David Gemmell

David Gemmell was a bestselling British writer of fantasy and historical fiction.

Gemmell was born and raised in London. He started writing fiction while working as a journalist and published his first novel, Legend, in 1984, which enjoyed considerable commercial success. Following the publication of his third novel, Waylander (1986), he became a full-time author.

Gemmell’s oeuvre consists of over thirty novels, mostly in the heroic fantasy genre. His work includes long-running series, such as Drenai, starting with Legend (1984) and closing with The Swords of Night and Day (2004), as well as standalone novels such as Dark Moon (1996) and Echoes of the Great Song (1997).

At the time of his death in 2006, Gemmell was completing the final part of his alternate-history trilogy about the siege of Troy. His wife Stella finished the manuscript, and Troy: Fall of Kings was published in 2007, under joint authorship of David and Stella Gemmell. His other posthumously published novel, Rhyming Rings, came out in 2017.