The Gemmell Universe

[Phil Keeton]

Often, I read David's books and was left wanting more, and I guess most of you were too. So, where did you want to see the stories go? Which characters did you want another story about? Which tantalising bits of plot left your curiosity piqued but unsatiated?

Are you lost in the Tales of the Drenai..............or a clansman of the Rigante? Did you want more Sipstrassi?

Come and sit around the camp fire and let us exchange stories of our heroes and heroines, their exploits and speculate on their deeds!

[Drenai Twin]

Sorry for the none-Drenai subject (LOL) but I think Dark Moon could have done with a follow up. Three old races none of which was really explored in any great depth.

[Adam Whitehead]

Robert Jordan gave permission before his death for someone else to finish the series and left a series of very, very detailed notes for them to complete the book from, including 50,000 words of his own prose (including the prologue and final chapter). His widow and editor, Harriet, then picked Brandon Sanderson to write the book based on his previous work and his status as a fan of Jordan's work for many years.

With Gemmell the situation is radically different. The Fall of Kings was the book he'd half-finished and left a detailed outline for the remainder of the book when he died, plus he'd spoken to his wife about it in detail, allowing her to finish it. Unless he had other detailed outlines left for other books knocking around, I don't think anyone else should try to write more books based in his worlds.

locke said:

Sounds good! but the twins are new characters, so are fair game. Besides that, apparently another writer (Sanderson) is finishing the wheel of time for Robert Jordan, so why not!? Even if Conn doesn't do it, I think he should drift this way just to satisfy mine, and, his own curiosity!

[finalfunk]

If anyone would be able to do a 'follow-up' or war of the twins story, I feel that it would have to be Stella Gemmell. She ended The Fall of Kings amazingly and I think that she is the only one who knew what David was thinking and David says in a few interviews I have read that she would proof-read his work every day.

I believe I also read somewhere that he began writing on the War of the Twins but the publishers didn't like it. So maybe those words are kicking around somewhere, much like the story of The Hawk, which was also never published, but I have had the pleasure of reading the first few chapters.

[Ward Booth]

I really hoped to get a book about Karnak One Eye. Even Druss agreed he was a Legend. It would have been interesting to see what his feats were when compared to what Druss had accomplished in his life time.

David usually wrote about 'good' characters. Admittedly some started out a little shaky (Skilgannon) but you could justify their actions when you knew what motivated them. Bardan the Slayer is one character I would have loved to know more about. We all knew he was a tyrant but finding out how he became so hated would have been an enjoyable read.

[drosdelnoch]

Ah well what we do know of Karnak is that a tale never loses anything in the telling so whilst he did have bravery in spades, it was all calculated to a certain degree and anyone who threatened him tended to have nasty accidents. History, as they say, is written by the victors. So I'm pretty sure that Karnak had a sychophant on hand to write it all down for him.

[JOE CRAWFORD]

Hello Adam!
Stella indeed did a smashup job on the Fall of Kings. But she was very involved in the project long before Davids demise. Also, historical fiction is drastically different from heroic fantasy- especially where creativity comes in. Any attempt to follow David s lead in the Rigante or Druss or Skilgannon tales should be done with a degree of trepidation! A very slippery slope! Thats not to say one should not try- by all means lead on! But rejection by the readers is always likely due to inevitable changes in direction and execution. As Gareth will attest, the path is not an easy one.

[JOE CRAWFORD]

So you are correct as far as i am concerned, i would be leery of a follow up.