Hello Mr. Cornwell: You’ve often said in interviews that your “Sharpe” series was partly inspired by Forester’s “Hornblower” series, so my most recent reading project was following old Horny through his eleven-novel career. Would you mind my asking what you think are the main differences, from a writer’s perspective, between your series and Forester’s series (aside from the obvious sea-land difference)? Would it be fair to say your Sharpe’s novels are mostly plot AND character driven while most of the Hornblower novels are entirely character driven? (And I may not even know what I’m talking about there.) The reason I ask is that I was surprised at how little “plot” there seemed to be in most of the Hornblower novels. “Flying Colors” was held together by Hornblower’s need to escape from France, but most of the other novels seem a connection of episodes. Horny just rolls along from problem to problem and damned if you know what he’s going to get sucked into next. Sharpe, on the other hand, usually has a mission and it’s pretty clear from the beginning what he has to do to succeed, even if there are some unexpected surprises along the way. Again, I may be all wet (a little naval term there) about “plot-driven and character-driven.” And I may be missing subtlties in Forester, but that’s the way I see it. Any thoughts you’d care to share? P.S. I would save this question for the Historical Novel Society meeting in NY in June, but I’m not sure I can make it. Short hop for you, eh? Cheers. David McKissack