I'm halfway through reading David Gemmell's Fall of Kings, the final book and his final book in the Troy Trilogy. Unfortunately David died a couple of years back. He is my favourite author, and Legend was the first book I really loved and I've read it over half a dozen times in my life. Ironically the book is about a siege and a hero coming out of retirement one last time. Fall of Kings is building up to the siege of Troy and is ironic that David's first and last stories should be about sieges.
David Gemmell inspires me, he discusses the greyness of good and evil and the fact that often bad people are only bad through circumstance or from the perception of others and good people are often not what they are perceived to be. He is a great writer and I will sorely miss his writing. I can honestly say that his work has helped support me through my life, sometimes I often would think what would X do in this situation and apply it to my issues. David's stories are about honour, values and support, they are about doing the right thing - even if the right thing is not necessarily going to be the best outcome for you but a great help for others...
Are there any books that anyone on here has found life changing and inspirational throughout their own life?
David Gemmell is one of my all time favourite authors and he's defintely an influence on how I write.
Legend of Deathwalker was the first of his I read, followed by the Jerusalem Man trilogy. I'm about 3 or 4 books away from owning all of his novels.
Other ones that fired my imagination:
Redwall by Brian Jacques. Read that while under 10, loved every page and have re-read it many times. Definite through line from the Redwall books to my love of Gemmell.
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov. It was my first Asimov short story collection and it completely blew me away. Bicentennial Man remains my favourite short story ever - which is why I refuse to watch the film, nothing I hear makes me want to see it.
Preacher - Ennis and Dillon. It was the first comic that made my mouth drop open, and the first to fire the idea that there could be something exciting both in reading and writing comics.
Travels by Michael Crichton. Was a good read about a mid-life crisis and inspired two of my friends, one to swim with sharks and the other to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Inspired me to watch ER for a few series too.
Iron in the Soul trilogy and the complete works of P K Dick dont ask me to chose
Huffworm