OK I'm happy. I've just bought the latest Bernard Cornwell continuing the story of Uhtred and Alfred the Great. Sword Song occurs some five years after the events described in Lords of the North and tells how Alfred's forces evict the Danes from London. I love these books, possibly more than the Sharpe series, the characters and sense of time and place that Cornwell conveys is just brilliant. Read this extract and tell me the hairs don't rise on the back of your neck as they row in for the kill.
Inevitably once I've finished it I'll either start the series at the beginning again or head for the Osprey library to see what we have that covers the period. For a start there is nothing like the artwork of Gerry Embleton to convey the clash of shield walls.
The Battle of Brunanburh from Viking Hersir 793–1066 AD
Anyway Sword Song out now in the UK, although you will have to wait in the US for a little while longer. Just enough time to read the preceding books I reckon.