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George Raymond Richard Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sept 20 1948.
He began writing monster stories as a child, and by high school was contributing
fiction to comic fanzines. His first professional sale, short story ‘The Hero’,
written while he was in college, appeared in Galaxy February 1971. Martin graduated from Northwestern University (BS Journalism 1971, MS 1972).
A conscientious objector, he worked for VISTA at Chicago’s Cook Country Legal
Assistance 1972-4. From 1976-8 he taught journalism at Clarke College, Dubuque,
Iowa, and spent another year there as writer-in-residence 1978-9. He has been a
full-time writer ever since. He was story editor for CBS’s The Twilight Zone series in 1986, and worked as
writer, executive story consultant, producer, co-supervising producer, and
executive producer on Beauty and the Beast from 1987-90. He currently resides in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Martin won his first Hugo for the novella ‘A Song for Lya’ (1974). In 1980 he
won the Nebula and Hugo Awards for novelette ‘Sandkings’, and a Hugo Award for
short story ‘The Way of Cross and Dragon’. Martin won a second Nebula in 1986
for ‘Portraits of His Children’, a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for ‘The Pear-Shaped
Man’, a 1989 World Fantasy Award for novella ‘The Skin Trade’, a 1997 Hugo for
novella ‘Blood of the Dragon’, and is a 10-time Locus Award winner. His novels include Dying of the Light (1977), Windhave (with Lisa Tuttle,
1981), Fevre Dream (1982), The Armageddon Rag (1983), Wild Cards VII: Dead Man’s
Hand (with John J. Miller, 1990), and three novels in A Song of Ice and Fire
sequence: ‘A Game of Thrones’ (1996), ‘A Clash of Kings’ (1998) and ‘A Storm of
Swords’ (2000). He has several short story collections, notably A Song for Lya
and Other Stories (1976), Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977), Sandkings(1981) and
Portraits of His Children (1987), and has edited a number of anthologies,
including volumes for the New Voices in Science Fiction and the Hugo-nominated
Wild Cards series.
A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of
Ice and Fire (commonly abbreviated as ASoIaF)
is a series of epic fantasy novels by American
author George R. R. Martin. According to the author,
the series will consist of seven novels.
Novels and novellas
Four of these novels have been
completed and published:
The remaining three novels are
provisionally titled:
- A Dance with Dragons (no release date set, but it is hoped to be
released in 2007)
- The Winds of Winter
- A Dream of Spring (formerly known as A Time for Wolves)
There are also two prequel
novellas to the series, set roughly 90 years before the novels.
These short stories are
commonly known as "Dunk and Egg" stories (after their protagonists). The
Hedge Knight is also available as a graphic
novel from Dabel Brothers Productions; an
adaptation of The Sworn Sword is forthcoming from the same company. The
author has said that he would like to write a number of these stories (varying
from six to twelve from interview to interview) covering the entire lives of
these two characters. Publication of a third "Dunk and Egg" novella
is provisonally set for 2007.
The series has been placed as
the number 1 rated series at the Internet Book List since a revision of the
rating system in October 2005.[1]
Themes of the novels
The books are known for
complex characters, sudden and often violent plot twists, and intricate
political intrigue. In a genre where magic usually takes center stage, this series
has a reputation for its limited and subtle use of magic, employing it as an
ambiguous and often sinister background force.[2] Finally,
the novels do not (presently) center around a climactic clash between
"Good" and "Evil;" plot lines have revolved primarily around
political infighting and civil war, with only one or two storyline arcs even
suggesting the possibility of an external threat.
The novels are narrated from a very strict third person limited omniscient
perspective, the chapters alternating between different point
of view characters. Martin's treatment of his characters makes them
extremely hard to classify: very few can be labeled as "good" or
"evil". The author also has a
reputation of not being afraid to kill any character, no matter how major.
