David Gemmell

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David Gemmell

David Andrew Gemmell (August 1, 1948 – July 28, 2006) was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy

Heroic fantasy

Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy which chronicles the tales of heroes and their conquests in imaginary lands. Stories tend to be intricate in plot, often involving many peoples, nations and lands....
. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell's first fiction work published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Best known for his debut, Legend
Legend (novel)

Legend, published in 1984, is the first and most famous novel of United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. It established him as a major fantasy novelist and created the character of Druss, who would appear in several subsequent books....
, Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explores themes in honour, loyalty and redemption. With over one million copies sold, his work continues to sell worldwide.
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"Some of the other children had no father, but their lack was honorable.

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David Andrew Gemmell (August 1, 1948 – July 28, 2006) was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy

Heroic fantasy

Early life

"Some of the other children had no father, but their lack was honorable. [Their] Dad died in the war, you know. He was a hero. This boy's lack was the subject of sly whispers from the adults, and open jeering from his peers. This boy's mother was—the boy heard so many times —a whore… the word was less hurtful than the blows that would follow it. Most of the blows came from other children, but sometimes adults too would weigh in."

— David Gemmell on his tough upbringing, October 2000

David Gemmell was born in 1948 in West London

West London

West London is the area of Greater London to the west of Central London. Although it is only ambiguously defined, it is one of the most economically active areas of London outside of the centre, containing significant amounts of office space along with London Heathrow Airport and many of its associated businesses....
. Raised alone by his mother until the age of six, he experienced a harsh upbringing in a tough urban area, suffering bullying and taunts from his peers, partly due to the absence of his father, and often sustained serious injuries through fighting. Preferring reading books to fighting, he was compelled to take up boxing

Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
by his stepfather, who insisted he learn how to stand up for himself without "hiding behind walls or running away", this philosophy informing much of Gemmell's later writing. As a child, he said he "would have given anything" to stand beside King Harold II

Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson also known as Harold II, was the last Anglo-Saxons King of Kingdom of England before the Norman Conquest of England. Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Normans invaders, led by William I of England....
at the Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings was the decisive Normans victory in the Norman Conquest of England. It was fought between the Norman army of William I of England, and the English people army led by Harold Godwinson....
. As a teenager, he wanted to stand with Marshal Will Kane in the film High Noon

High Noon

High Noon is an Cinema of the United States 1952 in film western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells the story of a town marshal who is forced to face a gang of killers by himself....
. He was expelled from school at the age of sixteen for organizing a gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wikt:wager#Verb of money or something of material Value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods....
syndicate and as a youth was arrested several times. He claimed that one psychologist's report at the time labelled him a psychopath

Psychopathy

Psychopathy is a psychology construct that describes chronic immoral and antisocial behavior.The term is often used interchangeably with sociopathy....
. Gemmell went on to work as a labourer

Manual labour

Manual labour is physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled employment such as fruit and vegetable picking, road building, or any other field where the work may be considered physically arduous, and which has as a profitable objective, usually the production of good s....
, a lorry-driver's mate and a nightclub bouncer

Bouncer (doorman)

A bouncer or doorman is an informal term for a security guard employed at venues such as Bar , nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check Age of majority, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as drunkenness, aggressive behaviour, or other standards....
, before his mother set up a job interview with a local newspaper. Of 100 applicants, he was probably the least qualified for the position, but was hired owing to his display of arrogance during the interview, which was mistaken for self-confidence. He went on to work as a journalist for several local newspapers in East Sussex

East Sussex

East Sussex is a Counties of England in South East England England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey, Brighton and Hove and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel....
, eventually becoming editor-in-chief for five. He also worked freelance

Freelancer

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer....
as a stringer

Stringer (journalism)

In journalism, a stringer is a type of freelance journalist who contributes reports to a news organization on an on-going basis but is paid individually for each piece of published or broadcast work....
for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a United Kingdom newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun ....
, Daily Mirror, and Daily Express
Daily Express

The Daily Express is a conservative, United Kingdom tabloid newspaper, in its heyday a middle-market title but nowadays very much downmarket....
national newspapers. Having married once, producing two children, it was while working as a deputy editor on one of the local newspapers that Gemmell met his second wife, Stella, who joined the publication as a junior reporter. The couple made their home in Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom on the coast of East Sussex in England. It includes originally separate settlements, as well as the inevitable growth of the town through the building of new estates....
on the south-east coast of England

England

Socialism

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or Egalitarianism method of compensation....
family, Gemmell carried banners and campaigned for eventual Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Left-wing politics in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently organised again....
Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the head of government Her Majesty's Government....
Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, Order of the Garter, Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council was one of the most prominent British politicians of the later half of the 20th century....
in the 1960s, nevertheless admitting a grudging alignment with Thatcherite

Thatcherism

Thatcherism is the "distinctive ideology, political style and programme of polices of the British Conservative Party after Margaret Thatcher was elected leader in 1975"....
policies on issues of foreign policy, especially the Falklands Conflict

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict/Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands....
, and with Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
ite views on East

Eastern world

The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, society and philosophy systems of "the East", namely Asia and Eastern Europe ....
-West

Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
relations.

