Your Questions

Q

Hello,

I was just wondering if you could give one any insight into book 11 of The Last Kingdom series? I know The Flame Bearer came out a little while ago and you deserve a rest, but I am jonesing for my next hit of Uthred. Which really is your fault for being too good a storyteller!

I'm really looking for a date of release. Or possibly if you are feeling magnanimous a clue as to what to expect.

Finally (groveling horrendously) May I say thank you for the many happy hours I have spent in the world's you have created. Be it assaulting a gun inplacement with Sharpe or roundly abusing some Christian priests with Uthred I find myself most content.

Sincerely

Jordan

 

Just finished Flame Bearer. When can I expect the next installment to be available in the USA? Love your books!

John Martel

 

Hello, I have just finished reading The Flame Bearer which I found as equally addicting as the rest of the series, and I realise it just came out but I was wondering roughly when the next one would be completed and published?

Thank you :)

Shane

 

Dear Bernard,

as we all know that usually every autumn a new book of yours arrives to make your readers happy, I would love to know what you are writing about currently. A new Saxon novel? A stand-alone? Please enlighten us!

Thanks and all best,

Marcus

 

I have just finished The Flame-bearer with great satisfaction for Uthred.  My inquiry is what comes next?  I eagerly await.

Bill Brockman

Submitted February 10, 2017

A

I am currently not writing the next book of The Last Kingdom series - I am working on something else; but I'm not ready to say just what it is yet....

Q

Hi Bernard,

 

Loved the Last Kingdom adaptation and thought the characters are really well developed in general. I did just have a question regarding Utred's motivation for raiding into Cornwallum despite the peace treaty, and his subsequent surprise at being castigated for this violation of previously peaceful relations. Was he merely in need of bolstering his gold reserves? And given his surprise at being punished, did he really think this would be seen as legitimitate behaviour in law-loving Alfred's land?

 

Any enlightenment would be great!

 

Thanks

Mungo Haldane

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

Oh, I doubt very much he thought it legitimate. Such things tend not to worry him too much. Alfred might be law-loving, but at the fringes it was a very lawless society. He needed money!

 

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

 

I was recently introduced to your Saxon Stories series and have very much enjoyed the numerous hours of entertainment that you have now provided me.  Thank you for that gift.

 

As I immersed myself in the many vivid battles you described, I found myself asking the question, "Where are the siege craft?" Granted, I am only halfway through the books so perhaps my question will be answered with due time and patience.

 

I understood that siegecraft (ballista, mangonels, rams and the like) were used by the Danes in the siege of Paris in 885 and certainly these were present in the Roman Empire.  As Uhtred is a clever young dux bellorum, well schooled with the 'modern' art of war for his time and well aware of the benefits of French steel and trade, I am surprised that these have not been mentioned so far.

 

Siegecraft would seem to provide an opportune solution for Bebbanburg and, if not for the well, the now fallen Dunholm.

 

Many thanks for the fantastic stories.

Michael

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

They’re not mentioned because it seems the Danish troops in Britain didn’t employ them. They never succeeded in capturing a burh, which they surely would have done if they’d employed siege engines. Such things aren’t mentioned in any of the contemporary sources, and the conclusion is that they simply did not exist. Remember that to employ those engines needed a good deal of organization and expertise, and the rather free-wheeling bands of Danes in Britain appear to have lacked both.

 

Q

Mr. Cornwell,

Thanks for all the excellent novels, I have read them all. My question is 'what is your opinion of Ossian? Real/False, good  Historical Fiction?

Mark David Gill

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

I think it’s fake, but only because everything I’ve read about Ossian advances that conclusion, but do I know for certain? No.  Confession: I’ve never read Ossian.

Q

Dear Mr, Cornwell:

 

How do you go about ensuring that the dialogue in your books "sounds" so authentic to the time period?  A great part of the appeal of your work for me is that the dialogue seems to fit perfectly in the time-period, whether Anglo-Saxon England, the Hundred Years War or the Peninsula War.

 

Best regards,

Willem Gravett

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

Keep it simple!  It isn’t authentic, to be honest. The word Sharpe would have used most often is ‘fuck’ and I choose not to use that. Really, just keep it simple!

 

Q

Hi

I'm a huge fan of your books and was rereading vagabond and was wondering if the deaths of Father Hobbe and Eleanor were planned or if they were another example of the characters writing themselves like you suggested with Sharpe and Lucile plus love the cross over with Lassan in Starbuck. I know it was a long lime ago sorry many thanks a huge fan.

