13 questions · Literature
George Raymond Richard Martin, born in 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey, grew up the son of a longshoreman: the boy saw the world only from the docks, so he invented his own: as a child he sold monster stories to neighbourhood kids; as a student he won prizes for science fiction. For decades Martin was a respected but modestly selling genre author: stories like 'Sandkings' won Hugo and Nebula Awards, the vampire novel 'Fevre Dream' (1982) put bloodsuckers on a Mississippi steamboat, and from 1987 he edited the superhero anthology 'Wild Cards'. In between he wrote for television ('The Twilight Zone', 'Beauty and the Beast') and learned there what he would later use liberally: the cliffhanger. In 1991, frustrated by television's budget limits, he began a novel meant to be so big that no one could ever film it: 'A Game of Thrones' (1996), the opening of the cycle 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. On the continent of Westeros, great houses (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen) contend for the Iron Throne, while in the north, behind a colossal wall of ice, an older threat awakens. Martin's trademarks: rotating points of view, moral grey zones and the willingness to let main characters die, as Ned Stark's fate proves with a shock. Of all things, the 'unfilmable' work became, from 2011, HBO's 'Game of Thrones', the most successful television series of its era and made Martin a global star whom fans call, with affectionate impatience, GRRM. The impatience has a reason: of seven planned volumes only five have appeared; the world has been waiting for 'The Winds of Winter' since 'A Dance with Dragons' (2011). The series overtook the books and told its own ending. Did you know that Martin reportedly still writes his books on a DOS computer running the ancient program WordStar 4.0, with no internet and no autocorrect?
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
A Song of Ice and Fire
Opening volume 'A Game of Thrones' (1996): seven volumes are planned, five have appeared so far.
💡 Did you know? „A Song of Ice and Fire“ sold over 90 million copies worldwide and turned the scheming struggle for a throne into cult material.
HBO
From 2011, eight seasons: the work planned as 'unfilmable' became the most successful series of its era.
💡 Did you know? HBO's „Game of Thrones“ became one of the most successful and most discussed series in television history.
Westeros
In the north a colossal wall of ice guards the Seven Kingdoms: behind it an older threat awakens.
💡 Did you know? For his continent of Westeros, Martin wove in real models like the English „Wars of the Roses“: noble houses tearing each other apart.
Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen
'Winter is coming': every house bears arms and words; the intrigues draw on England's Wars of the Roses.
💡 Did you know? The rival houses Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen vie for the „Iron Throne“: a web of intrigue, betrayal and revenge.
He kills main characters
Ned Stark's fate in the first volume broke every genre rule: the 'Red Wedding' later traumatised a TV audience.
💡 Did you know? Martin is notorious for killing off beloved main characters at any moment and shockingly: no one is safe in his world.
The Winds of Winter
Volume 5, 'A Dance with Dragons', appeared in 2011: the series overtook the books and told its own ending.
💡 Did you know? Fans have awaited the sixth volume „The Winds of Winter“ since 2011: Martin's writing pace has become a running joke.
on a Mississippi steamboat
Published in 1982: Captain Abner Marsh and the mysterious Joshua York share the ship.
💡 Did you know? His early novel „Fevre Dream“ sets vampires hunting on a 19th-century Mississippi paddle steamer.
Wild Cards
A shared universe of many authors: an alien virus grants powers or disfigures.
💡 Did you know? Since 1987 Martin has edited the superhero anthology „Wild Cards“, to which many authors contribute.
science fiction and horror
Stories like 'Sandkings' won Hugo and Nebula Awards: long before Westeros.
💡 Did you know? Before turning to fantasy, Martin was for decades an award-winning science-fiction and horror author and screenwriter.
frustration with TV budgets
Writing for 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Beauty and the Beast' he constantly had to cut battles: in a novel, everything was allowed.
💡 Did you know? Frustrated by television's tight budgets, Martin deliberately wrote an „unfilmable“ novel with vast battles and dragons: which HBO then filmed after all.
New Jersey
The longshoreman's son sold monster stories to neighbourhood kids as a child.
💡 Did you know? Martin grew up in public housing in New Jersey, as a child he sold self-written monster stories to the neighbourhood kids.
WordStar
No internet, no autocorrect: 'it does exactly what I want,' he says.
💡 Did you know? Fans call him GRRM with affectionate impatience and count the years until 'The Winds of Winter'.
Foto: Henry Söderlund · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin is a US author whose fantasy saga „A Song of Ice and Fire“ became the global series phenomenon „Game of Thrones“.
💡 Did you know? Fans have awaited the next volume of the series for over a decade; his writing pace is legendary.
Home · All topics · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms · Contact
