Raised alone by his mother until the age of 6, he experienced a harsh upbringing in a tough urban area, suffering bullying and taunts from his peers, partly due to the absence of his father,[1] and often sustained serious injuries through fighting.

Preferring reading books to fighting, he was compelled to take up boxing by his stepfather, who insisted he learn how to stand up for himself without "hiding behind walls or running away"; this philosophy informed much of Gemmell's later writing.

[4] Gemmell went on to work as a labourer, a lorry-driver's mate, and a nightclub bouncer before his mother set up a job interview with a local newspaper.

"[3][5] In 1976, after being diagnosed with a cancer he believed to be terminal, he wrote The Siege of Dros Delnoch in order to take his mind off his illness and to realise his ambition of having a novel published before he died.

[6] Written in two weeks, the novel told of a siege resisted against overwhelming odds, at the time serving as a metaphor for his illness; the fortress at the center of the tale was Gemmell, the invaders were his cancer.

"[7] After the publication of Waylander, Gemmell became an author full-time, writing over thirty novels in total, some as part of long-running series, others as standalone works.

[6] On the morning of 28 July 2006, four days before his 58th birthday, Gemmell was discovered by his wife, slumped over his computer, having died of coronary artery disease.

As patron, he was the main judge in the national literary competition run by the group, the Legend Writing Award, which was named after his breakthrough novel.

[2] Gemmell's work typically deals with themes of honour and loyalty, advancing age, lost causes and the possibility of redemption for even the most corrupt (he was interested in the "true nature" of heroes, considering most to be unreliably so).

[2] Often didactic, his work typically features a charismatic warrior tortured by loss and self-doubt, who bands together with a group of unlikely companions in order to defeat a dark enemy, usually aided by mystical forces.

Gemmell credited his time as a journalist with providing him with his pacey, succinct style, although critics labelled his work "macho" and would often cite his limited vocabulary and the repetitive nature of his stories.

Gemmell, known for his strong characterisation, attributed this to his tendency to draw from real life; having been acquainted with violent men, he understood and enjoyed writing them.

[5][6] Gemmell based the hero from his novel Legend on his stepfather Bill Woodford, calling men like him "…the havens, the safe harbours of childhood.

References to John Wayne movies are also found throughout the first two books in the Rigante series, Sword in the Storm and even more-so in Midnight Falcon, where his main character Bane, is a gladiator.

In official printings, these two books (Lion of Macedon, Dark Prince) are grouped with the "Stones of Power" series and contain some of the same characters and assumptions on how the world works.