Mr. Cornwell~ I noticed that someone else asked in your FAQs if you’d considered writing about the American Indian Wars, and you did not totally nix the idea. Surely the LAST thing you need is another area to research and another future novel on your to-do list, but there is a historical story that NEEDS to be told about the Cherokee, and I can’t think of anyone better to tackle it. Maybe you can, if so, I’d love to share what info I have with them. There is a book called _Tell Them They Lie_ by a nephew of Sequoia named Traveller Byrd. A copy of it was given to me by an elderly Cherokee woman of Asheville North Carolina who felt it was her life’s mission to spread the word that the Cherokee written language was not invented by Sequoia, but was old, pre-Columbian, only made avaliable by Sequoia of the Scribe Clan within the Cherokee, to the rest of the tribe. Making that knowledge available to other clans was his way of improving communication within the tribe when they were all in such jeopardy because of the white settlers coming in. The book tells of the history of Sequoia (aka George Guest, a name he took from a white man he’d killed), the origins of the Scribe Clan (A group of about two dozen refugees had joined the Cherokee after their people were destroyed by war, many generations previously.), their battles with the white settlers, the Trail of Tears, some of the part Sam Houston had in their history (He was very well thought of by the elderly Cherokee lady I got the book from. She was a granddaughter of his, though she had no interest in meeting another friend of mine who is a white grandddaughter of his.) Anyway, it’s a fascinating story, and if you can’t find the book (Aforementioned elderly Cherokee woman thinks it’s a White Man’s conspiracy that the book is nearly impossible to find.),I will gladly share my copy with you. Anyway, I can think of other writers who write wonderfully of Native American cultures, even historical fiction… but the intrigue and the wars, the fairness to both sides (as you might infer, there is a LOT of festering anger in Mr. Bird’s book), and the…uh… messy, unpleasant, bloody stuff… I can’t think of anyone else who could handle that as well as you do. Thanks heavens you can write full-time. Even with that, the way we are forever begging you for more, you had better live to be at least 120 years old, with all your wits about you. Best wishes on that. ;o) ~Pamela Scott