Dear sir. I just want to say that I love all your books. I’ve always liked history and I started on your Sharpe novels about 10 years ago. Since then I’ve moved on to Starbuck, the Arthur books, the Saxon stories etc etc. I’ve read nearly everything you’ve written and loved it all particularly the Arthur books and the Saxon stories. That’s probably because there’s a certain amount of mystery surrounding the dark ages but reading your books has taught me stuff about history I never knew. I’m currently trying to write a historical novel. It’s set in the 12th century but I won’t tell you anymore than that so no one can accuse you of stealing my story (not that you need to steal from anyone). Just want to ask you a few questions as you’ve always seem to be good at encouraging others starting out in writing. What’s your favourite period in history? Just curious.

I’ve noticed all your books end with a big final battle. I like the idea of that but mine always seem to finish early leaving the hero twiddling his thumbs for the last few pages. Any tips for writing big battles would be appreciated. Have you any advice on research? Are there certain things I should look for like who was king at the time, major battles etc? What sort of things do you look for when you start your research for a particular period for the first time? Love your books and keep up the good work. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Michael