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Dreamsongs #1-2
梦歌：乔治·R·R·马丁作品回顾集
这是说给我们心灵听的，
这是说给孩子们听的──
那些梦想在森林里夜猎、梦想在空山中野餐，住在每个人心中的孩子们。
它用梦的语言写就，跟梦境一样真实，
比真实更真实。
本书中收录的31篇《冰与火之歌》系列前的中短篇作品，
包括了马丁十年来摘取过雨果奖、星云奖等桂冠的佳作。
他们之中，
有跨越茫茫星海寻找爱人的红发女郎莎拉；
有命中注定要遭逢厄运的心灵感应师情侣罗柏与莱安娜；
有在永冬的土地上逃避吸血鬼和风狼追杀的女猎手夏恩••••••
一个个甜蜜而忧伤、浪漫而狂野的故事，
折射出现实中失落的色彩，
照亮了一代大师的奋斗之路，
谱写出一段关于爱、勇气和不朽的梦想之歌！
“他们尽可以留着他们的天堂，但我死后，愿能魂归中土。”
──永远的梦想家，乔治•R.R.马丁
这是说给孩子们听的──
那些梦想在森林里夜猎、梦想在空山中野餐，住在每个人心中的孩子们。
它用梦的语言写就，跟梦境一样真实，
比真实更真实。
本书中收录的31篇《冰与火之歌》系列前的中短篇作品，
包括了马丁十年来摘取过雨果奖、星云奖等桂冠的佳作。
他们之中，
有跨越茫茫星海寻找爱人的红发女郎莎拉；
有命中注定要遭逢厄运的心灵感应师情侣罗柏与莱安娜；
有在永冬的土地上逃避吸血鬼和风狼追杀的女猎手夏恩••••••
一个个甜蜜而忧伤、浪漫而狂野的故事，
折射出现实中失落的色彩，
照亮了一代大师的奋斗之路，
谱写出一段关于爱、勇气和不朽的梦想之歌！
“他们尽可以留着他们的天堂，但我死后，愿能魂归中土。”
──永远的梦想家，乔治•R.R.马丁
1320 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
90 people are currently reading
1126 people want to read
About the author
George R.R. Martin
1,533 books118k followersGeorge Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.
Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.
In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.
As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.
Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...
Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.
In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.
As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.
Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
May 18, 2017
A general review of this book wouldn’t do it justice, so I’ll start with a short overview of every story and finish it up with a few general observations about Martin’s style, voice and career until A Song of Ice and Fire .
Introduction
Gardner Dozois, a science-fiction writer, presents two compelling arguments about Martin’s stories. One, Martin’s a romantic, plunging head-first into the world of genre fiction, basking in its sometimes pulpy glory and emotions, without the irony or distance that some post-modern writers would put in to make sure you don’t confuse them with those pesky people who "only" want to tell a story, pfeh. Two, Martin’s all about people. Characters.
A Four-Color Fanboy
Martin tells the tale of a nerdy comics-obsessed child living in a poor industrial district in New Jersey and his first clumsy stories.
Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark
An extremely clichéd Indiana Jones/superhero adventure hybrid, complete with a “Demon Prince”, a fainting damsel tied to a sacrificial altar and a pseudo “twist” at the end. Pretty funny. In Martin’s defense, that’s one the stories written in his teenage years. Also, amusingly, has the first ever mention of “the long night” in a work by Martin.
The Fortress
A not particularly interesting retelling of an episode of Finnish history. Contains chest-thumping nationalism, evil Russians and a heroic rebel figure.
And Death His Legacy
A spy tale in which Martin attempts to wield a giant sledgehammer of a political argument.
The Filthy Pro
Martin remembers his first ever stories that he managed to actually sell to people other than a few kids. The next section also contains his first ever good stories.
The Hero
A pretty straightforward parable about the Vietnam War and its veterans, set against a space conflict in what will later become his “Thousand Worlds” universe, an infinite playground where he could try any of his genre fiction ideas. The story itself goes straight to the point by presenting us with a slightly sociopathic character and trying to make us care about his fate. It more or less succeeds, a hallmark of the way Martin manages get inside the head of very, very flawed human beings and make us, if not cheer for them, at least acknowledge their motives and their drive to live.
The Exit to San Breta
A supernatural story with a twist, taking a spooky Victorian atmosphere and setting it against a science-fiction Mad Max-y landscape. Unfortunately ruined by a very anticlimactic ending, where one character explains to another everything that just happened over a cup of coffee.
The Second Kind of Loneliness
The first Martin story in this collection which I actually liked. Again, like with The Exit to San Breta, it takes a real-life situation (people who work in extremely remote and lonely places, such as Antarctica or the wilderness) and puts a spin on it by making it happen in a space station near a sort of intergalactic freeway. Intriguing questions are asked :“why does a man volunteer for a job like this? Why does a man run to a silver ring six million miles beyond Pluto, to guard a hole in space?” This story starts an important string of Martin’s protagonists who are all depressed losers (but IN SPACE!) desperately trying to connect to anyone. It’s one of those “loneliness in space” stories, which are my favorite kind. A sprinkling of psychological horror later, the final twist cuts like a knife.
With Morning Comes Mistfall
A science-fiction story with a delicate atmosphere, wondering about the need for man to have unanswered mysteries left in the universe. One of the first of Martin’s stories to deal with the psychology of religion and the supernatural. Again, unfortunately, a clear-cut moral and an answer to those ambiguous questions he rised kinda ruined the ending for me.
The Light of Distant Stars
Martin introduces us to some of his science-fiction stories, and to the reasons the genre appealed to him since his childhood.
A Song for Lya
My personal favorite Martin short story. The first time I read it, I was overwhelmed with feelings. Martin gives some clues about his early life, and this story is the most romantic, the most desperate the most true-sounding of his entire career. We all have this reader's sixth sense that reacts to stories that are maybe not the best-written or the most original, but that come from a painful place, a TRUE place deep inside the writer, deep inside us. A Song for Lya is unfiltered young angst, love and despair, given a cosmic resonance, the quintessential romantic notion of the whole universe reflecting your own internal yearning and conflict.
The pitch is genius and instantly intriguing. Two young lovers with telepathic abilities are send into a mission to a planet inhabited by a queer alien race. Each and every one of those aliens chooses to join itself with a parasitic life-form which slowly consumes them over the course of time. In return, they seem to get some mystical happiness. The telepaths are asked by the authorities to find out the reasons of choosing what looks like volutary suicide and giving up on life, especially when some humans settled on the planet also start to fall for this … religion? Cult? Painful death? Salvation? Is it maybe … love? What is love, anyway? I can only recommend this story for every human being out there, science-fiction lover or not. Some passages are clumsily written and there is some amount of unnecessary description porn. But by gods, this story is REAL.