Gemmell first attempted writing a novel in the 1970s, but The Man from Miami failed to find a publisher. He later admitted that the book "was so bad it could curdle milk at 50 paces.” In 1976, after being diagnosed with a cancer he believed to be terminal, he wrote The Siege of Dros Delnoch in order to take his mind off his illness and to realise his ambition of having a novel published before he died. Written in two weeks, the novel told of a siege

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by Battle of attrition and/or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit." A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a coup de main and refuses to surrender ....
resisted against overwhelming odds, at the time serving as a metaphor for his illness; the fortress at the center of the tale was Gemmell, the invaders were his cancer. Leaving the ending of the novel open, he planned to let the fortress stand or fall dependent upon his own prognosis. When Gemmell later learned that he had suffered a misdiagnosis, he set The Siege of Dros Delnoch to one side until 1980, when a friend read the manuscript and convinced Gemmell to sharpen up the novel in order to make one last attempt at publication. It was accepted in 1982 and published in 1984 under the new title, Legend
Legend (novel)

Legend, published in 1984, is the first and most famous novel of United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. It established him as a major fantasy novelist and created the character of Druss, who would appear in several subsequent books....
, going on to achieve considerable commercial success. Gemmell said that while it had "all the flaws you expect in a first novel", the writing of Legend was "a golden time" in his life, citing it as the favourite of all his novels. He said that while he could "write it better" after becoming an established author, "[its heart] wouldn't be bettered by improving its style." Gemmell's journalism career overlapped with his career writing novels until the publication of his third novel Waylander
Waylander (novel)

Waylander, published in 1986, is a novel by United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. It is the first of three Waylander stories and was followed by Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf....
in 1986, when he was fired after using colleagues' names for characters in the book. Gemmell later said that his Managing Director had regarded it "a poisonous attack on his integrity."

Writing career and later life

After the publication of Waylander, Gemmell became an author full-time, writing over thirty novels in total, some as part of long-running series, others as standalone works. Most of his novels were in the heroic fantasy

Heroic fantasy

Pseudonym

A pseudonym, , is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name. In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because it is part of a cultural or organizational tradition, as in the case of Religious names used by members of some religious orders and "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin....
Ross Harding, and was Gemmell's only novel not to become a bestseller. His last three novels were historical fiction

Historical fiction

Historical fiction is a sub-genre of fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, nominally attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time presented in the story, with due attention paid to period...
. Up until his death, Gemmell was also patron of the Hastings Writers' Group

Hastings Writers' Group

Hastings Writers' Group is an organisation for published and aspiring writers based in Hastings, East Sussex. It was established in 1947, and is one of the longest-running writers' groups in the United Kingdom....
, following founder member Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson

Dame Catherine Ann Cookson Order of the British Empire was an England author. Cookson became the United Kingdom's most widely read novelist, while remaining a relatively low-profile figure in the world of celebrity writers....
. As patron, he was the main judge in the national literary competition run by the group, the Legend Writing Award, which was named after his breakthrough novel. Gemmell's books have sold more than one million copies. In October 2007, it was revealed that the prologue to Gemmell's Dark Prince was copied by Mary Kellis (under the pen name "Lanaia Lee") without attribution, in the as-yet-unpublished Of Atlantis. Two of Gemmell's novels have also been adapted into graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic book series ....
format.

Gemmell preferring to go to bed late, with his wife favouring an early start, on July 28th, 2006 she was surprised to wake up to discover the bed empty. “I thought, ‘Oh good, he must be working’, and went to take him a cup of tea in his study.” Finding him slumped over his desk, she "hoped he was asleep but I knew, really, that he was dead.”

