Just a reminder to those of you who are interested but haven’t yet voted, that the deadline to cast your ballots for the David Gemmell Awards is midnight, Friday, July 17.
There are three awards, the Legend (best novel), the Morningstar (best first novel), and the Ravenheart (best cover illustration). That’s the trophy for the Legend Award there on the right. It’s a life size model of the axe Snaga. How cool is that?
Anyway, you’ve only got a couple of days left if you haven’t voted and want to.
I voted, and it had been a little while since I had checked – there were a few books I thought would be there that weren’t – meaning I thought I was going to have a harder time with my choices – but out of the five each, it wasn’t too difficult.
I’m currently partway through both City of Stairs and Swords of Good Men and I thought they would be in the running.
I just voted. There were several I also expected to make the final ballot. Swords of Good Men being one of them. The Blasted Lands being another, for both the novel and the cover art. I haven’t read City of Stairs. There was one I’ll not name publicly that I was surprised was on the ballot that I hope doesn’t win. From what I know of this particular author and what I know of Gemmell, they couldn’t be more different in their philosophies and world views.
Looking at the list, it seems to me that the books that made the final ballot had the most aggressive publicity campaigns. This being essentially a popularity award (there is nothing wrong with that), that’s probably to be expected. People can’t vote for what they haven’t read, and they can’t read what they haven’t heard of.
I don’t think Swords of Good Men got much push here in the US. Same with City of Stairs. I recognize the name but couldn’t tell you what the storyline is or even who the author is. (I’m gonna give it a look-see on your recommendation.) Of course, this is an international level award, unlike some that bill themselves as such but are mostly limited to the US and maybe Canada and the UK. It’s the books with good international push that are most likely to make the final ballot.
Hmm, I’ve written enough here that I think I’ll stop. Otherwise I might commit Blog Post in the comments.