This Tower of Ashes
Another one of those heartbroken Martin’s protagonists and the recurrent theme of loneliness and dwelling on past relationships. A sort of shorter version of Martin’s novel Dying of the Light, in which the main character is trying to fulfill his promise to an ex-girlfriend, set against the backdrop of a dying planet. Unlike in Dying of the Light, where the story’s length lets us bond somewhat with the flawed characters, this story’s asshole and whiny protagonist didn’t do much for me. The setting is quite dreamy and some descriptions are worth a look, however.
And Sever Times Never Kill Man
This time, it’s about Christianity, colonialism and killing natives. Christianity is called the Steel Angels religion, colonialism happens on a distant planet, and the natives are the Jaenshi, but that’s just window-dressing. Heavy themes of religion, brainwashing and genocide. Pretty gruesome. Contains the first appearance of a “winter is coming” in a Martin’s tale. Amusingly enough, the cover art depicting the Jaenshi when this short story was published inspired the Star Wars wookie (and thus Chewbacca’s) look.
The Stone City
A strange story mixing an absurd space bureaucracy à la Brazil or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a social commentary on poverty and the rejects of society, and a dream-like setting with a sort of nexus of realities. Only missing a (space!) kitchen-sink.
Bitterblooms
An interesting hybrid of scifi and fantasy, throwing into the mix the famous Clarke’s Third Law. Featuring a rapey space witch.
The Way of Cross and Dragon
A priest of the Christianity!Inspace religion is sent to investigate on a heretic cult which worships Judas Iscariot as a dragonrider. One of Martin’s award-winning stories. It was running on “tell, don’t show” the whole damn time. Such interesting themes and musings on religion and belief and existentialism, but man was I feeling that I’m reading a slightly dolled-up essay.
The Heirs of Turtle Castle
An introduction to Martin’s fantasy section. Apart from bashing Tom Bombadil (which I can’t condone), he recalls his beginnings in fantasy, starting with a … pet turtle family playing games of thrones.
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr
I guess Martin was going for a romantic, lush, dreamlike fantasy feeling, similar to Lovecraft’s Dreamlands stories. What we got was an insufferably precious and insipid tale about a lonely man living in a lonely place (starting to sound familiar?) and a girl who inexplicably falls into his arms, prances around his castle for a while, then leaves. The only interesting parts are a few snippets of Lovecraftian horror behind that shiny crystal fantasy glory, but that’s not much.
The Ice Dragon
On the other hand, this is a very effective fantasy story and mood piece, presenting us with a simple tale of war, dragons and coming of age in a fantasy land (again, sounds familiar?) You can almost feel the chill of the winter and see the sad, frozen tears of the protagonist.
In the Lost Lands
An almost western-like road trip and a tale of shape-shifting, desire and magic. Pretty effective. Features a badass female wise-woman and sorcerer as a protagonist.
Hybrids and Horrors
In this sections, Martin tries to answer the timeless question : why do we like horror stories? It’s probably the most visceral and instinctive genre of all, and there’s no easy answer (except perhaps masochism). Of course, Martin gives us his own answer : “the best horror stories are stories first and horror second”.
Meathouse Man
A meandering and grim tale, featuring yet another one of those Martin’s male protagonists to whom human interactions are both a painful desire and an unfathomable mystery and who suffers from loneliness, depression and a broken heart. To give you some idea of the charming grimness of the story, the titular “Meathouse” is a prostitution business where the sex workers are corpses reanimated and controlled by neural impulses. Yup, it’s one of those stories.
I’m not sure about this one. It certainly has some real darkness within, but it also appears grim for the sake of being grim (the difference between the two is the one between the Red Wedding and the show’s lovingly depicted deluxe extended versions of Ramsey Bolton’s tortures). The protagonist is certainly suffering and depressed, but he’s not really all that developed beyond that, and some parts of the story are inexplicably written in an experimental style, with broken sentences or a script-like style.
Remembering Melody
Now this one’s a good one. An effective horror story about a grown-up man being visited by his college friend, one of those who’s always taking and never giving back, always getting into shitty situations and expecting everyone to get her out of them, always addicted to something, always sucking everything out of you and then leaving without any notice or word, and always expecting you to give more, more, more, and passively-aggressively bullying you if you ever try to put a limit on such a damaging “friendship”. You know. Anyway, Ted, the protagonist, wants her out of his life. But she’s not gonna leave that easily. Oooooh no. One of those horror stories that’s really likely to bring a chill down your spine.
SandkingsOne of Martin’s most famous stories, and for good reason. It’s a classic “monster” tale about an exotic animals’ collector acquiring some new pets which seem to be more complex and developed than those he had before. Also more dangerous. An excellent example of Martin’s perfected mix of horror, world-building and an asshole protagonist whom we still have some sympathy for.
Nightflyers
And strange and pulpy whodunit (IN SPACE!), reminiscent of Alien. It is ostensibly about a crew of (asshole) scientists following the "volcryn", a strange organism that’s been flying through space for thousands, maybe even millions of years. But that plots gets shoved aside when someone starts murdering people onboard the spaceship and it gets stranger and stranger, with moments of b-movie horror and the successive deaths of the protagonists. The ending left me quite cold. I found the characters weak, and the answer behind the killings not very compelling.
The Monkey Treatment
A simple and excellent body horror tale about a man who wants to lose weight by getting a monkey stuck on his back, stealing any food he tries to eat. The peculiar tone, oscillating between horror and humor, is also to be noted. The ending features one of the most both horrific and humorous images I’ve read about in years.
The Pear-Shaped Man
An authentically nightmarish tale, one which genuinely frightened me and made me look nervously behind corners for a whole evening. “Into every girl’s life a Pear-shaped Man must fall”, muses one of the characters in the story. The titular Man is a walking uncanny-valley nightmare, and the horror goes crescendo, until the inevitable and unforgettable ending.
A Taste of Tuf
A brief introduction to Martin’s "Tuf Voyaging" stories about an "ecologic engineer", travelling from planet to planet and helping people with environmental issues.
A Beast for Norn
Ok, I have to admit, despite him being a very distinctive character, I don’t really like Tuf. He’s a pompous asshole, patronizes everyone who has the impertinence to disagree with him and has random traits such as being a vegetarian and loving cats and mushrooms which are more Shyamalan-style quirks than a genuinely interesting personality. I guess Martin was going for sarcastic, dry-witted and morally-ambiguous, but it didn’t work for me. This tale is particularly outrageous with Tuf destroying a whole planet’s economy just to make a (pompous and trite) point. Yup.
