{"id":6157,"date":"2011-06-13T06:30:07","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T18:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=6157"},"modified":"2011-06-12T23:02:32","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T11:02:32","slug":"award-watch-the-gemmell-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2011\/06\/13\/award-watch-the-gemmell-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Award Watch: The Gemmell Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the excitement of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2011 and the fun of attending the ceremony<\/a> now behind me, and final voting for the Hugo Awards<\/strong><\/a> not until 31 July (still got time to finish Gathering<\/strong><\/em>, read all the Hugo fiction contenders and <\/em>blog about them—phew!) I thought it could be time to take a look at a few of the other awards currently “in train” out there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I am particularly interested in the Gemmell Awards<\/a> for two reasons. Firstly, I am\u00a0 a long time fan of David Gemmell<\/a>, particularly his early novels such as Legend<\/strong><\/em>, Waylander <\/strong><\/em>and <\/strong>The King Beyond the Gate<\/strong><\/em>, and later works influenced by legendary history such as the Lion of Macedon <\/strong><\/em>and Dark Prince<\/strong><\/em> duology. I think it would be fair to say that David Gemmell was a huge influence on my own love of epic fantasy—although I believe, officially, his work is often referred to as “heroic fantasy.”\u00a0 Epic, heroic … I must admit, for me the categories have a very strong overlap.<\/p>\n

At any rate, as a longtime fan of his works (I think The King Beyond the Gate<\/em> might just be my favourite, although I very much liked his take on the strategos, Parmenion, in Lion of Macedon<\/em>) I think it is very cool that part of his legacy is an award series that is specifically focused on Fantasy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are three categories of award by the way, each one named after one of David Gemmell’s books:<\/p>\n