Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - OT: A Song of Ice and Fire Series (spoilers inside)

Honolulu_Blue · 09-25-2005, 07:31 AM

So I met George RR Martin yesterday. He was at the National Book Festival in the Mall in DC. An odd scene, considering the anti-war rally was going on a few blocks away.

Anyway, Martin followed a murderers row of authors in the Fiction/Fantasy tent: John Irving, Nail Gaiman, and Tom Wolfe. Martin talked for about 20 minutes, mainly about his career as a writer and then some about his work and the genre as a whole. He then fielded some questions.

It was great to see him. If anything his talk and the Q&A made me respect the man even more. He's got a solid head on his shoulders and was very pleasant.

Some highlights from the Q&A:

He was asked whether he gets any negative reaction from fans/critics because of how gritty/morally ambiguous and such this series is.

He said he had some (though they were way out numbered by the positive reaction), but it didn't bother him. There are a ton of fantasy writers out there and people who don't like his style can read them. He also said that the most negative reactions he got were towards the sex scenes in the book. He noted that it was quite a reflection on our society where you can describe in great detail an axe entering a man's skull and no one bats an eye, but if you describe a penis going into a vagina thousands of people flip out.

He also touched on Tolkien. He gave him mad props, of course, for his series and he loves them, but he said that it sort of put in motion a formula for the genre which has limited it a bit. Too many fantasy books are based off the Tolkien formula where the good guys where white cloaks, bad guys where black, and there is some dark force/overload trying to take over the world. The good/evil sides are pretty distinct and many stories don't go too much further than that. A good point.

As for the specifics on the series, he didn't add too much we don't already know. A Feast for Crows is coming out in November. He already has 500 pages of a Dance For Dragons written (about 50%). He is almost finished with another Dunc and Egg story (he plans to write one between each book in the series), though there will be no "Legends 3", so he's not sure where the story will be published.

He then signed books for about 2+ hours. Was very friendly there as well.

All in all, it was all good.

09-25-2005, 07:31 AM	#105
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	So I met George RR Martin yesterday. He was at the National Book Festival in the Mall in DC. An odd scene, considering the anti-war rally was going on a few blocks away. Anyway, Martin followed a murderers row of authors in the Fiction/Fantasy tent: John Irving, Nail Gaiman, and Tom Wolfe. Martin talked for about 20 minutes, mainly about his career as a writer and then some about his work and the genre as a whole. He then fielded some questions. It was great to see him. If anything his talk and the Q&A made me respect the man even more. He's got a solid head on his shoulders and was very pleasant. Some highlights from the Q&A: He was asked whether he gets any negative reaction from fans/critics because of how gritty/morally ambiguous and such this series is. He said he had some (though they were way out numbered by the positive reaction), but it didn't bother him. There are a ton of fantasy writers out there and people who don't like his style can read them. He also said that the most negative reactions he got were towards the sex scenes in the book. He noted that it was quite a reflection on our society where you can describe in great detail an axe entering a man's skull and no one bats an eye, but if you describe a penis going into a vagina thousands of people flip out. He also touched on Tolkien. He gave him mad props, of course, for his series and he loves them, but he said that it sort of put in motion a formula for the genre which has limited it a bit. Too many fantasy books are based off the Tolkien formula where the good guys where white cloaks, bad guys where black, and there is some dark force/overload trying to take over the world. The good/evil sides are pretty distinct and many stories don't go too much further than that. A good point. As for the specifics on the series, he didn't add too much we don't already know. A Feast for Crows is coming out in November. He already has 500 pages of a Dance For Dragons written (about 50%). He is almost finished with another Dunc and Egg story (he plans to write one between each book in the series), though there will be no "Legends 3", so he's not sure where the story will be published. He then signed books for about 2+ hours. Was very friendly there as well. All in all, it was all good. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).