Guardians
Tuf’s still an ass, but the story is slightly more interesting, touching on themes of sentience, animal rights and ecology.
The Siren of Hollywood
Martin reminisces about being a short-lived writer for the legendary Twilight Zone and some of his other TV-projects.
The Twilight Zone : ‘The Road Less Traveled’
A classic-sounding speculative story going back to some themes explored all the way back in The Hero. It’s all about the choice of one guy not to go to Vietnam and his life after that, with a supernatural twist.
Doorways
A script for a pilot episode of a series that never saw the light of day. It’s basically about this science-fiction-y travelling between worlds thingy, when two unlikely protagonists meet and are thrown into a post-apocalyptic earth where they have to fend for themselves. Hints of a larger mythology and world-building are sprinkled throughout the episode. In the end, this mix between Doctor Who and Sliders feels engaging enough, albeit reading a script that’s supposed to be seen on a TV screen is sometimes a tad awkward and not as engaging as if it was in written story format.
Doing the Wild Card Shuffle
Martin’s review of his involvement with the Wild Cards series, which he was sometimes the editor, and sometimes the writer for. Wild Cards is an ongoing superhero series with an ensemble cast, depicting a parallel earth where a strange virus gave superpowers to some.
Shell Games
A neo-noir mystery with a dangerously Tuf-like protagonist and a damsel in distress called Angel. Yup, it sounds all too similar to the Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark story for my tastes. It was probably unintended. Some of the characters are intriguing, and the world building is, as always, stellar, but too many clichés riddle this superhero romp. Or, maybe I’m just not that interested in the whole concept.
From the Journal of Xavier Desmond
The format is the problem here. This “short story” is actually bits and pieces Martin wrote to go between full-fledged Wild Cards stories, to tie them all up into one narrative. I’m sure it’s a very interesting exercise for a writer. It’s a less interesting experience for the reader to read these bits without the accompanying narratives.
The Heart in Conflict
The last of Martin’s interludes has a more solemn tone, because Martin’s trying to encompass and define all his very diverse stories into one reason and purpose : which is, of course, writing about the “human heart in conflict with itself”.
Under Siege
A slightly less yawn-inducing reworking of The Fortress. With a bit less chest-thumping nationalism and a bit more science-fiction. The heroic historical figures are displaced by a crippled and loner protagonist who’s trying to change the course of history … from the future.
The Skin Trade
This one’s a pretty long short story or a short novel, spanning around 70 pages. It’s first and foremost a skinchanger story told in a neo-noir setting with a detective investigation going on. In a run-down town, a powerful and rich family has some good old fashioned werewolves in their midst. Their paths run across those of a (frankly unprofessional and annoying) female detective and a lonely man-child of a werewolf. The story convincingly establishes a setting and a tone, right until the WTF supernatural ending.
Unsound Variations
This one’s where time travel and chess converge. This combination is interesting, but the protagonists, all unlikeable, can test a reader’s patience.
The Glass Flower
“The Glass Flower” is reminiscent of those sensory-overload fantasy and scifi tales that are all about the atmosphere and setting, such as Martin’s own Stone City or In the Lost Lands. Martin piles ideas one on top of the other in a breathtaking mess : androids philosophize about life and death, supernatural slavery (IN SPACE!) is discussed, winged creatures fight space criminals, the usual asshole protagonist (a woman, for a change) waxes Nietzsche-ian about the relativity of morality, the sprawling “Thousand Worlds” lore is expanded even further, and the numerous references to the sex life of an old mind in an underage body are thrown in just for the fun. This story’s delightfully weird and uninhibited, unconcerned about coherence or restraint, and is all the better for it.
The Hedge Knight – A TALE OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS
Yep, I have no impartial opinion on this one. I love it to bits, Dunk is, refreshingly, not an asshole, and the secondary characters and the sense of setting are wonderful (it’s Westeros! Yay!) Think of Dunk as a male Brienne, too naïve for his own good, but managing to get out of trouble by his sheer determination and kindness (and also a good punch or two).
Portraits of His Children
A psychological thriller about a writer and his creations. This one also sounds like it comes from a true place. The story’s about a writer whose creations come to life and visit him after he has a big fight with his daughter. Little by little, we delve into the protagonist’s psyche and both understand and are horrified by his need to turn real life events and feelings into material for his books. This works both as a voyeuristic process and a sort of exorcism that lets him transform the unbearable into stories. The ending is one of those Martin’s trademark ambiguous thngies.
What a career! Martin shows that he can write in any genre. Not every story was a success for me, but every one of them (the juvenilia pieces of the first section excepted) had a least two of the elements that make his writing so famous : 1) original and even extravagant world-building and 2) morally ambiguous characters. The above mentioned strengths can veer into description porn without purpose and asshole characters whose only interesting characteristics are their assholishness.
Still, on the whole, Martin’s heart, the one that’s in conflict with itself just like everyone else’s, is in the right place. His romanticism, mentioned in the Prologue, saves the day. He clearly believes in his characters, in their worlds, tries every creative or repulsive thing with panache and passion, and we can’t help but be swept along, even if not everything works.
P.S. : let it be a tribute to Martin that this review has an unhealthy amount of the word "asshole" being used.
Introduction
Gardner Dozois, a science-fiction writer, presents two compelling arguments about Martin’s stories. One, Martin’s a romantic, plunging head-first into the world of genre fiction, basking in its sometimes pulpy glory and emotions, without the irony or distance that some post-modern writers would put in to make sure you don’t confuse them with those pesky people who "only" want to tell a story, pfeh. Two, Martin’s all about people. Characters.
A Four-Color Fanboy
Martin tells the tale of a nerdy comics-obsessed child living in a poor industrial district in New Jersey and his first clumsy stories.
Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark
An extremely clichéd Indiana Jones/superhero adventure hybrid, complete with a “Demon Prince”, a fainting damsel tied to a sacrificial altar and a pseudo “twist” at the end. Pretty funny. In Martin’s defense, that’s one the stories written in his teenage years. Also, amusingly, has the first ever mention of “the long night” in a work by Martin.
The Fortress
A not particularly interesting retelling of an episode of Finnish history. Contains chest-thumping nationalism, evil Russians and a heroic rebel figure.
And Death His Legacy
A spy tale in which Martin attempts to wield a giant sledgehammer of a political argument.
