It's always a scary thing to have a household name. Someone who you've never met but whose deeds influence your every day life, in small ways, but ways you remember.
David Gemmell was one of these, I've read most of his books, those I haven't read are currently sitting in my to-read file. He was the first adult fantasy author I'd ever read. Reading through Lion Of Macedon, stolen from my older brother's hoard of books, I realised that I loved fantasy. I love going to a remote world where (to be poetic) imagination and the sword rule the day! However, it wasn't as simple as that! David Gemmell introduced me to characters like Druss, Waylander and Jon Shannow (Waylander being by far my favourite). These were ... to *attempt* to describe them, the kind of old western heroes you used to come across, tortured by their past, harsh and unforgiving, a lot of the time thinking "what the *fuck* am I doing here?!!", gritty! He had the clean cut characters, who were doing it for greater glory...these he generally tore down and made dirty, that or they were pricks! What I'm saying is, although he introduced me to fantasy, he also thought me that fantasy didn't have any rules, that was what was so fantastic about it! You don't need dwarfs, elves or dragons for a fantasy novel (though they do make some great additions) you just need to be able to follow your imagination wherever it will go.
He was a great author and had a brilliant imagination, one I'll sorely miss. I'm just happy he let the rest of us come along for the ride.
RIP David Gemmell.
-d
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