Hello Mr. Cornwell.

Everything I could possibly say to appreciate your work, such as: ‘I’m sure you hear this every day’ ‘You have changed my life’ ‘your books are a godsend’ etc. has already been said many times by many people so I won’t say it again. But I just have to say that I’ve read all but two of the Sharpe books, all the Starbuck Chronicles, The Fort, The Winter King, Harlequin and Azincourt. I may even have forgotten some of your work that I’ve read, but I don’t think so. I’m a huge fan, and that’s all I can say. Every time I read one of your books it inspires me to write and I critique every other author’s battle scenes against yours.

For the record, that Simon Scarrow fella is a pale imitation of you. He’s just about satisfying enough but if you ever want to write a series about a pair of Roman Centurions in Britain, go ahead, you’ll do it better than he ever could.

Onto my actual subject. Upon finishing the Winter King earlier this evening I started to peruse the web of other people’s thoughts and stumbled across your website and your question section and then onto your writing advice.

Now when I started reading the Winter King I did find it slow, but I checked myself before I thought of it as a criticism when I realized that I wouldn’t want any of it removed. It established a world and a culture that was very different to our own and I enjoyed the depth of the worldbuilding. So when I read your writing advice earlier and a point where you said you wished you’d rewritten the first third of the Winter King to tighten it up and have the characters actually doing something… Well I disagreed. I could mention pacing and atmosphere and how when I was reading about Derfel’s happy days on the Tor and learning the interactions of Merlin’s folk and then later on the attack by Gundleus and the flight and the arrival of Arthur. The fact I can mentions how vividly and well written it was and how I thought it was basically excellent build up. I particularly liked the fact Arthur’s entrance was drawn out, it reached the point where, as you through Derfel pointed out, dramatic
convenience dictated Arthur’s arrival to be a surprise. I think it worked perfectly and nailed the Winter King down as a novel of mainly political adventures and intrigue than your usual fare of campaigns and conquests. Which I also liked because to me it showed you breaking a mold established in your Sharpe novels of focus around a particular battle and showcase that in great detail. That works perfectly too but it was nice to see you doing something different that I also thought worked very well. It reminded me of sprawling fantasies I read when I was younger with its establishment of the world and its customs and hierarchies.

I think I’ve gushed enough now and basically my point is I thought the first third of the Winter King, while undoubtedly slow, did a great job of establishing the world and the characters which persisted throughout the novel.

In conclusion I guess… Keep writing wonderful novels you wonderful man and long may it continue!

Sincerely; a fan who is probably not your biggest, but is definitely an avid supporter.