The Filthy Pro
Martin remembers his first ever stories that he managed to actually sell to people other than a few kids. The next section also contains his first ever good stories.
The Hero
A pretty straightforward parable about the Vietnam War and its veterans, set against a space conflict in what will later become his “Thousand Worlds” universe, an infinite playground where he could try any of his genre fiction ideas. The story itself goes straight to the point by presenting us with a slightly sociopathic character and trying to make us care about his fate. It more or less succeeds, a hallmark of the way Martin manages get inside the head of very, very flawed human beings and make us, if not cheer for them, at least acknowledge their motives and their drive to live.
The Exit to San Breta
A supernatural story with a twist, taking a spooky Victorian atmosphere and setting it against a science-fiction Mad Max-y landscape. Unfortunately ruined by a very anticlimactic ending, where one character explains to another everything that just happened over a cup of coffee.
The Second Kind of Loneliness
The first Martin story in this collection which I actually liked. Again, like with The Exit to San Breta, it takes a real-life situation (people who work in extremely remote and lonely places, such as Antarctica or the wilderness) and puts a spin on it by making it happen in a space station near a sort of intergalactic freeway. Intriguing questions are asked :“why does a man volunteer for a job like this? Why does a man run to a silver ring six million miles beyond Pluto, to guard a hole in space?” This story starts an important string of Martin’s protagonists who are all depressed losers (but IN SPACE!) desperately trying to connect to anyone. It’s one of those “loneliness in space” stories, which are my favorite kind. A sprinkling of psychological horror later, the final twist cuts like a knife.
With Morning Comes Mistfall
A science-fiction story with a delicate atmosphere, wondering about the need for man to have unanswered mysteries left in the universe. One of the first of Martin’s stories to deal with the psychology of religion and the supernatural. Again, unfortunately, a clear-cut moral and an answer to those ambiguous questions he rised kinda ruined the ending for me.
The Light of Distant Stars
Martin introduces us to some of his science-fiction stories, and to the reasons the genre appealed to him since his childhood.
A Song for Lya
My personal favorite Martin short story. The first time I read it, I was overwhelmed with feelings. Martin gives some clues about his early life, and this story is the most romantic, the most desperate the most true-sounding of his entire career. We all have this reader's sixth sense that reacts to stories that are maybe not the best-written or the most original, but that come from a painful place, a TRUE place deep inside the writer, deep inside us. A Song for Lya is unfiltered young angst, love and despair, given a cosmic resonance, the quintessential romantic notion of the whole universe reflecting your own internal yearning and conflict.
The pitch is genius and instantly intriguing. Two young lovers with telepathic abilities are send into a mission to a planet inhabited by a queer alien race. Each and every one of those aliens chooses to join itself with a parasitic life-form which slowly consumes them over the course of time. In return, they seem to get some mystical happiness. The telepaths are asked by the authorities to find out the reasons of choosing what looks like volutary suicide and giving up on life, especially when some humans settled on the planet also start to fall for this … religion? Cult? Painful death? Salvation? Is it maybe … love? What is love, anyway? I can only recommend this story for every human being out there, science-fiction lover or not. Some passages are clumsily written and there is some amount of unnecessary description porn. But by gods, this story is REAL.
This Tower of Ashes
Another one of those heartbroken Martin’s protagonists and the recurrent theme of loneliness and dwelling on past relationships. A sort of shorter version of Martin’s novel Dying of the Light, in which the main character is trying to fulfill his promise to an ex-girlfriend, set against the backdrop of a dying planet. Unlike in Dying of the Light, where the story’s length lets us bond somewhat with the flawed characters, this story’s asshole and whiny protagonist didn’t do much for me. The setting is quite dreamy and some descriptions are worth a look, however.
And Sever Times Never Kill Man
This time, it’s about Christianity, colonialism and killing natives. Christianity is called the Steel Angels religion, colonialism happens on a distant planet, and the natives are the Jaenshi, but that’s just window-dressing. Heavy themes of religion, brainwashing and genocide. Pretty gruesome. Contains the first appearance of a “winter is coming” in a Martin’s tale. Amusingly enough, the cover art depicting the Jaenshi when this short story was published inspired the Star Wars wookie (and thus Chewbacca’s) look.
The Stone City
A strange story mixing an absurd space bureaucracy à la Brazil or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a social commentary on poverty and the rejects of society, and a dream-like setting with a sort of nexus of realities. Only missing a (space!) kitchen-sink.
Bitterblooms
An interesting hybrid of scifi and fantasy, throwing into the mix the famous Clarke’s Third Law. Featuring a rapey space witch.
The Way of Cross and Dragon
A priest of the Christianity!Inspace religion is sent to investigate on a heretic cult which worships Judas Iscariot as a dragonrider. One of Martin’s award-winning stories. It was running on “tell, don’t show” the whole damn time. Such interesting themes and musings on religion and belief and existentialism, but man was I feeling that I’m reading a slightly dolled-up essay.
The Heirs of Turtle Castle
An introduction to Martin’s fantasy section. Apart from bashing Tom Bombadil (which I can’t condone), he recalls his beginnings in fantasy, starting with a … pet turtle family playing games of thrones.
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr
I guess Martin was going for a romantic, lush, dreamlike fantasy feeling, similar to Lovecraft’s Dreamlands stories. What we got was an insufferably precious and insipid tale about a lonely man living in a lonely place (starting to sound familiar?) and a girl who inexplicably falls into his arms, prances around his castle for a while, then leaves. The only interesting parts are a few snippets of Lovecraftian horror behind that shiny crystal fantasy glory, but that’s not much.
The Ice Dragon
On the other hand, this is a very effective fantasy story and mood piece, presenting us with a simple tale of war, dragons and coming of age in a fantasy land (again, sounds familiar?) You can almost feel the chill of the winter and see the sad, frozen tears of the protagonist.
In the Lost Lands
An almost western-like road trip and a tale of shape-shifting, desire and magic. Pretty effective. Features a badass female wise-woman and sorcerer as a protagonist.
Hybrids and Horrors
In this sections, Martin tries to answer the timeless question : why do we like horror stories? It’s probably the most visceral and instinctive genre of all, and there’s no easy answer (except perhaps masochism). Of course, Martin gives us his own answer : “the best horror stories are stories first and horror second”.
Meathouse Man
A meandering and grim tale, featuring yet another one of those Martin’s male protagonists to whom human interactions are both a painful desire and an unfathomable mystery and who suffers from loneliness, depression and a broken heart. To give you some idea of the charming grimness of the story, the titular “Meathouse” is a prostitution business where the sex workers are corpses reanimated and controlled by neural impulses. Yup, it’s one of those stories.
