what my mother knows about George R. R. Martin
My mom is a librarian. From before my birth until the end of this June, she worked at the Drew University library, mostly in the cataloging department, but later getting other repsonsibilities as things were reorganized and other people retired. She reads a lot.
But. I would say that about 80% of her reading is in the mystery genre. She is NOT a speculative fiction fan. (My dad is, to some degree, which is probably where I get my interest from -- I spent a lot of my childhood trying to figure out what insane troll logic he used to organize the myriad bookcases in our basement so I could find what I considered the "good stuff" amidst the acres of technical science, the reams of history, and the random literary classics.)
Anyway, the point of this is that today my mom sent me the following email:
Subject: Do you know of George R.R. Martin?
Hi Liz,
I had breakfast with D (C's mother) at Atlanta Bread Co. this morning. C is a writer and now works on a temporary project at Pearson Publishing (lots of textbooks, I think) in Boston. She loves it. She's into fantasy also and was in line at a bookstore to get a signed copy of Martin's latest book, something about fire and ice? Just wondering what you know about it.
Love, Mom
To which I replied,
Okay, I am on a proper computer now, not my phone, so here is a longer reply:
Yes, of course I know George R. R. Martin! I have only bought all four previous books in the series and discussed them at length with Vicky right in front of you for years. :-) Their titles are "A Game of Thrones," "A Clash of Kings," "A Storm of Swords," and "A Feast for Crows."
The basic premise is that in a world where the seasons are misaligned to the calendar years (in other words, summer can last a decade and winter fifteen years), a large continent was united several hundred years ago by a royal family whose power rested in the fire-breathing dragons they controlled. But now the dragons are dead, that family was deposed (on account of the last king being homicidally insane), and the kingdom is descending into chaos as the various high noble families fight for control. That is the main plot -- like I said, it's bloody and fairly realistic historical fiction that just happens to be set in a nonexistent world. But! There is some magic in the background -- the exiled daughter of the old royal family awakens three dragons over the course of the series, there are occasional bloody and horrifying instances of magic (lethal shadows, people raised from the dead), and in the far north, beyond the Wall built to mark the end of the kingdom, mysterious frozen vampire-like creatures may be stirring once again as winter draws near.
I don't think you'd like the books. They are pretty horrifically violent at times -- which is par for the course when describing internecine warfare and medieval politics -- and there are no important mystery or romance subplots. I love them, though, and the only reason I haven't bought "A Dance with Dragons" (Book 5) yet is that I am waiting to see if we'll get copies at the smoke shop. If we do, I want to buy it there, both for the 25% discount and to support the business that employs me. :-) If we don't, I will order it via the Science Fiction Book Club, which will also give me a discount, but the shipping costs eat some of that and they also print their own editions which tend to be slightly smaller (and sometimes slightly flimsier around the bindings) than the regular publisher's editions.
The series is in the process of being adapted as an HBO television series -- "Game of Thrones." You may have heard of it. They are turning each book into a season, and season one recently ended. It has been well-received so far.
Because of the TV series and the publication of "A Dance with Dragons," I recently ordered paperback copies of books 1-4 for the smoke shop, so we will have them on hand -- we did have copies of "A Game of Thrones" and "A Clash of Kings," but they sold out a couple weeks ago. Interest is high! But for some reason the book purchasers at STNC were leery of getting copies of "A Dance with Dragons." They said a $35 price tag was too high. I think this is weaselly bullshit -- they have sent us $35 books before, and I know for a fact that one of the two book purchasers has already bought a hardcover copy for himself from a different store -- and PM has requested the hardcover, but we haven't heard back from STNC yet.
Anyway. That is a small portion of what I know about Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. :-)
Love, Liz
I grant you that was somewhat overboard, but really. She has seen me reading those books, she has heard me and Vicky talk about them at great length, and I think I may even have mentioned them to her a month or two ago in context of the television series. "Do you know of George R.R. Martin?" Of course I do.