Storyline overview
A Song of
Ice and Fire is set primarily in the
fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a large, South American-sized continent with an
ancient history stretching back some twelve thousand years. A detailed history
reveals how seven kingdoms came to dominate this continent, and then how these
seven nations were united as one by Aegon the Conqueror, of House
Targaryen. Some 283 years after Aegon's conquest, the Targaryens are
overthrown in a civil war and King Robert Baratheon, backed primarily by his friend
Lord Eddard Stark and foster father Lord Jon
Arryn, takes the Iron Throne. The novels, which begin fifteen years later,
follow the fall-out from this event across three major storylines, set not only
in Westeros but on the eastern continent as well.
The first storyline, set in
the Seven Kingdoms themselves, chronicles a many-sided struggle for the Iron
Throne that develops after King Robert's death. The throne is claimed by his
son Joffrey, supported by his mother's powerful family,
House
Lannister, but Robert's brother Stannis claims (correctly) that Robert's children
are illegitimate, and claims the throne himself, to a less-than-enthusiastic
response. Robert's youngest brother, Renly, also claims the throne with the support of
the extremely powerful House Tyrell. Whilst these three claimants battle for
the throne itself, Robb Stark, Lord Eddard Stark's heir, is proclaimed
King in the North as the northmen and their allies in the Riverlands seek to
break away from the Iron Throne and rule themselves. Similarly, Balon
Greyjoy also claims the throne of his own region, the Iron Islands, and
likewise seeks independence. The War of the Five Kings is the principal
storyline in the second and third novels, with its fall-out and repercussions
affecting much of what follows.
The second storyline is set on
the extreme northern border of Westeros. Here, eight thousand years ago, a huge
wall of ice and gravel was constructed by spells and by hand to defend Westeros
from the threat of 'The Others', a semi-mythical race of ice creatures living
in the uttermost north. The 300-mile-long, 700-foot-tall Wall is defended by
the Sworn Brotherhood of the Night's
Watch, which by the time of the novels is badly under-strength and under
threat by the human 'wildlings' or 'free folk' who live to the north. This
storyline strand follows Jon
Snow, bastard son of Lord
Eddard Stark, as he rises through the ranks of the Watch and learns the
true nature of the threat from the north. By the end of the third volume, this
storyline has become more entangled with the civil war to the south as well.
The third storyline is set on
the huge eastern continent and follows the adventures of Daenerys Targaryen, the last (known) scion of House
Targaryen and another claimant to the Iron Throne. Daenerys's story shows
her growing rise to power, from a near-penniless wanderer to a powerful and
canny ruler who possesses the last living dragons. Though her story is
separated from the others by many thousands of miles, her stated goal is to
reclaim the Iron Throne. Although she is not known to many in Westeros, the
chaos of two civil wars in rapid succession has led to much yearning among the
smallfolk for the days of stability under the Targaryens. Daenerys' storyline
will return her to Westeros before the end of the series.
The eponymous Song of Ice and
Fire is mentioned only once in the series, in a vision Daenerys sees in A
Clash of Kings: "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the
song of ice and fire", spoken by a Targaryen (probably Daenerys's dead
older brother Rhaegar Targaryen) about his infant son named
Aegon. It is implied that there is a connection between the song, the promise,
and Daenerys herself. This is established more clearly in A Feast for Crows,
when Aemon Targaryen identifies Daenerys as the heir that was promised. The
phrase "ice and fire" is also mentioned in the Reeds' oath of loyalty
to Bran in A Clash of Kings. However, the song and the promise are never
mentioned again, and the song itself remains a mystery.
See also: List of characters in A
Song of Ice and Fire
Historical and literary
sources
Numerous parallels have been
seen between the events and characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and
events and people involved in the Wars
of the Roses. Two of the principal families in A Song of Ice and Fire,
the Starks and the Lannisters, are seen as representing the historical House
of York and House of Lancaster, respectively.
