Not Yet Legend… ;-)
The David Gemmell Awards were announced on the evening of Thursday 31, on the opening night of the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton — and The Gathering Of The Lost did not, alas, take home the axe…
That honor, and the Legend Award, went to US Fantasy novelist Brent Weeks for The Blinding Knife (Orbit) — so first and foremost, congratulations, Brett!
If you’d like to read the official announcement, it’s here, and you can also read Brent’s finalist’s interview, here.
So, was I disappointed? Just a little, of course, because being human, hope springs eternal — but to be honest, my expectations of winning were never that high, given I was a new and building author up against several more established names. And even if I had cherished greater hopes, I think the viewing stats on the finalists’ interviews made it fairly clear that — if bets were being taken — Brent should be the bookies’ย favourite. ๐
As I said last Monday in “Adding To The Epic Conversation”, even having been voted onto the final shortlist for the award was absolutely awesome from my point of view. It felt like a real “win” and a tremendous vote of confidence from readers and supporters of the WALL series.
Earlier in the year I featured the AS Byatt wrote:
โThink of this โ that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.โ
So to wrap up my own involvement in this year’s Gemmells’ process, I would really like to thank everyone who has spent that precious time alone with GATHERING and through the book, with me. I am hugely grateful, not only for the support, but because I cannot help feeling that is what an award like the Legend is truly all about: the captains and the kings may depart, the shouting and the tumult die away, but I hope the stories, and the space in which writers and readers meet through their medium, will not only remain, but endure.
—
And on that note, best go and get me some writing in on completing Daughter Of Blood, so we can all be alone together again, only this time within the medium of another book! ๐
Next time…
As a very senior judge in our rock n roll dancing circles aid this year: “anyone who makes a final has already won”.
Keep up the awesome work!!
Robin
Quite an achievement having made the shortlist! And what Robin says. ๐
Thank you both–as I emailed to my UK editor, Jenni Hill, I am a very happy camper–I mean, author!– with my whole part in this year’s Gemmell Awards. ๐