Bernard Cornwell

[storm]

I can't wait for the Waterloo book. I have read several accounts of the battle based on diary entries of witnesses and find the battle fascinating. Both from the personal and strategic/political perspectives.
The one Sharpe book I was really disappointed in was Waterloo but that was probably because I had such high hopes for it!

I am hoping to visit the battle field next year.

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[Tonyblack]

I'm very much looking forward to the book as well. I understand that the battlefield has changed a lot since the battle. For some reason, the French celebrate the battle as if they'd won it. There's a huge mound of earth with a monument on top. The mound was built using the soil around the battlefield and therefore, the area where Wellington had his troops lay down out of sight, is pretty much gone now.

Bernard Cornwell does write a good battle though. His book about Agincourt really put across what was going on and how things worked out. I think he'll do a great job of Waterloo.

 

[storm]

The irony of that particular piece of monument building is worthy of the great B.S. Johnston

You can still see lots of the features of the site although I believe that the farmhouse at Hougemont is private property and not open to tourists. Also one of the billets used by the British officers has seen service as a nightclub!

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[Tonyblack]

I went searching on Google Map, for Fort George, the fort in Bernard's book - The Fort. You can still see where the fort was, and it appears to have been used as a baseball diamond at some stage.

 

[storm]

I suppose there are worse things to do with a disused fort!

It's also worth noting that the monument that is responsible for annihilating the topography of the battlefield isn't even dedicated to Wellington and the British. It was raised by the King of Holland to commemorate where his son; the prince of orange was knocked off his horse! ( by a canon ball, not by a rifle bullet fired by Sharpe )

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[Tonyblack]

The next book in the Saxon Series is out on 23 October. I can't wait.

But before that, Bernard's first non fiction book, Waterloo, is out on 11 Setember.

 

[Tonyblack]

Woo hoo!!!! Great news!

 

[Tonyblack]

More news about the BBC Adaptation of The Last Kingdom.

 

[Sjoerd3000]

Some great names on there

Rutger Hauer :dance:

 

[Tonyblack]

The next book in the Saxon Series had been announced. Warriors of the Storm is released in the UK in October.

 

[Tonyblack]

Daunt Books are hosting an event with Bernard Cornwell.
'It is his first book of non-fiction, and in writing it he has married the diligent research of an historian to his wonderful novelist's gift for pacey narrative.There has been no finer introduction written to the three days of battles that finally ended the Napoleonic era'.
Join him in the week of the 200th anniversary of WATERLOO -Tuesday 16th June at 7pm at Daunt Books, Marylebone.
Click the link below for more information and tickets.
http://bit.ly/DauntWater

 

[Tonyblack]

October 8th will see the release of WARRIORS OF THE STORM, Bernard Cornwell’s newest novel featuring Uhtred of Bebbanburg.

 

[Tonyblack]

Thursday is the first part of a new BBC2 TV series based on the Saxon books by Bernard Cornwell. (9pm I believe).

Here's an interview with Bernard on the subject of the series.

 

[SuffolkSkald]

The Dark Age series is interesting. Uhtred is by far my favourite character - a real anti hero. It's true what Cornwell says, this is a very neglected area of English history. I'm trying to learn a little Old English so I can read Beowulf in the original. It's surprising how many words we can recognise. I don't think any other nation neglects its origins as much as we do. There's a really interesting documentary about Athelstan on You Tube with Michael Wood (BBC 4). Amazing that so few people can name the King who welded England from the seven kingdoms

 

[Tonyblack]

I agree! I'm rereading the Uhtred books in order and am currently on The Pagan Lord. I always find it interesting how some of the place names are almost the same and have changed over the years.

 

[Brodgar]

I'd just like to throw my support in here as well. The new Terry Pratchett mayherestinpeace and the new Bernard Cornwell were always my standard Xmas presents from my son.

I've never read the Sharpe books but I love all the others. Mr Cornwell sent me a Sharpe book with a little message in it after I pointed out an error in one of the early Uhtred books (there was a paragraph or two obviously missing in the first edition) but I've never read it. I tend to like anything up to the invention of the gun but nothing after. That probably goes for real history too. The Winter King was my first Cornwell and I was bowled over by the gritty realistic way he told what we usually get as sword and sorcery. I loved Stonehenge as well, but I've seen a fair bit of negativity about it.

There is, however, one thing that annoys me about his books. It's not a huge deal for me but I get a bit irritated that his protagonists always end up (eventually) with the beautiful girls, who soon get killed (sometimes in gruesome ways) in time for the protagonist to hook up with the next beautiful girl who comes along. I think he may be changing this approach and I'm hoping Uhtred's daughter plays a more important part in the next book but anyway... that's my one gripe. He does write strong women, too - Guinevere and Æthelflaed for example.

Is anyone else puzzled by the prologue to The Empty Throne? It's told in the first person by Uhtred's son (also called Uhtred). Afterwards, the telling of the tale is taken up again by Uhtred Snr. I read that book imagining Uhtred Snr would die in it, and his son would continue telling the tale, but it became increasingly clear as the book went on that that wasn't going to happen. Uhtred's son has not returned as the narrator since (e.g. in Warriors of the Storm). I wonder what ideas (or explanations, if Mr Cornwell has addressed it) may be around for why Uhtred's son narrated that part of the tale?

 

[Tonyblack]

The Sharpe books really are very good.

Bernard has a few themes in his books - evil religious people, strong women who start off as lovers of the heroes, who then turn bad and, as he has pointed out himself, any young kid that appears in books is almost certainly going to die horribly.

Terry and Bernard's books are/were the only ones I would buy as first edition hardbacks.

My theory of Uhtred the Younger telling the first part of the book is that Bernard was playing a trick on his readers. It takes a while before the penny drops. He's got a wicked sense of humour.

Incidentally, when asked who his favourite character in other books was, his response was: "Commander Sam Vimes."

 

[Tonyblack]

The next book has been officially announced! The Flame Bearer, the latest in the Saxon Series will be released in Europe on Oct 6th.

And in the US on 29th Novemeber.

 

[Tonyblack]

The latest in the Saxon Stories series of books, The Sword of Kings, has just come out. It's on my Kindle ready to be read, once I've finished the book I'm currently reading.

I have however, updated the map I'm compiling as a companion to the series, with the new places in this book. I was pleasantly surprised that there is now a link to my map on Bernard's official website. It has generally had positive feedback.

Saxon Stories Map

 

[Tonyblack]

I've started the new Bernard Cornwell book, The Sword of Kings and it's good so far. The last book was a little disappointing as it was rather formulaic to my mind. The previous book (not Cornwell) I was reading was by singer and activist, Billy Bragg. The book was The Three Dimensions of Freedom. I highly recommend it. He is such a good writer.