A similar reality-inspired
conflict is the succession struggle called the Dance of Dragons between two children Aegon II and
Rhaenyra. A historical struggle (labeled The Anarchy)
between Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, and her cousin Stephen
of Blois, provides the inspiration. Each daughter is announced as her
father's successor, but due to differing reasons, male rivals seize the crown
and are anointed as rulers. During the dynastic struggle, the rival claimants
are deposed and succeeded by the son (Aegon III and Henry II of England respectively) of the
original designated heir. Neither Empress Matilda nor Rhaenyra actually ruled
in their own name.
Martin is an avid student of medieval
Europe, and has said that the Wars of the Roses, along with many other
events in Europe during that time, have influenced the series. However, he
insists that "there's really no one-for-one character-for-character
correspondence. I like to use history to flavor my fantasy, to add texture and
verisimilitude, but simply rewriting history with the names changed has no
appeal for me. I prefer to reimagine it all, and take it in new and unexpected
directions." [3]
Martin has also said the Albigensian Crusades are an influence for the
series.
Origins of the series
Although George RR Martin had
long had a love of model knights and medieval history, his
early novels and short stories mostly fit into the science
fiction genre, although eventually several fantasy stories did appear, such
as Way of the Cross and Dragon and The Ice Dragon. In the
mid-1980s, Martin worked mainly in Hollywood,
principally as a writer or producer on The New Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. After
Beauty and the Beast ended in 1989 Martin returned to writing prose and
started work on a science fiction novel called Avalon. In 1991, whilst
struggling with this story, Martin conceived of a scene where several
youngsters find a dead direwolf with a stag's antler in its throat. The
direwolf has several pups, which are taken by the youngsters to raise as their
own. Martin's imagination was fired by this idea and he developed it into an epic
fantasy story, which he envisaged as a trilogy consisting of the books A
Game of Thrones, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter.
Martin had previously apparently not been inspired by the genre, but reading Tad
Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series had
convinced him it could be approached in a more adult and mature way than
previous authors.
In 1992 he put the book to one
side when one of his TV ideas was picked up by Hollywood, resulting in the
production of a pilot called Doorways. The pilot was not successful and
not picked up for a series.
In 1994 Martin resumed work on
A Game of Thrones and completed it the following year, although he was
only one-third of the way through his initial plan for the first novel. Martin
then expanded the series to four books, and eventually to six. Publication of A
Game of Thrones followed in early 1996. Pre-release publicity included
publication of a 'sample novella' called Blood of the Dragon.
After expanding the series to
four volumes, Martin remarked, "What can I say? It's a BIG story, and a
cast of thousands." [4]
After A Storm of Swords
was completed in 2000, Martin began writing A Dance with Dragons, the
intended fourth volume which would pick up the story five years after the
previous volume. Martin found it difficult to make this work without an
over-reliance on flashbacks. At the World Science Fiction Convention
in Philadelphia
on 1
September 2001,
Martin announced that he was scrapping more than a year's work and writing a
different fourth book that would fill in the gap, named A Feast for Crows.
He found it extremely difficult to go back and start again, especially as this
novel was not planned for in his scheme for the series, and work on the book
progressed slowly.
By May 2005 A Feast for
Crows had become longer than A Storm of Swords and his publishers
said they could not publish the book in one volume. They suggested splitting
the book in two and releasing the volumes as A Feast for Crows, Volume I
and A Feast for Crows, Volume II, but Martin was unhappy with this idea.
After discussing the matter with his publishers and his friend and fellow
writer Daniel Abraham, Martin decided to split the
book by character and location instead. The published A Feast for Crows
thus contained all of the characters in the South of the Seven Kingdoms, whilst
the forthcoming A Dance with Dragons will contain the characters in the
North, the Free Cities and in Slaver's Bay.
