GRR Martin Book

[Marianne]

What was the name of the book that was a collection of Martin's writings? Someone made a reference to it in the last couple of weeks on this forum. I cannot find it in a search on Amazon.

Thanks
Marianne

[dwndrgn]

Originally Posted by Marianne

What was the name of the book that was a collection of Martin's writings? Someone made a reference to it in the last couple of weeks on this forum. I cannot find it in a search on Amazon.

Thanks
Marianne

I don't recall a book that held a collection of his writings but I do remember us talking about the Legends series of books that hold short stories by popular fantasy authors in their most famous worlds. Martin has a story in #2 called The Hedge Knight which is set in the Song of Ice and Fire world. The book is Legends 2 : Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy and it includes the story by Martin and several other notables.

Maybe not exactly what you were looking for but perhaps a start?

[Marianne]

Found it in Khan's thread GRRM: A Retrospective (Subterranean, $40

[dwndrgn]

Glad you found it!

[Marianne]

The book came out this fall and was already sold out...I found a copy on E-bay.

[knivesout]

Yesterday, I picked up (2nd hand) Sandkings, a short story collection from 1981 which seems to focus on the SF side of his writings. Has anyone read this one? Also, how is Fevre Dream?

[Faceless Woman]

GRRM: a retrospective was the subtitle for Dreamsongs, wasn't it? Or am I thinking of something else?

[the smiling weirwood]

That was so. I got Dreamsongs from Amazon UK because they apparently didn't have any in America.

[Werthead]

Lots of confusion here (hint: check the bibliography topic).

GRRM: A RRetrospective was originally published in late 2003 by Subterrenean Press in the USA. This is a very small company dedicated to producing expensive books of exquisite quality. It was a limited run and has sold out. That's why copies still on sale are going for ridiculous prices.

Gollancz bought the UK rights to the book and published it last month as Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective. It's exactly the same book only lacking the illustrations of the SP edition. Dreamsongs is not a limited edition, although its colossal size (nearly 1200 pages in hardback) means it's unlikely to come out in paperback, or in one paperback volume anyway. You can purchase this book freely from Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.com and Clarkesworld Books in the USA may have some imports for sale.

Bantam Books (I believe) are publishing a version of Dreamsongs identical to the Gollancz one for the United States. This version will be published some time in 2007.

Dreamsongs contains 32 short stories and 2 television scripts, along with a half-dozen or so original essays by GRRM on how his writing career developed. The Hedge Knight is in the book but due to rights issues at the time it was published (when Legends 2 was still in print) The Sworn Sword is not included.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by knivesout

Yesterday, I picked up (2nd hand) Sandkings, a short story collection from 1981 which seems to focus on the SF side of his writings. Has anyone read this one? Also, how is Fevre Dream?

Until ASOIAF, 'Sandkings' was basically GRRM's biggest success: it won everything going in terms of awards and was made into an 'Outer Limits' episode. It's an excellent horror/SF hybrid, a genre GRRM specialised in for a bit. Not his best short story work though, IMO.

Fevre Dream is better: I'd describe it as a vampire story, but in a sense it isn't really. It's more about the central (human) character, a wonderful piece of writing about obsession and fear. Check it out.

[j. d. worthington]

I concur. I'm not a big Martin fan on the whole (just doesn't quite click with me, I'm afraid) but "Sandkings" is interesting, but not anything spectacular. Fevre Dream, on the other hand, is an excellent novel, well worth reading!

[the smiling weirwood]

Hisssss!!! Be gone!

Out of the short stories, my favorites were the Tuf Voyaging stories and the one dealing with the girl who walked between worlds. I can't recall the name of the latter and I'm too lazy to reach up onto my bookshelf to see.