My mom's final word on the subject:
OK, that may be more than I ever needed to know. Except that STNC should heed your good judgment. D had mentioned the HBO series but since we get only channel 9, 11 & 13 at this point my TV attention is seriously low.
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But. I would say that about 80% of her reading is in the mystery genre. She is NOT a speculative fiction fan. (My dad is, to some degree, which is probably where I get my interest from -- I spent a lot of my childhood trying to figure out what insane troll logic he used to organize the myriad bookcases in our basement so I could find what I considered the "good stuff" amidst the acres of technical science, the reams of history, and the random literary classics.)
Anyway, the point of this is that today my mom sent me the following email:
Subject: Do you know of George R.R. Martin?
Hi Liz,
I had breakfast with D (C's mother) at Atlanta Bread Co. this morning. C is a writer and now works on a temporary project at Pearson Publishing (lots of textbooks, I think) in Boston. She loves it. She's into fantasy also and was in line at a bookstore to get a signed copy of Martin's latest book, something about fire and ice? Just wondering what you know about it.
Love, Mom
To which I replied,
Okay, I am on a proper computer now, not my phone, so here is a longer reply:
Yes, of course I know George R. R. Martin! I have only bought all four previous books in the series and discussed them at length with Vicky right in front of you for years. :-) Their titles are "A Game of Thrones," "A Clash of Kings," "A Storm of Swords," and "A Feast for Crows."
The basic premise is that in a world where the seasons are misaligned to the calendar years (in other words, summer can last a decade and winter fifteen years), a large continent was united several hundred years ago by a royal family whose power rested in the fire-breathing dragons they controlled. But now the dragons are dead, that family was deposed (on account of the last king being homicidally insane), and the kingdom is descending into chaos as the various high noble families fight for control. That is the main plot -- like I said, it's bloody and fairly realistic historical fiction that just happens to be set in a nonexistent world. But! There is some magic in the background -- the exiled daughter of the old royal family awakens three dragons over the course of the series, there are occasional bloody and horrifying instances of magic (lethal shadows, people raised from the dead), and in the far north, beyond the Wall built to mark the end of the kingdom, mysterious frozen vampire-like creatures may be stirring once again as winter draws near.
I don't think you'd like the books. They are pretty horrifically violent at times -- which is par for the course when describing internecine warfare and medieval politics -- and there are no important mystery or romance subplots. I love them, though, and the only reason I haven't bought "A Dance with Dragons" (Book 5) yet is that I am waiting to see if we'll get copies at the smoke shop. If we do, I want to buy it there, both for the 25% discount and to support the business that employs me. :-) If we don't, I will order it via the Science Fiction Book Club, which will also give me a discount, but the shipping costs eat some of that and they also print their own editions which tend to be slightly smaller (and sometimes slightly flimsier around the bindings) than the regular publisher's editions.
The series is in the process of being adapted as an HBO television series -- "Game of Thrones." You may have heard of it. They are turning each book into a season, and season one recently ended. It has been well-received so far.
Because of the TV series and the publication of "A Dance with Dragons," I recently ordered paperback copies of books 1-4 for the smoke shop, so we will have them on hand -- we did have copies of "A Game of Thrones" and "A Clash of Kings," but they sold out a couple weeks ago. Interest is high! But for some reason the book purchasers at STNC were leery of getting copies of "A Dance with Dragons." They said a $35 price tag was too high. I think this is weaselly bullshit -- they have sent us $35 books before, and I know for a fact that one of the two book purchasers has already bought a hardcover copy for himself from a different store -- and PM has requested the hardcover, but we haven't heard back from STNC yet.
Anyway. That is a small portion of what I know about Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. :-)
Love, Liz
I grant you that was somewhat overboard, but really. She has seen me reading those books, she has heard me and Vicky talk about them at great length, and I think I may even have mentioned them to her a month or two ago in context of the television series. "Do you know of George R.R. Martin?" Of course I do.
My mom's final word on the subject:
OK, that may be more than I ever needed to know. Except that STNC should heed your good judgment. D had mentioned the HBO series but since we get only channel 9, 11 & 13 at this point my TV attention is seriously low.
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)