In a May 2005 statement, the
author also said that this move now meant that the series would require seven
volumes. Martin recognized that this decision could cause frustration among
some of his fans. He wrote: "I know some of you may be disappointed,
especially when you buy A Feast for Crows and discover that your
favorite character does not appear, but given the realities I think this was
the best solution... and the more I look at it, the more convinced I am that
these two parallel novels, when taken together, will actually tell the story
better than one big book." [5]
Despite the problems, A
Feast for Crows was released in October 2005 and immediately won largely
positive reviews. Time Magazine dubbed Martin, "The American
Tolkien"[3], and the novel went straight to the top of the New
York Times bestseller list.
On January 24, 2006, Martin
updated a statement on his personal site to note that he had completed 542 of
an estimated 1200-1300 manuscript pages for the new book, A Dance with
Dragons. In the same statement, he explains that while the fifth book will
run in a parallel timeline with the fourth, there is nothing to stop the line
from extending further; hinting that if room remains, he will include chapters
for some of the characters left in a cliffhanger-state at the end of the
previous novel. He rounds out his site update by stating, "And before
anyone writes me asking, yes, there is a third Dunk and Egg novella in the
works as well. It's maybe three-quarters done, and sometime soon I want to find
the time to finish that one too." [6]
In a later update, Martin
confirmed that the fifth book will be completed in early 2007 for publication
in late 2007. He lost some time in writing the book due to a demanding
appearances schedule and also due to home renovations.
TV adaptation
Variety reported on January 17th, 2007 that the rights for A
Song of Ice and Fire have been sold to HBO with the intent of
turning the novels into a television series.[7] Written and
executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss,
the series is expected to cover one novel's worth of material per season.
Martin plans to co-executive produce the series and is expected to write one
episode per season. The series will be filmed in Europe or New Zealand.
Spin-offs
In addition to the novels and
novellas, there are number of other products inspired by the series.
Related publications
Some of the novels' chapters
have appeared previously in collected form in other outlets.
- Blood of the Dragon (Asimov’s, July 1996) based on the Daenerys
chapters from A Game of Thrones. Received the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
- Path of the Dragon (Asimov’s, December 2000) based on the
Daenerys chapters from A Storm of Swords.
- Arms of the Kraken (Dragon issue 305, August 2002) based on the
Iron Islands chapters from A Feast for Crows.
A Game of Thrones collectible
card game
Main article: A Game of Thrones collectible
card game
This is a collectible card game (CCG) produced by Fantasy Flight Games. A number of base sets
have been released for the game, each with a number of expansions. The game's
primary designer is Eric Lang and the lead
developer is Nate French. The A
Game of Thrones: Westeros Edition won the Origins
Award for Best Trading Card Game of 2002. The Game of Thrones:
Ice and Fire Edition won the Origins
Award for Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 2003. It is an
ongoing project consisting of five editions and eight expansions to date.
A Game of Thrones Board Game
Main article: A Game of Thrones (board game)
In 2003, Fantasy Flight Games released the A Game of
Thrones strategy board game created by Christian T.
Petersen. The Origins Award-winning game allows the players to take
on the roles of several of the Great Houses vying for control of the Seven
Kingdoms, including House Stark, House Lannister, House Baratheon, House
Greyjoy, House Tyrell, and as of the expansion A Clash of Kings, House
Martell. Players maneuver armies to secure support in the various regions that
comprise the Seven Kingdoms, with the goal of capturing enough support to claim
the Iron Throne. Two expansions for the game, A Clash of Kings and A
Storm of Swords have been released.
A Game of Thrones Roleplaying
Game
Main article: A Game of Thrones (role-playing
game)
The A Game of Thrones
Roleplaying Game (2005), created by the defunct Guardians of Order company and published by White Wolf,
is a roleplaying game using the d20 and the TriStat dX rules systems.
The game consists of a single large, full-colour rulebook featuring information
on role-playing in the Seven Kingdoms and also background information to the
series not found in the novels, including a detailed map of the Seven Kingdoms.
The game was very well-received and was nominated for several awards, but this
was not enough to save its parent company from closure in July 2006.
