Today is author George R.R. Martin’s 63rd birthday, and this popular sci-fi, horror and fantasy writer has had a very good year. I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Martin prior to this year, but that changed for me (and a lot of other people) when HBO adapted his popular “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series for into a television series called “Game of Thrones.” Thanks to the popularity of this hit show, his books have returned to and have remained on the best-sellers lists for months and months.
His star has risen so much during the past year that TIME magazine listed Martin on its most recent list of top 100 most influential people in the world.
Martin is a prolific writer and has written dozens of novels, novellas, novelettes, collections and TV scripts, including teleplays for shows like “The Twilight Zone” series in the 1980s, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Game of Thrones.”
He has 12 novels to his credit, and here’s a complete list of them below, in order of publication.
- Dying of the Light (1977)
- Windhaven (1981)
- Fevre Dream (1982)
- The Armageddon Ring (1983)
- Dead Man’s Hand (with John Miller, 1990)
- A Game of Thrones (1996)
- A Clash of Kings (1999)
- A Storm of Swords (2000)
- A Feast of Crows (2005)
- Shadow Twin (with Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, 2005)
- Hunters Run (with Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, 2008)
- A Dance with Dragons (2011)
He has also published a number of short story collections, including:
- A Song for Lya and Other Stories (1976)
- Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977)
- Sandkings (1981)
- Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
- Nighflyers (1985)
- Tuf Voyaging (1987)
- Portraits of His Children (1987)
- Quartet (2001)
- GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003)
- Starlady/Fast-Friend (2008)
Fans of Martin will be happy to hear that he has two forthcoming novels due out soon, and these books will be part of his popular “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. To be published by Bantam Books, their tentative titles are “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring.”
Before I close this thing out, I have to admit that I’ve never watched even a single episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” series, which debuted in April 2011. The first season featured 10 episodes, and the second season is scheduled to begin in 2012. Written by Martin and others, the series stars Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lena Headey.
To learn more about Martin and his books, visit his Web site at www.georgerrmartin.com. His Web site is pretty cool and features a ton of interesting content. I especially enjoy his “What I’m Reading” section, which updates his fans on the books that he’s currently reading.
In the end, how many of Martin’s books have you read? Which did you like or dislike and why? Which would you recommend and why? How many of you have watched the HBO series? Do you like it or not and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
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