Daniel Reeves

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

Honestly, I don’t remember! I know it’s awful, but I don’t remember many of the characters from the early books. I was being interviewed on BBC radio once and he asked me about some character and my mind went utterly blank, I had no idea I’d written about them! This isn’t decrepitude (at least I hope it’s not!) it’s simply that I write far too many books and it’s impossible to recall all of them.  But characters do tend to make decisions for themselves, though I suspect they rarely choose to die. I think I must have killed them to help the plot?

 

Q

In Sharpe's Revenge - How come the ship's captain who he shot in the bum was not accused of stealing the emperor's gold as he left the fort first and not under fire?

James Henderson

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

I have no idea. I wrote the book so long ago that I don’t even remember the incident, sorry!

 

Q

Hello,

 

A historian  whose books, I liked a lot was the late Sir Martin Gilbert who died in February 2016. Gilbert is best known as Churchill’s official biographer. Gilbert enjoyed the rare honour of having access to Churchill's private papers since the early 1960's. This gave Gilbert a clear advantage over other writers.

 

Presumably as both an established and best selling author, you get access to private papers, unpublished memoirs/diaries which you can use when you are researching your books?

 

Regards and thanks,

 

Adrian.

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

Very rarely!  I’m not an historian, I’m a story-teller. I’m perfectly content to rely on the work of established historians! The thought of researching, say, the Napoleonic wars and seeking out thousands of primary sources is daunting – the book would never get written! Yes, I have consulted many many primary sources, and they can be very useful, but too much research means you never get round to writing the story!

 

 

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell,

Firstly, as so many have undoubtlessly done, I would like to sing high praise for your novels as they are without a doubt, the finest pieces of historical fiction I have read to date. Secondly, I would like to apologise for the lengthy title which fails to convey the actual subject of this message.

 

I (or how I consider myself) am a newly starting author with little more than a just started word document and high hopes. Due to this inexperience, I have a few questions for a writer of your calibre. Fear not, these are not about ideas or other such content that defies your guidelines but merely questions that are pertinent to me.

 

I would consider my novel to be set in an alternative world in which I am writing a relevant timeline and history for, what does a well read historical researcher like yourself find to be a failing in other worlds of similar fashions? (Tropes or cliches that would never have happened in actual history)

 

As a second question, I ask. As you create history of your own and meld it with actual history (e.g The Scot invasion in 917 or moving Ubba's death forward a year), what do you try to avoid doing in order to make characters and situations realistic despite their falsehoods?

 

The third and perhaps most important question is not to do with creation or the task of writing the book but rather do agents or publishers consider age when reading manuscripts? As I am at an age in between 14-18, this question lies heavily on my mind and I apologise if you have no experience with the matter and I have wasted your time.

 

Once again, thank you for your gifts to the literary world and I wish you well,

 

Barnard

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

I’m not sure quite how to answer . . . I think your first duty in making an alternative world is the same as writing about the ‘real’ world, which is to make it believable! It probably helps (I’m guessing because I’ve never done it)  to anchor your invented world in some kind of reality; for Tolkein it was Anglo-Saxon England, for George Martin it’s medieval England. Quite how you do that, what to put in, what to leave out, what to invent out of nothing, is up to you! I think readers will follow you anywhere so long as the background is consistent and fully realized . . . the devil, of course, is in the details.

 

Sort out their motivations! You can make a character do anything (more or less) so long as the reader believes that whatever they do is the choice the character would have made in that situation. Sometimes that takes a deal of re-writing. But you can’t have Romeo suddenly saying, ‘oh, screw it, Juliet is too much trouble, I’ll marry Jessica instead,’ unless Juliet (or Jessica) has provided some motivation.

 

They certainly would if you’re between 14 and 18!  I’d submit it without saying how old you are. When they accept the Ms you can spring the surprise and they’ll be delighted.

Good luck!!

Q

It would be very helpful if you could provide books' maps online (at this site). Names and places are quite difficult for an American reader. The front maps in books, especially electronic versions, are not useful: way too miniscule

Gregory Gendron

Submitted February 6, 2017

A

That’s a good idea . . . . . we’ll explore it! In the meantime you might find this useful? https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en_US&mid=158P6XvVBFFXChEdPZqdyX8IWppc&ll=57.30720557797977%2C-6.441850499999987&z=5 It’s not my site – I found it accidentally and it’s really useful for the Saxon stories.