George R.R. Martin

thorpe

So, I just finished A Storm of Swords, and in the short time before A Feast for Crows is released, I thought I might read up on some of his lesser known fiction. What else is good that this author has produced?

Zsetrek

He had a great short story that I read a while back - Sandkings? Something like that. Anyway, it was a Hugo winner, which should narrow the search for you.

Dog

Problem with George is that the series "Song of Fire and Ice" is his only fantasy series. I believe he comes from a horror background. Mind you I love this series, its the only one I feel that stands out to be different from the rest. Wish he wrote more fantasy.

LaOs

Have you read the short stories in Legends, and now Legends II? Other than that, I can't help.

StunRay

Wild Cards he edited and contributed to. Thats pretty good, certainly a nice idea. Kinda City of Heroes before MMORPG.

In the mean time read

Stephen Ericksson
China Mieville
and R Scott Baker

For some right juicy stuff that'll get your buds pumping

Dog

There's a comic as well, called "The Hedge Knight." He's writes it and the drawing is good, albeit not very original nowadays. It's set in the world of "A Song of Fire and Ice", a hundred years before the novel story.
It's not in my opinion extremely good on its own. Not much originality. Basic "squire who wants to become a knight" story. Still, there is little manicheism. The main character is pretty dull, but the side characters are often great. And it's pleasant seeing the ancestors of the "A Song...", stories about their houses, rivalities and stuff, if you enjoyed the books (and you must have.) I especially enjoyed reading about the Tagaryens.

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/gallery/hedgeknight.html

I think it's based on a previous short story written by George, but I can't find it anywhere.

JohnnyCache

StunRay wrote:

Wild Cards he edited and contributed to. Thats pretty good, certainly a nice idea. Kinda City of Heroes before MMORPG.

In the mean time read

Stephen Ericksson
China Mieville
and R Scott Baker

For some right juicy stuff that'll get your buds pumping

Also, Sand Kings is, I believe, the inspiration for the fairly effective Outer Limits TV movie of the same name.

slopesandsam

Martin can be really hard to find stuff for.

He was a bit of a name back in the 70's, with a bunch of short stories and stand-alone novels. None of them are very much like A Song of Ice and Fire. In fact, most of them feel like they could have been written by someone else.

The only one I've read is called Fevre Dream, and it's about vampires on the mississipi during the stream boat era. It was very good, but not quite what you'd expect from a vampire book.

I've heard the Armageddon Rag (I believe it's about a band, with supernatural shit going on), is good, and if you can get your hands on his short story collection called "A Song for Lya", you apparently won't be disappointed.

He spent pretty much the entire eighties and early nineties writing TV scripts, so he doesn't have any books from that period.

And then he jumped straight into aSoIaF.

There's two short stories set three hundred years before aSoIaF in the seven kingdoms called "The Hedge Knight" and "The Sworn Sword". They're both good reads, and they can be found in the Legends and Legends II collections, respectively.

The first Legends book has several good stories from other famous authors as well. Legends II not so much.

Dog

He has a very nice, though extremely light compared to SOIAF, fantasy/sci-fi hybrid thingy out called "Windhaven". It's in collaberation with Lisa Tuttle and it's a few novellas strung together with new material to make a novel.

Worth reading.

If you're looking for good fantasy, Lois McMaster Bujold's new series -- the Chalion Books -- is going to be up to three this month. They aren't really a SERIES in that each story stands alone, but they share a world and some characters pop up multiple times. The first one is "The Curse of Chalion", then "Paladin of Souls" and "The Hallowed Hunt" comes out this month. These are very, very, very good books.

China Mieville is a genius. A total genius -- and I will never, ever read another one of his books. Perdido Street Station disturbed me that much.

StunRay

You haven't lived until you have read Iron Council by Mieville. Do it DO IT NOW you will not be disappointed

zipididee

any word on how many books are going to be in the song of ice and fire series? I'd assumed it was just going to be a standard trilogy until I finished the third book and there was no end in sight. I suppose he could just go until all the major characters die from one thing or another.

SniperGuy

I just finished A Clash of Kings and LOVED it. Some of the stuff is a bit...well I dunno the word, but for the most part i'm quite enjoying the series.

necroSYS

zipididee wrote:

any word on how many books are going to be in the song of ice and fire series? I'd assumed it was just going to be a standard trilogy until I finished the third book and there was no end in sight. I suppose he could just go until all the major characters die from one thing or another.

Six was his original goal, but it looks like the editing fuckery that happened with Feast is going to push the sum total to seven.