Sunday, 20 June 2010

The David Gemmell Legend Award 2010

I attended the second David Gemmell Awards on Friday night. As last year, the event was held at the Magic Circle in London and there was a good attendance, if slightly down on last year for some reason (possibly related to the England-Algeria World Cup match). As with last year (when Andrzej Sapkowski won for Blood of Elves), the winner was highly unexpected.

This year there were three awards. The big one was the Legend Award for Best Novel, which went to Graham McNeill's Empire, a Warhammer fantasy novel. Graham is one of the franchise's most-respected and popular authors (arguably it's biggest author after Dan Abnett), and was taken aback by his victory. He beat out Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, Brandon Sanderson for Warbreaker and (with the late Robert Jordan) The Gathering Storm and Pierre Pevel for The Cardinal's Blades.

However, there were consolation prizes. Pierre Pevel took home the Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer for The Cardinal's Blades, whilst Joe and the Gollancz art team accepted the Ravenheart Award for Best Cover Art for Best Served Cold.

There were 15,000 votes in total, up 50% on last year, with most votes coming from the USA and UK. People from over 90 countries voted.
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5 comments:

  1. David Wagner20 June 2010 at 21:48:00 GMT

    Thanks for the update. Surprised at the winner... I may have to track down that book...

    On a side note, I recently picked up a paperback copy of Red Wolf Conspiracy (Redick) and started reading it... I was surprised (though I don't know why I should have been) to see you quoted in the front, along with the rest of the important literary people heaping accolades on the book. I saw "The Wertzone" and I said, "Hey! I read that blog! Cool" It must be pretty cool to be quoted like that.

    Cheers.

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  2. Adam Whitehead20 June 2010 at 23:03:00 GMT

    Really? I have an ARC but not a final copy. That's cool, and only the second time I think I've had a review quoted on a book.

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  3. David Wagner21 June 2010 at 00:13:00 GMT

    "An extremely enjoyable epic fantasy tale set in a vivid, constantly inventive world." -- The Wertzone

    I can scan it and email it to you if you wish...

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  4. Anonymous21 June 2010 at 15:22:00 GMT

    McNeill's book is actually titled Empire, in the Time of Legends series. It's a direct sequel to Heldenhammer from the same author.

    I didn't enjoy it too much, maybe I was getting fatigued by the author's style and the constant repetition of "the Unberogen" to designate Sigmar. Definitely not his best IMO. Still looking forward to the trilogy's conclusion in God King, coming this winter.

    C.B.

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  5. Adam Whitehead21 June 2010 at 20:34:00 GMT

    ARGH! Quite a few people are doing that, it appears. Title fixed.

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