Undoubtedly Bernard Cornwall casts a long shadow on the genre of Napoleonic Military fiction, but why must we assume everything is derivative? It would have been easy to compare the then young Mr Cornwall's efforts to "Seven Men of Gascony" would it not? Without reading it would we have regarded it as 'fan fiction' of RF Delderfield? OK, Cornwall has been very commercially successful, but surely that can't be the only criteria?

It is easy for those of us hooked on the period to be a bit sniffy, after all we are mainlining the drug of the memoires of real heroes rather than fictional ones. However, there are many who come to the period through fiction, whether it be Hornblower or in my case, Seven Men of Gascony. Our hobby will die on it's feet and be left solely to the PhD students if we are not more inclusive. This would be a shame, because it is the enthusiasts that drive the book market and fund the unearthing of new sources.