish, Portugese, French, etc. What languages are you able to work in? Do you often have to resort to the services of a translator? Alan Kempner

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

I resort to translations! I can struggle through French and Latin, can make a stab at Spanish, and am fairly at home in Old English - otherwise I depend on translations.

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, I recently read Gallows Thief and was enjoying the romp until a clutch of description and dialogue in the Newgate scene on pages 367-8 in the HarperCollins paperback rang a distinct bell. Returning to the start, I discovered that whole sections of narrative had been plucked, near enough word for word, from the first Newgate scene on pages 5-6-7. I felt somewhat offended by the apparent assumption that the reader would not notice such a howler. I am sure you are innocent of intentionally treating your devotees in such a cavalier manner. But at the very least it seems to indicate some sloppiness in editing. I would be interested to hear your response. Yours sincerely, Patrick Welland

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

It's called technique. Something writers do. It was deliberate. The idea was to stress the inevitability of the approaching execution by letting you retread a familiar path, and to emphasise the commonplace nature of the horrific event by showing how the participants repeat themselves - i.e. it's become routine for them. I'm sorry you feel cheated, but far from being a howler it was intentional and I'd do it again.

Q

Would it be possible to know which Kings will be covered in the second and third volumes in "The Last Kingdom" series (and, indeed, in any other volumes), please? Very many thanks! Roger Trail

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

I plan to cover three reigns - Alfred, his son Edward and grandson Athelstan, and taking in the extraordinary career of Alfred's daughter Athelflaed ('the Lady of Mercia').

Q

Hi there -- I have been a fan of yours since the day I picked up "Waterloo" and read it in about a day, unaware then that it was only one volume of what has proved to be an excellent series. Since then, I have devoured almost all your other books (there are a few gaps yet to fill in in my Cornwell Collection). While I have enjoyed both the style and content of practically every book, there is one which has raised a question in my mind, namely "Sharpe's Battle." Something about the writing of that episode in the series just doesn't seem to ring true to the rest of the books. It almost seems as though it was written by someone trying to do a Bernard Cornwell book, with all the recognizable elements, but somehow lacking the nuances of the master's touch -- kind of like a good forgery of a Rembrant, with all the right colors, but a subtle difference in brushstrokes that leaves an overall effect of something not quite up to the standard. I think I could probably enumerate some details, but this note is probably too long already. Anyway, is there an explanation for this, or am I just perceiving an anomily that isn't really there? In any case, thank you for your writings; I look forward to each new release. Sincerely, Ken Norberg

Submitted October 22, 2004

A

Lord knows! Maybe you're right, but I'm not the person to ask. I did write it though!