BLOOD KING The Goths followed a bloodthirsty new leader, one who sought to open the Gates of Hell: Wotan. His immortal power stemmed from human sacrifice and dark sorcery, and no sword could touch him. He rode the winds on a leather-winged steed, while his armies cut a deadly swath across the northern kingdoms. Even death's icy hand could not stop them. Only Uther Pendragon could save Britannia. To do so he must wield his birthright--Cunobelin's blade, the legendary Sword of Power. But Uther was chained in Hell, the sword lost in swirling Chaos. All hope lay with the warrior known as Revelation, with the magic of the Sipstrassi Stones, and with Anduine, a blind girl possessed of arcane powers. Only if these unlikely allies united could they hope to stop the invincible foe before the world plunged into darkness. David Gemmell is so committed to his work that he's offered to leap naked out of an airplane if it would appeal to readers. We haven't taken him up on the offer. However, David has also acknowledged that three of his major influences were Louis Lamour, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Stan Lee. Tolkien wrote back, Lamour passed away before David had any opportunity to contact him, and Stan Lee lived thousands of miles away from David's British home. One out of three wasn't bad, but it could be improved upon. We were at the San Diego ComicCon, rustling up new readers, and David had just finished a two-hour continuous signing. A friend of mine spotted a familiar face, so I excused myself and darted away, returning a few moments later to say, "David Gemmell, I'd like you to meet Stan Lee." A tall, ruddy, and normally poised individual, David was struck speechless. Here was the man who, through his Marvel Comics stories, had reinvented the relationship between heroes and villains, forever blurring the barriers between good and evil. Before long the two fantasists were chatting away happily. Stan's wife, Joan, being British, was especially gracious to the London-born Gemmell. And Stan quickly demanded an autographed copy of LEGEND. David's a dynamic storyteller. His lands live and breathe. His heroes are mighty swordsmen, ax-wielders, and post-apocalyptic adventurers. In their prime they were the best in the business, but in David's tales, they've often passed their prime, so all they really want is peace and quiet. But life (and the author) aren't that kind, and these heroes are forced out of retirement, forced to face bloody hordes of the undead, armies from Hell. Worse, his heroes are generally saddled with young, green heroes. (Nothing drives you crazy more than a cocky kid.) But they overcome, and the cocky kids become heroes, too. This is great reading. --Steve Saffel, Senior Editor t;br>The Goths followed a bloodthirsty new leader, one who sought to open the Gates of Hell: Wotan. His immortal power stemmed from human sacrifice and dark sorcery, and no sword could touch him. He rode the winds on a leather-winged steed, while his armies cut a deadly swath across the northern kingdoms. Even death's icy hand could not stop them. Only Uther Pendragon could save Britannia. To do so he must wield his birthright--Cunobelin's blade, the legendary Sword of Power. But Uther was chained in Hell, the sword lost in swirling Chaos. All hope lay with the warrior known as Revelation, with the magic of the Sipstrassi Stones, and with Anduine, a blind girl possessed of arcane powers. Only if these unlikely allies united could they hope to stop the invincible foe before the world plunged into darkness. BLOOD KING The Goths followed a bloodthirsty new leader, one who sought to open the Gates of Hell: Wotan. His immortal power stemmed from human sacrifice and dark sorcery, and no sword could touch him. He rode the winds on a leather-winged steed, while his armies cut a deadly swath across the northern kingdoms. Even death's icy hand could not stop them. Only Uther Pendragon could save Britannia. To do so he must wield his birthright--Cunobelin's blade, the legendary Sword of Power. But Uther was chained in Hell, the sword lost in swirling Chaos. All hope lay with the warrior known as Revelation, with the magic of the Sipstrassi Stones, and with Anduine, a blind girl possessed of arcane powers. Only if these unlikely allies united could they hope to stop the invincible foe before the world plunged into darkness. David Gemmell was born in London, England, in the summer of 1948. Expelled from school at sixteen for organizing a gambling syndicate, he became a laborer by day, and at night his six-foot-four-inch, 230-pound frame allowed him to earn extra money as a bouncer working nightclubs in Soho. Born with a silver tongue, Gemmell rarely needed to bounce customers, relying on his gift of gab to talk his way out of trouble. At eighteen this gift led to a job as a trainee journalist, and he eventually worked as a freelancer for the London Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, and Daily Express. His first novel, Legend, was published in 1984