Graham McNeill, is this year's winner of the David Gemmell Legend Award for his Time of Legends novel, Empire. On Friday, at the Magic Circle Headquarters in London, authors and industry professionals gathered for the awards ceremony, which was to celebrate the importance of fantasy fiction, and promote the genre.

There were three categories: best novel, best cover art, and best newcomer. The novel shortlist included many popular writers, such as Robert Jordan and Joe Abercrombie, but it was Graham who came out top of the fan-voted poll.



As winner, he received a replica Snaga, a large axe featured in the novels of David Gemmell.

George Mann, publisher of Black Library, told SFcrowsnest, "We are delighted for Graham – not only is this a wonderful acknowledgement of a fine writer, but it is an important victory for franchise fiction, which is often overlooked by the wider genre community."