A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. ….
The man who never reads lives only one.
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
(a.k.a., GRRM)
American novelist, screenwriter, short story writer, and television producer
1948—
A Dance with Dragons
A Reader Lives a Thousand Lives … What Does That Say About the Author?
While a reader may live a thousand lives through books, what does this say about the authors they read?
Like many of us, George Martin was a comic-book fan as a teen. He credits Stan Lee with being “the greatest literary influence on me, even more than Shakespeare or Tolkien.” Yet, Martin himself has become that iconic inspiration for readers and writers alike.
Fantasy Novels and More
Though best known for his epic fantasy novel series A Song of Fire and Ice (the basis for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones and the more recent House of the Dragon) his earliest successes were award-winning science fiction and horror novels, including Sandkings, Nightflyers, Fevre Dream, and The Armageddon Rag. The last of these was such a commercial disappointment that it made GRRM consider a career in real estate.
What followed instead was a move to Hollywood writing for such shows as The Twilight Zone, a personal favorite of mine—Max Headroom, and Beauty and the Beast.
Martin returned to the printed word with his short-story, horror collection, Portraits of His Children. He also was a contributor and editor of the popular Wild Cards book series.
His penchant for fantasy even extends to the video games world where he wrote the action, role-playing adventure, Elden Ring.
The American Tolkien: Reader to Writer Full Circle
Once dubbed “the American Tolkien” in Time magazine GRRM was listed among its list of the most influential people in the world in the 2011 Time 100.
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