At the time of his death, Gemmell had completed 70,000 words of the final novel in his Troy series, an alternative-history trilogy based upon the legend of the siege of Troy. Only hours after his death, Gemmell's wife Stella resolved to complete the second half of the novel based upon his chapter plan and notes, and she contacted Gemmell's publisher two weeks after his funeral in order to make the offer. As a former junior reporter, aspiring novelist, and subeditor, and having been involved in Gemmell's writing process for a number of years, Stella Gemmell felt she was "the only one who could do it." Preparing for the task, she reread her husband's previous work, deconstructing the battle scenes in order to build her own. "Troy: Fall of Kings" was published in 2007 under the joint authorship of David and Stella Gemmell.