Cape Cod Confidential

The name of Bernard Cornwell is well known to the legions who have followed Richard Sharpe's adventures in print and on the screen.

But the Boston Globe's Alex Beam writes today about the author's "modest profile" in the United States. By modest profile Mr. Beam means 'not a celebrity writer like Stephen King,' as Mr. Cornwell's annual royalties come to about $2 million. He does, however, maintain a King-like volume of output:

Cornwell writes a book about every five months, working eight hours a day at least five days a week. So far, he has written 43 novels on themes varying from the King Arthur legends (his personal favorites) to modern sailing thrillers -- such as 1988's ''Wildtrack," in which ''a crippled veteran of the Falkland's War sails into the north Atlantic to discover whether a famous television [personality] is a murderer," according to his website, www.bernardcornwell.net. He documents each day's progress in an accounting ledger he keeps open next to his desk.