I’m not sure about this one. It certainly has some real darkness within, but it also appears grim for the sake of being grim (the difference between the two is the one between the Red Wedding and the show’s lovingly depicted deluxe extended versions of Ramsey Bolton’s tortures). The protagonist is certainly suffering and depressed, but he’s not really all that developed beyond that, and some parts of the story are inexplicably written in an experimental style, with broken sentences or a script-like style.
Remembering Melody
Now this one’s a good one. An effective horror story about a grown-up man being visited by his college friend, one of those who’s always taking and never giving back, always getting into shitty situations and expecting everyone to get her out of them, always addicted to something, always sucking everything out of you and then leaving without any notice or word, and always expecting you to give more, more, more, and passively-aggressively bullying you if you ever try to put a limit on such a damaging “friendship”. You know. Anyway, Ted, the protagonist, wants her out of his life. But she’s not gonna leave that easily. Oooooh no. One of those horror stories that’s really likely to bring a chill down your spine.
SandkingsOne of Martin’s most famous stories, and for good reason. It’s a classic “monster” tale about an exotic animals’ collector acquiring some new pets which seem to be more complex and developed than those he had before. Also more dangerous. An excellent example of Martin’s perfected mix of horror, world-building and an asshole protagonist whom we still have some sympathy for.
Nightflyers
And strange and pulpy whodunit (IN SPACE!), reminiscent of Alien. It is ostensibly about a crew of (asshole) scientists following the "volcryn", a strange organism that’s been flying through space for thousands, maybe even millions of years. But that plots gets shoved aside when someone starts murdering people onboard the spaceship and it gets stranger and stranger, with moments of b-movie horror and the successive deaths of the protagonists. The ending left me quite cold. I found the characters weak, and the answer behind the killings not very compelling.
The Monkey Treatment
A simple and excellent body horror tale about a man who wants to lose weight by getting a monkey stuck on his back, stealing any food he tries to eat. The peculiar tone, oscillating between horror and humor, is also to be noted. The ending features one of the most both horrific and humorous images I’ve read about in years.
The Pear-Shaped Man
An authentically nightmarish tale, one which genuinely frightened me and made me look nervously behind corners for a whole evening. “Into every girl’s life a Pear-shaped Man must fall”, muses one of the characters in the story. The titular Man is a walking uncanny-valley nightmare, and the horror goes crescendo, until the inevitable and unforgettable ending.
A Taste of Tuf
A brief introduction to Martin’s "Tuf Voyaging" stories about an "ecologic engineer", travelling from planet to planet and helping people with environmental issues.
A Beast for Norn
Ok, I have to admit, despite him being a very distinctive character, I don’t really like Tuf. He’s a pompous asshole, patronizes everyone who has the impertinence to disagree with him and has random traits such as being a vegetarian and loving cats and mushrooms which are more Shyamalan-style quirks than a genuinely interesting personality. I guess Martin was going for sarcastic, dry-witted and morally-ambiguous, but it didn’t work for me. This tale is particularly outrageous with Tuf destroying a whole planet’s economy just to make a (pompous and trite) point. Yup.
Guardians
Tuf’s still an ass, but the story is slightly more interesting, touching on themes of sentience, animal rights and ecology.
The Siren of Hollywood
Martin reminisces about being a short-lived writer for the legendary Twilight Zone and some of his other TV-projects.
The Twilight Zone : ‘The Road Less Traveled’
A classic-sounding speculative story going back to some themes explored all the way back in The Hero. It’s all about the choice of one guy not to go to Vietnam and his life after that, with a supernatural twist.
Doorways
A script for a pilot episode of a series that never saw the light of day. It’s basically about this science-fiction-y travelling between worlds thingy, when two unlikely protagonists meet and are thrown into a post-apocalyptic earth where they have to fend for themselves. Hints of a larger mythology and world-building are sprinkled throughout the episode. In the end, this mix between Doctor Who and Sliders feels engaging enough, albeit reading a script that’s supposed to be seen on a TV screen is sometimes a tad awkward and not as engaging as if it was in written story format.
Doing the Wild Card Shuffle
Martin’s review of his involvement with the Wild Cards series, which he was sometimes the editor, and sometimes the writer for. Wild Cards is an ongoing superhero series with an ensemble cast, depicting a parallel earth where a strange virus gave superpowers to some.
Shell Games
A neo-noir mystery with a dangerously Tuf-like protagonist and a damsel in distress called Angel. Yup, it sounds all too similar to the Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark story for my tastes. It was probably unintended. Some of the characters are intriguing, and the world building is, as always, stellar, but too many clichés riddle this superhero romp. Or, maybe I’m just not that interested in the whole concept.
From the Journal of Xavier Desmond
The format is the problem here. This “short story” is actually bits and pieces Martin wrote to go between full-fledged Wild Cards stories, to tie them all up into one narrative. I’m sure it’s a very interesting exercise for a writer. It’s a less interesting experience for the reader to read these bits without the accompanying narratives.
The Heart in Conflict
The last of Martin’s interludes has a more solemn tone, because Martin’s trying to encompass and define all his very diverse stories into one reason and purpose : which is, of course, writing about the “human heart in conflict with itself”.
Under Siege
A slightly less yawn-inducing reworking of The Fortress. With a bit less chest-thumping nationalism and a bit more science-fiction. The heroic historical figures are displaced by a crippled and loner protagonist who’s trying to change the course of history … from the future.
The Skin Trade
This one’s a pretty long short story or a short novel, spanning around 70 pages. It’s first and foremost a skinchanger story told in a neo-noir setting with a detective investigation going on. In a run-down town, a powerful and rich family has some good old fashioned werewolves in their midst. Their paths run across those of a (frankly unprofessional and annoying) female detective and a lonely man-child of a werewolf. The story convincingly establishes a setting and a tone, right until the WTF supernatural ending.
Unsound Variations
This one’s where time travel and chess converge. This combination is interesting, but the protagonists, all unlikeable, can test a reader’s patience.
The Glass Flower
“The Glass Flower” is reminiscent of those sensory-overload fantasy and scifi tales that are all about the atmosphere and setting, such as Martin’s own Stone City or In the Lost Lands. Martin piles ideas one on top of the other in a breathtaking mess : androids philosophize about life and death, supernatural slavery (IN SPACE!) is discussed, winged creatures fight space criminals, the usual asshole protagonist (a woman, for a change) waxes Nietzsche-ian about the relativity of morality, the sprawling “Thousand Worlds” lore is expanded even further, and the numerous references to the sex life of an old mind in an underage body are thrown in just for the fun. This story’s delightfully weird and uninhibited, unconcerned about coherence or restraint, and is all the better for it.