— Gemmell's wife recalls his death

In mid-2006, Gemmell was on a trip to Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
when he became discomforted. Immediately travelling back to the UK, he underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery

Coronary artery bypass surgery

Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgery performed to relieve Angina pectoris and reduce the risk of death from Coronary heart disease....
in a private London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
hospital. Within two days he was able to take physical exercise and returned home to resume work on his latest novel. On the morning of July 28, 2006, four days before his 58th birthday, Gemmell's wife Stella discovered him slumped over his computer, the author having died of coronary artery disease

Coronary heart disease

Coronary artery disease is the end result of the accumulation of atheroma within the walls of the Coronary circulation that supply the myocardium with oxygen and nutrients....
. At the time of his death, Gemmell was writing the final novel in an alternate-history trilogy based upon the legend of the siege of Troy

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
, having completed 70,000 words. Only hours after his death, Gemmell's wife Stella resolved to complete the second half of the novel based upon his chapter plan and notes, contacting Gemmell's publisher two weeks after his funeral in order to make the offer. As a former junior reporter, aspiring novellist and subeditor, and having been involved in Gemmell's writing process for a number of years, Stella Gemmell felt she was "the only one who could do it." Preparing for the task, she reread her husband's previous work, deconstructing the battle scenes in order to build her own. Troy: Fall of Kings was published in 2007 under the joint authorship of David and Stella Gemmell.

Influences, themes and criticism

" The Alamo had a big effect on me when I first read about it. Unfortunately I now know the truth about the Alamo… The Alamo is a consistent story of cock-up after cock-up. Nobody there expected to die. I'm not saying they weren't very brave men. But the whole thing was mismanaged to the point of ineptness... I don't like to believe that, but it's the reality of life, so perhaps I shouldn't have studied the Alamo. Legend is the Alamo spirit - or what should have been that spirit."

— David Gemmell on the influence of The Alamo

Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo is the most famous battle of the Texas Revolution. After a revolutionary army of Texian settlers and adventurers from the United States drove all Mexican troops out of Mexican Texas, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led an invasion to regain control of the area....

Originally intending to be a historical novelist, Gemmell was intrigued by events which ended badly for the protagonists. Citing the Battle of the Alamo

Battle of the Alamo

William Wallace

William Wallace was a Scotland knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and regarded as a patriot and national hero....
as influences, he said that had he written about the 13th century Scottish revolutionary, he would have found a way in which he was ultimately victorious despite the odds, eventually realising this kind of storytelling would be more palatable in a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
setting. Gemmell's work typically deals with themes of honour and loyalty, advancing age, lost causes and the possibility of redemption for even the most corrupt (he was interested in the "true nature" of heroes, considering most to be unreliably so). The consistent presence of redemption in Gemmell's work reflected his Christian beliefs. He claimed that all of his novels have a religious basis, calling them "essentially Christian books" and saying that Christianity stopped him from "promoting the cause of evil" by writing "mindless savagery" in the vein of George G. Gilman

Terry Harknett

Terry Harknett is a British author, born 1936 in Essex. He is author of almost 200 books, mostly Mass market paperback novels in the western and crime fiction genres....
's Edge westerns. Propelled by often didactic writing, his work typically features a charismatic warrior tortured by loss and self-doubt, who bands together with a group of unlikely companions in order to defeat a dark enemy, usually aided by mystical forces. While all his novels are violent, successes are often Pyrrhic

Pyrrhic victory

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor....
and the villains complex. Gemmell credited his time as a journalist for providing him with his pacey, succinct style, though critics labelled his work "macho

Machismo

Machismo is a prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism....
" and would often cite his limited vocabulary and the repetitive nature of his stories. Violent events usually provide the sole impetus for plot development, and are resolved by physical violence or heroics. Known for his strong characterisation, he attributed this to his tendency to draw from real life; having been acquainted with violent men, he understood and enjoyed writing them. Gemmell based the hero from his novel Legend on his stepfather Bill Woodford, calling men like him "…the havens, the safe harbours of childhood. They are the watch hounds who keep the wolves at bay." Bill reappeared in many of Gemmell's subsequent novels, in many different forms. When Bill died during the writing of Ravenheart, as a tribute Gemmell reworked the novel to give the "Bill" character centre stage.

Works

Fantasy fiction

Drenai Series
Drenai Series

The Drenai Series is a Fantasy_fiction series written by David Gemmell. The series is about the history of the Drenai Nation and follows various heroes through the ages of its history....

Legend
Legend (novel)

Legend, published in 1984, is the first and most famous novel of United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. It established him as a major fantasy novelist and created the character of Druss, who would appear in several subsequent books....
(1984) (Originally published in the USA as Against the Horde, re-released as Legend)
The King Beyond the Gate
The King Beyond the Gate

The King Beyond The Gate is a fantasy novel by David Gemmell. It was published in 1985. It was the second book published by Gemmell, after Legend , published a year earlier....
(1985)
Waylander (1986)
Quest for Lost Heroes (1990)
Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf
Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf

Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf published in is a novel in the Drenai series of United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. While the novels of the series are all based in the same universe, most of them can not be described as direct sequels with some novels having as much as 1000 years between them....
(1992)
The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend

