Your Questions

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, I have written to you on previous occasions and I would like complement you on the speed and wholesomeness of your return. Anyway. I would like to ask you this, in "Sharpes Tiger", Major - General Baird and General Harris are very good characters and I would like to ask how they got on. I also have an idea for your next Sharpe book, how about "Sharpes Victory"? I have read all of your Indian Sharpe books and I think that they are some of the best you have written. Is your Sergeant Hakeswill character Based on your Sergeant Scammell (Or the other way around). Are there any clubs in which you could study and learn about the musket or rifle for children.(I'm 14 you see)

James H.

Yours James

Submitted October 21, 2004

A

So far as I know Harris and Baird got on fine. Harris was a good guy, Baird could be tricky and, of course, he developed a hatred of Sir Arthur Wellesley in India that took a long time to dissipate. I'd love to use the title 'Sharpe's Victory', but it was used by Carlton TV for their book about the making of the TV series and, if I used it again, I suspect it would cause endless confusion - so it's best avoided. I think Scammell was based on Hakeswill, if anything! Clubs for muskets? Or Rifles? It depends where you live, but somewhere near you there will be a group of re-enactors, and they could help. If you're in Britain try to find a magazine called Skirmish which will have lots of details, or you could look up Black Powder in Google and follow links until you find a club in your area that specialises in black powder shooting. The Sharpe Appreciation Society may know something about it too, because I know they have black-powder shooting expeditions, so an e-mail to them could well throw up an answer? (www.southessex.co.uk). Good luck!

Q

Mr Cornwell, Congratulations on the fantastic book that is The Last Kingdom. I took it on holiday with me and finished it on the third day. Although not as good as your excellent Warlord Chronicles, The Last Kingdom, in my opinion, is one of your best yet and I can't wait for the next one. Just one question regarding the characters. You say that Uhtred is not a real character but that the characters with the ash are real. Does this mean that Uhtred's uncle AElfric was real but wasn't the uncle to Uhtred or was he a fictional character too? Cheers for the hours of pleasurable reading, Lewis.

Submitted October 21, 2004

A

Aelfric is fictional. Uhtred was real enough (and an ancestor of mine), but we know nothing about him, so he's really fictional too.

Q

I just finished "The Last Kingdom" today...well done! I hope there will be more of Uhtred's exploits to come! What are you working on next (if you don't mind the asking)? It seems that you have had book releases around October and June each year. Will your next book be available in June? Mark

I am a big fan of your books, infact I own them all. I have nearly finished your latest book (The Last Kingdom), I think it is briliant. When do you plan to release the next in the series? I will will keep buying if you keep publishing. Cheer for many happy hours of reading. Regards Jonathan Whitfield

Submitted October 21, 2004

A

I'm glad to know you enjoyed The Last Kingdom. I am working on the next book of the series now - tentatively titled The Shadow Queen. It won't be available by next June; I anticipate its publication in October 2005.

Q

I'm a huge fan of your books, especially the novels set during the middle ages or before. Have you any plans to write a story set in the time of the Crusades? I really think your imagination and wonderful story telling would do that period justice in a novel. Kind regards - A Davison

Submitted October 21, 2004

A

I don't have plans for it, but perhaps that may change?

Q

Bernard (excuse the familiarity) Do you intend to revise the published Sharpe books when they are reprinted to remove inconsistencies? For example in Sharpe's Eagle in chapter 14, Sharpe states that he has never met General "Daddy" Hill when he had a conversation with his a few weeks before on the roof of the Seminary in Oporto (Sharpe's Havoc). I expect others have raised these before and to be honest its the first I have found as I re-read the entire Sharpe canon. As I do when a new book is published. Regards Gary (Burgess)

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

Perhaps - it is a possibility - but not until the series is finished, which won't be for at least a few more years.

Q

Could you please tell me the order of the tv series? Thank you. Craig Waddle

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

Here is the order of the Sharpe films:

Rifles
Eagle
Company
Enemy
Honour
Gold
Battle
Sword
Regiment
Siege
Mission
Revenge
Justice
Waterloo

Q

Dear Bernard, this may be a bit cheeky, but I'm trying to find out how authors who use maps feel about them. Are they there for the reader, or is it more perhaps? Do you use them as a planning tool? For any other reason? This is for an article I'm writing for the Society of Cartograhers Bulletin - I'm not a journalist, just a Cartographer who loves books. Yours sincerely, Elanor.

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

I love maps, I collect maps, and one of the frustrations is that I never see the maps that are printed in the books - they get delivered too late and are bound in at the last moment. I certainly use them as a planning tool - heavily - I'm writing about Alfred and Athelney at the moment and, though I've visited Athelney, I have a map board smothered with the OS 1:25000 maps of the Somerset Levels, and overlaid with an old 6" map. I know that the Levels have changed out of recognition in the last 1100 years, but the maps are still hugely useful. Alas, though, the maps in the books are often barely adequate.

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, I'm reading, and enjoying, 'The Heretic' and came upon a character by the name of John Faircloth. Having a personal interest in the name I'm curious as to where or how you came upon the name and decided to include such a noble name in your book. Inquisitively, Paul Faircloth

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

I wish I could remember. I think I saw the name in a British high street and liked it. But, as you say, a noble, distinguished name!

Q

Hello Mister Cornwell I was wondering what books you think highly of? Zeke Redwine

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

Many books - too many to mention them all - but C.S.Forester's Hornblower books had a great impact on me as a teenager and introduced me to the Napoleonic era. I also read Alfred Duggan and Rafael Sabatini. And John Keegan's The Face of Battle has probably had the most influence on me as a writer of historical fiction.

Q

What is the efficacious word? Also, are you a Red Sox fan? Jonathan

Submitted October 19, 2004

A

The efficacious word begins with F. It has 4 letters. Of course I'm a Red Sox fan and we hate the New York Yankees who are, it must be admitted, very efficacious.