On 28 July 2006
George R. R. Martin confirmed that
he had received word from the head of Guardians of Order that the company was
folding and that no further releases for the setting would take place. Martin expressed
hope that the game may be salvaged by another company.
The Art of Ice and Fire
This book, published in 2005
by Fantasy Flight Games, contains numerous works of art inspired by the series
from a variety of different artists and illustrators. Some of the art
previously appeared in the card game or on-line, but most of it was new.
Models and figures
In late 2006 the Testor Corporation will begin releasing model
figures based on the series, to be followed by a tactical wargame.
Computer games
No official computer game
based on the series has been made or announced, although according to George RR
Martin there have been occasional inquiries. Several unofficial fan-created mods have been created, however, for games
such as Mount and Blade, Rome:
Total War, and Neverwinter Nights.
The World of Ice and Fire
A companion volume for the
series, provisionally known as a 'world book', is in development by George R.
R. Martin and co-authors Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson, although no
publication date has been announced as yet. García and Antonsson run the
largest A Song of Ice and Fire community on the web and assisted in the
writing of the roleplaying game. The companion volume was given the working
title The World of Ice and Fire at the 2006 Worldcon,
during a discussion between the writers. They confirmed that the book will open
with a historical overview of the setting, have a 'who's who' of characters and
have a large amount of heraldry and at least the Targaryen family tree,
possibly more. The book will also contain a large amount of artwork and will be
published after A Dance with Dragons is released.[4]
The artist Ted Nasmith, best known for his work on illustrated
editions of J. R. R. Tolkien books, has been asked to do some
landscape and castle portraits for the book. In his correspondence with the publishers, Nasmith was told that the target release date
was spring 2008 [5].
Pronunciation of names
Unlike J.
R. R. Tolkien, who provided detailed instructions for the pronunciation of
the languages of Middle-earth, Martin has
provided no canonical way of pronouncing Westerosi names, stating "You can
pronounce it however you like." [8] However, it
is possible to establish some guidelines based on authorial chapter readings
and question-and-answer sessions (marked "GRRM" in the following
list), and the audio book adaptations read by Roy Dotrice
("RD") and John Lee ("JL"). Among the multimedia clips of
the author speaking, RH indicates the Random House audio interview [9]
and FF indicates the Fast Forward television interview.[10] Entries
marked with a question mark (?) are probably the pronunciations of RD and/or
JL.
The list uses International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols. See IPA chart for English to learn about the
symbols, and the IPA article proper for the problems
of displaying and entering them.
Characters
- Areo Hotah
- Arya
- Bran
- Brienne
- Caleotte
- Catelyn
- Cersei
- Daenerys
- Dany
- Davos
- Doran
- Jaime
- Jojen
- Jon
- Lysa
- Petyr
- Rickon
- Tommen
- Tyrion
- Tywin
- Viserys
Houses and surnames
Presumably, bastard names
(like Snow and Rivers) are always pronounced like the
corresponding common noun.
Places
Titles
Notes
1. ^ list
Internet book list rating ASOIAF, retrieved December 20th, 2006
2. ^ SFX Magazine #138 feature, Christmas 2005
3. ^ So Spake
Martin Report #1
4. ^ Martin in post to Legends, October 6, 1998. So Spake
Martin – Posts to Legends (SSL)
5. ^ Message on Martin's website, May 29, 2005 It's Done!!!
6. ^ Message on Martin's website, January 24,
2006 Update
7. ^ Variety Article - January 17,
2007
8. ^ So Spake
Martin Report #107
9. ^ Random House audio interview with GRRM. [1]
�UNIQ5cb66c0b5ee762cd-HTMLCommentStrip7f6b23883a3eac4900000001
10. ^ Fast Forward video interview with GRRM. [2]
11.^ GRRM at To Be Continued 4 (Chicago, IL), May 6–8,
2005. So Spake
Martin Report #61
External links
A Song of Ice and Fire series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction
Database
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