Master of epic fantasy

The landscape of modern fantasy writing would have been quite different had it not been for George R. R. Martin. A Song of Ice and Fire redefined the fantasy genre from the classic Lord of the Rings-esque adventure quest cum bildungsroman story of good versus evil into a darker, more adult and ultimately more realistic domain. There is no clear boundary between good and evil in his stories. No subject is taboo and he does not gloss over vices like sex, violence and incest. More importantly, main characters do die in his stories (Read an in-depth review of his series on the adjacent page).

Although Martin or GRRM as he is known to his fans, is now eponymous with fantasy, he started his writing career in science fiction and horror short stories. A big fan of comic books and science fiction novels from a young age, Martin started out writing for comic fan-zines but soon graduated into science fiction magazines like Locus. He attempted writing professionally after completing a journalism M.S. in 1971. It was not a straightforward path, and Martin recalls having one of his story being rejected for 42 times by different magazines. After losing the Hugo awards (the science fiction and fantasy equivalent of Oscars) on numerous occasions, he finally clinched the rocket-shaped trophy in 1975 with his science fiction short story A Song for Lya. The novella follows a young protagonist and his lover, both whom are telepaths, (called ‘Talents’) sent to an alien world in which a human colony is present, to assist with unravelling the mysterious humanoid alien’s religion. As the two telepaths delve deeper into the alien culture, they discover a shocking truth about the sacrificial ritual of the religion and they began to question the boundaries of emotional intimacy.

Five years later, Martin would win the coveted double crown of both the Hugo and Nebula award for his sci-fi horror novelette, Sandkings. Highly imaginative science fiction backdrop with a strong theme to accompany it, the story is about a wealthy playboy who buys colonies of intelligent alien insects to pit them in a gladiatior-style war against each other.

In the 80s Martin got into screenwriting, writing for Hollywood serials. However, in the early 90s, he got back into writing novels, a medium in which he could pull off all the grand scene he always envisioned, for there is no budget or logistical restriction when it comes to writing. In 1996, the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones was published. Inspired by the War of the Roses in medieval England, the story deals with the conflict between major Houses in a struggle for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Initially planned to be a trilogy, the story grew as GRRM wrote it and it is now seven-book saga. GRRM has a penchant for growing stories, as demonstrated in the fourth and the upcoming fifth volume which are actually two halves of one book.

Martin is one of those authors with a large following who actually makes himself accessible to fans. He maintains a friendly relationship with the Song of Ice and Fire fan club Brotherhood Without Banners. He also blogs once every few days or so at his grrm.livejournal.com. However, such strong fan following has it irks. The initial anticipation abuzz the upcoming fifth book soon turned to irritation and restlessness amongst the fans as the publication date keep on getting pushed further. Some of them even took it upon themselves to taunt Martin into completing the book. “Pull your fucking typewriter out of your ass and start fucking typing” complained a fan on a forum. Some fans are worried as well that Martin might just kick the bucket before he concludes the series. The rising tide of disaffected fans has got to the point where Martin himself had to retort against it in one of his blog post: “As some of you like to point out in your e-mails, I am sixty years old and fat, and you don’t want me to ‘pull a Robert Jordan’ on you and deny you your book. Okay, I’ve got the message. You don’t want me doing anything except ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ Ever. (Well, maybe it’s okay if I take a leak once in a while?)”. Robert Jordan, the author of the bestselling fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, died of heart disease before he is able to conclude the last 3 novels of his 14-novel saga.

This March, Martin announced on his blog that the book is set to be published on July 12 this year. He writes on his blog “Yes, I know. You’ve all seen publication dates before: dates in 2007, 2008, 2009. None of those were ever hard dates, however. Most of them... well, call it wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes, whatever you like. This date is different. This date is real. Barring tsunamis, general strikes, world wars, or asteroid strikes, you will have the novel in your hands on July 12. I hope you like it.”