My dear Mr Cornwell,
Many years ago I happened to pick up a book to read on my flight to London. I had no idea of what reading pleasures would lie ahead. The book was titled “The Archer’s Tale”.
I’ve since read it, and its two companions in the set, a total of three times. I’ve read every Richard Sharpe book (and enjoyed watching Sean Bean in the role) and numerous others by the same, uniquely gifted, writer. Am at present on “The Empty Throne”. The author has become – and I’m a very discriminating reader – one of my top favorites, in a niche reserved for Charles Dickens and a small handful of other authors. When in a reading mood, or mode, I can devour, inhale, a lot of books. Not ashamed to say that I have been a Bernard Cornwell addict.
You are like water in the Sahara, a fresh breeze, a chilled martini at the end of the day, an early Rolling Stones record, a Kinks song, a Haydn symphony, a Handel opera. You are Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker; you’ve introduced me to so many events, places, and people, among them Lord Wellington; with a style that is “just right”. I would imagine that you don’t spend your free time reading current day fiction, so take my word for it that the books are, for the most part, appallingly bad, badly written, poor proofing and editing, some of them really stupid, nothing more than the output of people who’ve stumbled onto an agent and publisher, figured out a formula (a brightly colored dust cover helps a lot) and laugh all the way to the bank. Some of these people should not be allowed to write.
At the end of a Bernard Cornwell book I often look at the brief bio in the book jacket and wonder at the craftsmanship of this man and give thanks that I was so lucky to stumble upon “The Archer’s Tale”.
My kindest humble regards.
David