Hello Joe: here we are again! Congratulations.

Thanks.  Pleasure to be here.  Honour to be nominated. 

Please tell us about this year’s nominated novel, Best Served Cold.

In a nutshell, it’s the fast-paced and action-packed story of a very dangerous woman who, betrayed by her employer, sets out to wreak bloody vengeance on him and his henchmen, assisted by a motley crew of poisoners, murderers, mercenaries and thieves against a backdrop of an escalating war between feuding city states.  What’s not to like?

And, of course, Best Served Cold is all about revenge. This wasn’t about last year’s Awards, was it?

Naturally, following my humiliation at last year’s awards my rage knew no bounds.  I sent my Uruk Hai hit squad after Sapkowski but their camper van broke down near the Polish border and they returned in disgrace and I had to burn them.  I’m growing some more in my cellar but, you know, these things take time. 

You have been shortlisted for the DGLA Legend Award in consecutive years . Does that make you feel you have an advantage over ‘the opposition’? After all, you have actually touched Snaga, so to speak, unlike most of the others...

I have indeed, physically touched Snaga and I want one.  I doubt there are many awards where the actual physical prize is a thing that I would want so badly.  But a battle axe of my own?  Come ON.

The other side of that, of course, is that as this is second time around, there may be more to lose. Do you feel more or less nervous this year?

Less nervous, I think, because I feel I’ve got a lot less chance this year.  Last year no one really knew what to expect, and there were no entries from really big, established names.  This year I think the presence of the Wheel of Time will prove decisive, but you never know...

I remember talking to you last year about the untold riches that the nomination would bring – have all your dreams been fulfilled this year? (This might be useful for other nominees and Award Winners...)

My dreams have all come true, though I must admit I hadn’t realised quite how cold the toilet seat carved from a single massive diamond would be when you first sat down on it.  Soon warms up, though.

Unlike last year’s nominee from yourself, Best Served Cold is a standalone novel, at least for now. Was that a refreshing change for you?

Somewhat ... with a standalone you have the advantage that you can write the whole thing then revise and edit it all as one unit, rather than being stuck with whatever you put in the first book of a series once it’s published.  But it was actually quite a difficult book to write.  Since my first three were parts of a series in a way this was my difficult second book, and it was a very different experience coming up with characters and ideas on a schedule, with readers waiting, rather than having years of ideas and musings to draw on.

You’ve spoken on panels a number of times about the Fantasy genre and where they seem to be going. As this is the DGLA Awards, I’m interested in where you currently see the future for Fantasy and the importance of awards such as the DGLA.

 

Phew, I really couldn’t lay claim to being an expert on the breadth of the genre.  I can barely even tell you what I’ll be doing next, let alone what future trends might be, though I’m certainly heartened by what seems like a growth in more unpredictable, morally ambiguous, ‘realistic’ fantasy as that’s generally my taste.  As far as the DGLAs go, I think it’s good that there’s an award that celebrates core epic/heroic fantasy of the kind that David Gemmell himself was so successful at writing, as it tends to be the elephant in the room on a lot of genre shortlists.  I think it’s a good thing that at least one genre award aims unashamedly to include a populist element, and to produce a shortlist that the mass of readers and, dare I say, booksellers can get excited about. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        How aware of David Gemmell’s books were you before you were a professional writer? Have you read many of his books?  Do you have a favourite?

I was very into fantasy as a kid, and read an awful lot up until my late teens, but then largely stopped reading it, which more or less coincided with Gemmell coming up to really carry the flag for British heroic fantasy at a time when it had become largely an American business.  So I must confess that although I was well aware of his existence, I hadn’t read any of his books until relatively recently when I read Legend which is, of course, a classic.

Here’s your last chance to woo voters: what would you like readers to get most from Best Served Cold?

First and foremost I’d like them to be entertained – excited by the action, tickled pink by the humour, intrigued by some unusual characters, surprised by the twists in the tale.  But above all I’d like them to get an insatiable desire to read, or at least to buy, more of my books...