The Hedge Knight – A TALE OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS
Yep, I have no impartial opinion on this one. I love it to bits, Dunk is, refreshingly, not an asshole, and the secondary characters and the sense of setting are wonderful (it’s Westeros! Yay!) Think of Dunk as a male Brienne, too naïve for his own good, but managing to get out of trouble by his sheer determination and kindness (and also a good punch or two).
Portraits of His Children
A psychological thriller about a writer and his creations. This one also sounds like it comes from a true place. The story’s about a writer whose creations come to life and visit him after he has a big fight with his daughter. Little by little, we delve into the protagonist’s psyche and both understand and are horrified by his need to turn real life events and feelings into material for his books. This works both as a voyeuristic process and a sort of exorcism that lets him transform the unbearable into stories. The ending is one of those Martin’s trademark ambiguous thngies.
What a career! Martin shows that he can write in any genre. Not every story was a success for me, but every one of them (the juvenilia pieces of the first section excepted) had a least two of the elements that make his writing so famous : 1) original and even extravagant world-building and 2) morally ambiguous characters. The above mentioned strengths can veer into description porn without purpose and asshole characters whose only interesting characteristics are their assholishness.
Still, on the whole, Martin’s heart, the one that’s in conflict with itself just like everyone else’s, is in the right place. His romanticism, mentioned in the Prologue, saves the day. He clearly believes in his characters, in their worlds, tries every creative or repulsive thing with panache and passion, and we can’t help but be swept along, even if not everything works.
P.S. : let it be a tribute to Martin that this review has an unhealthy amount of the word "asshole" being used.
June 3, 2009
This is a heavyweight book by a great author. Although not all his stories are in it, most shorts are, and all the best/well known are.
As is unavoidable in a work of this kind, quality is changeable, as the writer learns his trade, some stories age badly while others improve with age. Individual stories range the whole set, from 1 to 5, but they average out, if only for having to wade through some bombs to get to the gems.
A great addition are Martin's own musings, recollections and autobiographical fragments, both on his life and the American science fiction and fantasy scene, from the heroic 60's to the formulaic 80s and the reactions to it.
A great read, the comments part, for anyone interested in writing profesionally.
My own favorites, The Hedge Knight and A different kind of loneliness...
As is unavoidable in a work of this kind, quality is changeable, as the writer learns his trade, some stories age badly while others improve with age. Individual stories range the whole set, from 1 to 5, but they average out, if only for having to wade through some bombs to get to the gems.
A great addition are Martin's own musings, recollections and autobiographical fragments, both on his life and the American science fiction and fantasy scene, from the heroic 60's to the formulaic 80s and the reactions to it.
A great read, the comments part, for anyone interested in writing profesionally.
My own favorites, The Hedge Knight and A different kind of loneliness...
December 30, 2020
Приказни песни възпяват разностранния талант на Дж. Р. Р. Мартин: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...
От дебелия над 800 страници том са отпаднали някои творби от оригиналното издание, навярно защото ги има в други издадени на български преводи, не ми се рови да сравнявам, честно казано, и така селекцията е достатъчно внушително. Джордж Р. Р. Мартин започва с ранни свои творби като историческия разказ “Крепост”, който в края на антологията е симпатично трансформиран във фантастика: “Под обсада”, дяволито намигване от автора, който неведнъж заявява, че не изхвърля нищичко написано. “Само децата се боят от мрака” е наивен хорър за свръхзло, а “И смърт в наследство ни оставя” е както антивоенен, така и с привкус на “Мъртвата зона” на Кинг. Следват призрачни истории като “Героят”, отново в антимилитаристичен дух (и за мен с емоцията на “Вечната война” на Холдеман), “Пътят към Сан Брета” за бъдещите американски магистрали, които са досущ като нашите сега, “Втори вид самота” за полудяването в космически условия и “Мъглите падат на разсъмване” за вечното дирене на науката и жаждата да се запази мистиката вън от нейната разкриваща светлина (“…ще стигнат Луната и няма да има вече Луна”, кой бе написал това?).
Издателска къща БАРД
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...
От дебелия над 800 страници том са отпаднали някои творби от оригиналното издание, навярно защото ги има в други издадени на български преводи, не ми се рови да сравнявам, честно казано, и така селекцията е достатъчно внушително. Джордж Р. Р. Мартин започва с ранни свои творби като историческия разказ “Крепост”, който в края на антологията е симпатично трансформиран във фантастика: “Под обсада”, дяволито намигване от автора, който неведнъж заявява, че не изхвърля нищичко написано. “Само децата се боят от мрака” е наивен хорър за свръхзло, а “И смърт в наследство ни оставя” е както антивоенен, така и с привкус на “Мъртвата зона” на Кинг. Следват призрачни истории като “Героят”, отново в антимилитаристичен дух (и за мен с емоцията на “Вечната война” на Холдеман), “Пътят към Сан Брета” за бъдещите американски магистрали, които са досущ като нашите сега, “Втори вид самота” за полудяването в космически условия и “Мъглите падат на разсъмване” за вечното дирене на науката и жаждата да се запази мистиката вън от нейната разкриваща светлина (“…ще стигнат Луната и няма да има вече Луна”, кой бе написал това?).
Издателска къща БАРД
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...
December 25, 2024
3.5 stars
Like most collections, and particularly retrospectives, there are some hits and misses here. Mostly a matter of taste because Martin really writes in such a huge range of styles and genres. His strengths are always in his characters though, so even if a particular story isn’t a favourite, there are always interesting characters.
Also great in this collection are the extensive author narrative sections where Martin tells us the long and winding road he has had as an author. He didn’t become successful overnight, although certainly ASOIAF cemented his success and the HBO adaptation made him into a mainstream cultural icon.
The audiobook adaptation I listened to is apparently the longest of a few that are listed, clocking in at a whopping 51 hours and 53 minutes! I listened to most of this, but skipped some I had recently listened to, like The Hedge Knight. Anyway, an interesting listen if you’re interested in Martin and his huge range of short fiction.
Like most collections, and particularly retrospectives, there are some hits and misses here. Mostly a matter of taste because Martin really writes in such a huge range of styles and genres. His strengths are always in his characters though, so even if a particular story isn’t a favourite, there are always interesting characters.
Also great in this collection are the extensive author narrative sections where Martin tells us the long and winding road he has had as an author. He didn’t become successful overnight, although certainly ASOIAF cemented his success and the HBO adaptation made him into a mainstream cultural icon.
