The David Gemmell Legend Award (DGLA) Steering Group has announced the formation of the David Gemmell Legend Award, which will be given (for the first time, in 2009) to “the best Fantasy novel of 2008. The award will be given to a work written in the ‘spirit’ of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy.” Following nominations, voting to create the shortlist will be open to anyone, but nominators who register and post in their forums will be entered to win copies of all the books on the shortlist. Voting will open 26 December 2008. See gemmellaward.ning.com for more information.
Gemmell (1948-2006) started his professional life as a journalist and newspaper editor, before turning to fiction. His first published novel, Legend appeared in 1984. It was written as an allegory to his battle with cancer (which, it turned out, he didn’t have; he was misdiagnosed in 1976). Legend was the first of his 11-volume Drenai Series. He wrote more than 30 novels (see this page for a full bibliography).