Hello there.

 

I confess to being someone who never gets in touch with creators as either have nothing of interest to say beyond “I like your work” or suspect that the creator would not be interested in anything I would be saying anyway.

 

That said, my wife is an illustrator and through her I’ve come to meet and make friends with a great many writers, actors and illustrators and they all say that they never tire of positive feedback, so I thought to finally make the effort and contact those creators whose work has had an impact on me.

 

You, sir, rank highly among that group.

 

While, like many brits in the 90s, my first exposure to your work was the Sharpe TV series (you’ve no idea how disappointed I was as a northerner moving to Chelmsford to discover that the South Essex regiment wasn’t real), it was the Warlord Chronicles which really grabbed me the most.

 

It was my girlfriend, later wife, who urged me to read The Winter King, and I quickly devoured the others. This happening during the early 2000s as the internet was beginning to explode, it left such an impression on me that I adopted Cadarn as my online handle for many things and continue to use it to this day.

 

It’s a series I go back to every few years and happily extol it as all time my favourite historical/fantasy series. While generally classified as historical, the inhabitants of the world believe in magic and so it counts as both in my mind at least. Having just finished The Winter King again, this time as audiobook while driving, it is still fresh, still powerful and moving stuff.  It has set a high watermark for quality story telling and has ensured that I can never truly enjoy other Arthurian stories as yours has become the canon version in my mind.

 

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough, but just wanted to say thank you for the series which has repeatedly given me so much pleasure over the years.  I look forward to the Last Kingdom TV series, and live in hope and fear of the Warlord Chonicles getting the same treatment. Hope; as I would love to see these books getting exposed to a wider audience, and fear as everyone dreads adaptations of works which are very dear to them.  Nevertheless, they would receive my whole-hearted support.

 

My thanks again, and I look forward to spending more time with Uthred and company soon.  Meanwhile, I need to get back to my book. Derfel was about to annoy Lancelot, and few things in life are as enjoyable as that.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Andrew Ruddick