The audiobook adaptation I listened to is apparently the longest of a few that are listed, clocking in at a whopping 51 hours and 53 minutes! I listened to most of this, but skipped some I had recently listened to, like The Hedge Knight. Anyway, an interesting listen if you’re interested in Martin and his huge range of short fiction.
May 8, 2015
Complete Collection Rating: 8/10 (Really Good)
I'm a big fan of George R.R. Martin and this collection really proves just how versatile a writer he is. Even though a few of the stories fell flat for me, this is a must read collection for any fan of Martin's. In addition, Martin includes autobiographical essays at the beginning of each group of stories, which for me ended up being as interesting and entertaining as the stories themselves.
Story Ratings:
Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark - 6/10 (OK)
The Fortress - 5/10 (Mediocre)
And Death His Legacy - 5/10 (Mediocre)
The Hero - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Exit to San Breta - 6/10 (OK)
The Second Kind of Loneliness - 7/10 (Good)
With Morning Comes Mistfall - 7/10 (Good)
A Song for Lya - 9/10 (Awesome)
This Tower of Ashes - 7/10 (Good)
And Seven Times Never Kill a Man - 5/10 (Mediocre)
The Stone City - 7/10 (Good)
Bitterblooms - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Way of Cross and Dragon - 7/10 (Good)
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Ice Dragon - 8/10 (Really Good)
In the Lost Lands - 8/10 (Really Good)
Meathouse Man - 8/10 (Really Good)
Remembering Melody - 6/10 (OK)
Sandkings - 10/10 (Absolutely, Stunningly Amazing)
Nightflyers - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Monkey Treatment - 7/10 (Good)
The Pear-Shaped Man - 6/10 (OK)
A Beast for Norn - 8/10 (Really Good)
Guardians - 8/10 (Really Good)
Shell Games - 8/10 (Really Good)
From the Journal of Xavier Desmond - 8/10 (Really Good)
Under Siege - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Skin Trade - 8/10 (Really Good)
Unsound Varations - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Glass Flower - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Hedge Knight - 10/10 (Absolutely, Stunningly Amazing)
Portraits of His Children - 8/10 (Really Good)
I'm a big fan of George R.R. Martin and this collection really proves just how versatile a writer he is. Even though a few of the stories fell flat for me, this is a must read collection for any fan of Martin's. In addition, Martin includes autobiographical essays at the beginning of each group of stories, which for me ended up being as interesting and entertaining as the stories themselves.
Story Ratings:
Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark - 6/10 (OK)
The Fortress - 5/10 (Mediocre)
And Death His Legacy - 5/10 (Mediocre)
The Hero - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Exit to San Breta - 6/10 (OK)
The Second Kind of Loneliness - 7/10 (Good)
With Morning Comes Mistfall - 7/10 (Good)
A Song for Lya - 9/10 (Awesome)
This Tower of Ashes - 7/10 (Good)
And Seven Times Never Kill a Man - 5/10 (Mediocre)
The Stone City - 7/10 (Good)
Bitterblooms - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Way of Cross and Dragon - 7/10 (Good)
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Ice Dragon - 8/10 (Really Good)
In the Lost Lands - 8/10 (Really Good)
Meathouse Man - 8/10 (Really Good)
Remembering Melody - 6/10 (OK)
Sandkings - 10/10 (Absolutely, Stunningly Amazing)
Nightflyers - 8/10 (Really Good)
The Monkey Treatment - 7/10 (Good)
The Pear-Shaped Man - 6/10 (OK)
A Beast for Norn - 8/10 (Really Good)
Guardians - 8/10 (Really Good)
Shell Games - 8/10 (Really Good)
From the Journal of Xavier Desmond - 8/10 (Really Good)
Under Siege - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Skin Trade - 8/10 (Really Good)
Unsound Varations - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Glass Flower - 9/10 (Awesome)
The Hedge Knight - 10/10 (Absolutely, Stunningly Amazing)
Portraits of His Children - 8/10 (Really Good)
December 20, 2014
A collection of short works from the master of speculative fiction. Each story charts the course of Martin's career from his days as a fanzine editor to his scriptwriting tenure on the Beauty and the Beast TV series and on to the phenomenon that is A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin provides short autobiographical sketches throughout, confirming the oft-repeated truth that, in writing, there is no such thing as an overnight success. Game of Thrones fans will not be disappointed, however, as the delights on offer include 'The Hedge Knight', a novella set many years before the Targaryans lost the Iron Throne. Unambigious evidence, if any were needed, that Mr Martin fully deserves his current success.
July 7, 2012
A mixed bag of somewhat variable quality. This is probably something that will suit GRRM completionists more than recent fans of the Fire & Ice series, but the autobiographical interludes between the stories are interesting.
October 26, 2023
J'avais envie de lire les textes de SF de George Martin et cet immense recueil est la façon la plus simple de mettre la main dessus. Je n'ai lu aucun roman ou saga de l'auteur, ni en SF, ni en Fantasy.
Ses nouvelles de SF se déroulent tous dans le même univers, même s'il n'y a aucune continuité entre les diverses histoires. C'est du space opéra d'exploitation avec des pouvoirs psioniques, assez pour que certaines intrigues se confondent avec la fantasy ou l'horreur.
Certaines sont les premières histoires qu'il a écrites lorsqu'il était jeune et le format de ce recueil permet de voir la plume et le talent de Martin se développer au fil du temps. (Chaque nouvelle est précédée d'une introduction de l'auteur qui explique où il en était dans sa vie au moment de la rédaction.)
Et il a cette nouvelle : Chanson Pour Lya. Un pur chef d'œuvre. J'ai pleuré. Elle m'a hantée pendant de nombreux jours.
C'est une romance de science fiction qui prend très au sérieux les implications qu'aurait la télépathie sur les relations interpersonnelles. Je n'ai jamais lu la télépathie abordée avec autant de puissance.
Si vous n'avez qu'un truc à lire de George R.R. Martin, lisez ceci.
Ses nouvelles de SF se déroulent tous dans le même univers, même s'il n'y a aucune continuité entre les diverses histoires. C'est du space opéra d'exploitation avec des pouvoirs psioniques, assez pour que certaines intrigues se confondent avec la fantasy ou l'horreur.
Certaines sont les premières histoires qu'il a écrites lorsqu'il était jeune et le format de ce recueil permet de voir la plume et le talent de Martin se développer au fil du temps. (Chaque nouvelle est précédée d'une introduction de l'auteur qui explique où il en était dans sa vie au moment de la rédaction.)
