David Gemmel, a Tribute.
September 22nd 2006 00:10
It bums me that I completely missed the actual day this happened. Gemmel is one of my favourite authors (I believe that to a great degree that every author lives on through his works and while they are still read, that they are, to a degree, still with us) for a few simple reasons.
The first is that he had so little education. He was expelled from high school for running a gambling syndicate. To me, that speaks volumes about a very creative intellect, someone that looks for interesting alternatives. He held two jobs, a labourer by day and bouncer by night and still found the time to pursue a career in journalism. Personally, I find it hard to juggle my job (I work throughout the day selling cameras and computers), a social life (including time spent with girlfriend), time at church (I go about three times a week), and time fulfilling my obligations around the house. I also struggle to find time to relax but this guy managed to produce amazing work (Lets face it, Legend is brilliant) while working harder that most of us ever will.
The second reason is the way he wrote. He was among those that called his plots very simplistic and they were. But the people in his books were written as real people. Grymauch, Druss, and Rek, were all based on real people. In the case of the first two, both were based on his step-father, a man he clearly admired hugely. Reading them is like looking at a portrait, except what he has painted is the spirit of the man.
I guess that is really all I have to say. David Gemmel was an author who taught me that most of any good book isn’t in the plot, or how well the descriptions of places are written. It’s in the people.
The first is that he had so little education. He was expelled from high school for running a gambling syndicate. To me, that speaks volumes about a very creative intellect, someone that looks for interesting alternatives. He held two jobs, a labourer by day and bouncer by night and still found the time to pursue a career in journalism. Personally, I find it hard to juggle my job (I work throughout the day selling cameras and computers), a social life (including time spent with girlfriend), time at church (I go about three times a week), and time fulfilling my obligations around the house. I also struggle to find time to relax but this guy managed to produce amazing work (Lets face it, Legend is brilliant) while working harder that most of us ever will.
The second reason is the way he wrote. He was among those that called his plots very simplistic and they were. But the people in his books were written as real people. Grymauch, Druss, and Rek, were all based on real people. In the case of the first two, both were based on his step-father, a man he clearly admired hugely. Reading them is like looking at a portrait, except what he has painted is the spirit of the man.
I guess that is really all I have to say. David Gemmel was an author who taught me that most of any good book isn’t in the plot, or how well the descriptions of places are written. It’s in the people.
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