The fictional character Druss the Legend is the creation of British fantasy author David Gemmell. Druss is a recurring character in Gemmell's top-selling Drenai Series....
(1993)
The Legend of Deathwalker (1996)
Winter Warriors (1997)
Hero in the Shadows (2000)
White Wolf (2003)
The Swords of Night and Day
The Swords of Night and Day

The Swords of Night and Day is a fantasy novel by David Gemmell, as well as a pair of legendary swords within the book. They also appear in Gemmell's book White Wolf....
(2004)

Anthologies:

Drenai Tales Volume I: contains; Legend, The King Beyond the Gate and Waylander
Drenai Tales Volume II: contains; Quest for Lost Heroes, Waylander II and The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
Drenai Tales Volume III: contains; The Legend of the Deathwalker, Winter Warriors and Hero in the Shadows

Rigante series

Sword in the Storm (1999)
Midnight Falcon (2000)
Ravenheart (2001)
Stormrider
Stormrider

Stormrider is a fantasy novel by the author David Gemmell published in 2002. It is the fourth and last novel in the Rigante series....
(2002)

Stones Of Power/Sipstrassi tales

This series is known by several names. The entire series deals with the Stones of Power, also known as the Sipstrassi. The first two books contain a re-imaging of the Arthurian legend. The last three novels involve the protagonist Jon Shannow. The first four novels were published in an omnibus edition as Stones of Power: A Sipstrassi Omnibus in 1992.

Ghost King (1988)
Last Sword of Power (1988)

Jon Shannow

Wolf in Shadow (1987) (first published as The Jerusalem Man)
The Last Guardian (1989)
Bloodstone (1994)

Omnibus: The Complete Chronicles of the Jerusalem Man (1995)

Hawk Queen series

Ironhand's Daughter (1995)
The Hawk Eternal
The Hawk Eternal

The Hawk Eternal is the 1995 fantasy novel sequel to Ironhand's Daughter written by David Gemmell and features the second appearance of his Heroine - Sigarni - The Hawk Queen....
(1995)

Individual fantasy titles

Knights of Dark Renown (1989)
Morningstar (1992)
Dark Moon
Dark Moon (novel)

Dark Moon is a fantasy novel written by David Gemmell....
(1997)
Echoes of the Great Song
Echoes of the great song

Echoes of the Great Song is a fantasy novel written by David Gemmell....
(2002)
The Lost Crown (1989) - 0-09-173942-X

Historical fiction

Troy series

Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow (2005)
Troy: Shield of Thunder
Troy: Shield of Thunder

Troy: Shield of Thunder is a 2006 novel by British fantasy writer David Gemmell, forming the second part of his Troy Series trilogy.This novel was released Posthumous work in September 2006, following Gemmell's death in July of the same year....
(2006)
Troy: Fall of Kings
Troy: Fall of Kings

Troy: Fall of Kings is a historical fantasy novel by British fantasy writer David Gemmell, forming the final part of the Troy Series.It was finished by his wife, Stella Gemmell, following his death on July 28 2006 and released under the joint authorship of David and Stella Gemmell....
(2007)

Greek series

Lion of Macedon
Lion of Macedon

Lion Of Macedon is a historic fantasy novel written by English author David Gemmell. It is the first of two books following the character Parmenion....
(1990)
Dark Prince (1991)

It should be noted that in official printings, these two books are grouped with the "Stones of Power" series and contain some of the same characters and assumptions on how the world works.

Non-fantasy

White Knight, Black Swan (1993) (under the pseudonym Ross Harding)

Graphic novels

Both Legend
Legend (novel)

Legend, published in 1984, is the first and most famous novel of United Kingdom fantasy writer David Gemmell. It established him as a major fantasy novelist and created the character of Druss, who would appear in several subsequent books....
(1993) and Wolf in Shadow (1994) have also been released as graphic novels, with text by Stan Nicholls and artwork by Fangorn.

External links

- Instigated by friends and professional colleagues to celebrate David’s life and literary legacy. - A Guide to the Drenai Saga - Wolfshead - A Fansite to all things Gemmell - This is the Official French site about Troy written by David Gemmell

David Gemmell

Early life

Writing career and later life

Influences, themes and criticism

Works

Fantasy fiction

Drenai SeriesDrenai SeriesThe Drenai Series is a Fantasy_fiction series written by David Gemmell. The series is about the history of the Drenai Nation and follows various heroes through the ages of its history....

Rigante series

Stones Of Power/Sipstrassi tales

Jon Shannow

Hawk Queen series

Individual fantasy titles

Historical fiction

Troy series

Greek series

Non-fantasy

Graphic novels

External links

Drenai Series
Drenai Series

The Drenai Series is a Fantasy_fiction series written by David Gemmell. The series is about the history of the Drenai Nation and follows various heroes through the ages of its history....