Et il a cette nouvelle : Chanson Pour Lya. Un pur chef d'œuvre. J'ai pleuré. Elle m'a hantée pendant de nombreux jours.
C'est une romance de science fiction qui prend très au sérieux les implications qu'aurait la télépathie sur les relations interpersonnelles. Je n'ai jamais lu la télépathie abordée avec autant de puissance.
Si vous n'avez qu'un truc à lire de George R.R. Martin, lisez ceci.
August 21, 2020
Оказва се, че Мартин е майстор не само на фентъзи романите и историческите доклади за собствения му измислен свят (които се четат като романи, he's that good), но и на разказите и новелите. Бард осакатяват оригиналните два тома Приказни песни, като премахват половината разкази (поради наличието им в други техни сборници и издания) и така издават само един том, така че ще се наложи още да наваксвам... Но въпреки това бе истинско удоволствие да чета тази книга. Мартин пише в различни жанрове, хибриди от такива, или въобще отказва да поставя етикети на историите с�� - важното е, че те идват от сърцето му, и че перфектно успява да илюстрира човека (или извънземното), неговата душа и неговите взаимоотношения, без значение дали "обстановката" е фентъзи, хорър или научна фантастика.
Любими разкази:
"Крепост"
"Терапия с маймуни"
"Човекът круша"
"Търговия с кожи" (новела)
"Губещи варианти"
"Портрети на неговите деца"
Любими разкази:
"Крепост"
"Терапия с маймуни"
"Човекът круша"
"Търговия с кожи" (новела)
"Губещи варианти"
"Портрети на неговите деца"
June 14, 2015
Riding on the first wave of success for his massive series A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin and Subterranean published this equally massive tome with an overview of his career up to that point in 2003. It has since been reprinted by Gollancz and Bantam under various tittles, sometimes in one volume, sometimes in two or three. I own the Gollancz edition from 2007. One of the one volume ones. It weighs in at 1185 pages and contains an introduction by Gardner Dozois, nine essays, thirty-four pieces of short fiction and a bibliography. It is, in other words, quite an exhaustive read. I've been going over it in the past few months for a Dutch language project over at Hebban. That project involves ten articles and will probably total something close to twenty-thousand words. It's a bit much to do the whole thing over again in English (it would have to be substantially rewritten for a different audience) so I figured I'd try for a more conventional review for Random Comments. With so much material to cover it turned out to be a bit on the long side so I am splitting it in three parts.
part 1, part 2, part 3
For the people who read Dutch, the first part of a Dutch language series of articles can be found here.
part 1, part 2, part 3
For the people who read Dutch, the first part of a Dutch language series of articles can be found here.
October 3, 2012
Amazing collection. It was so great to hear the stories behind the wonderful stories in this collection. I found Martin to be someone who really believes in the literary merit science fiction and fantasy. As someone who has Never read a song of ice and fire (gasp!) I really enjoyed Martin's science fiction. His sf is not overtly technical maybe even a little dated by today's standard, but the stories are just so good! The themes of loneliness and isolation - in terms of geography and from other human beings - are very recurring in his stories. A song for lya is a great example of this isolation from our loved ones, even when we occupy the same space. I really recommend this book to fans of the author and even to those (like me when I purchased this book a few years ago) have never even heard of George R.R Martin. There is something in here for everyone.
October 14, 2016
As far as bargain purchases go, Dreamsongs was the second-best one I made in 2016. I signed up for a free three-month trial membership to Audible on Prime Day, and picked this up (retail value: $63.00) for one of the free credits. It's 52 hours long. In print, it's over 1200 pages long. Had it not been for my picking up the signed, limited edition of Joe Lansdale's The Drive-In omnibus for 75% off, this would be the big winner of the year.
I especially like the introductions to each section, where Martin himself tells the history behind the upcoming stories. I'm one of those people who likes to know the behind-the-scenes stuff for most everything (movies, music, books, even Disney rides), so those pieces were enlightening, and right up my alley. It's kind of remarkable how much detail Martin can remember for each section.
The first section highlights stories he wrote early in his career, when he was still more a fan than a writer. The first story, "Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark", is notable because it was Martin's first published story. Frankly, it shows. Like Gaiman's "Featherquest", this story shows us a few flashes of Martin's style, but is otherwise a pedestrian story. It was written to feature characters that were included in a comic fanzine in the 1960s.
Next is "The Fortress", a story he wrote for a history assignment in college. It tells the history of a key concession in the history of Finland, and is compelling, if a little heavy-handed in how it presents the facts. As a story, it seems abrupt and anticlimactic, but it has a nice flow, and again you can see the birth of Martin's style.
"And Death His Legacy" is a story about politics and revolution, anarchy and martyrdom. There are a lot of stories like this out there, and there's not much to set this one above the others, but it has a good pace, and should keep the reader engaged.
The next section showcases stories he wrote as he was breaking into the field. "The Hero" is the first story, and is about a space soldier who has served his time and wants to return home to Earth. According to Martin, he submitted this story along with his application as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, which he believed helped his odds in getting that designation. Reading the story, one can believe it.
The second story is a ghost story titled "The Exit to San Breta". It's nothing particularly original, as far as ghost stories go, but it's set against a futuristic backdrop which gives it a touch of originality. It's not particularly creepy, but it's well-written and engaging.
Next was "The Second Kind of Loneliness", a science fiction/horror story that fits right in with the fiction that was being published in the '70s. If the two earlier stories didn't indicate that Martin was coming into his talents, this one certainly did.
The last story in that section was "With Morning Comes Mistfall", one of Martin's more famous stories. It's a poignant story about mystery and fact, environment and urbanization. It speaks to people who enjoy genre fiction, and it also highlights the importance of fiction having something to say. Stories that are just story, or just character are just fine, but when a story can be both of those things and have something to say at the same time, it's even better.
The third section highlights his earliest science fiction stories, and includes some of his best-know works. The first story, "A Song for Lya", is a story of love, humanity, and religion, and shows that Martin has been "doing it right" for a long time. This story was originally published in 1974, and still has an emotional resonance and theme that could convince you it was written just this year.
"This Tower of Ashes" follows, and is about relationships and love. It's an odd story that seems like it would have a nice emotional punch, but it backfires in the way Martin presents the narrator. But maybe we're not supposed to like him; maybe we're just supposed to pity him.
The next story is "And Seven Times Never Kill Man", an ambitious piece about the religion of violence. Colonizers from Earth have adopted a religion that justifies their Ethnocentrism and manifest destiny, treating any other sentient creatures as subhuman, subject to execution for not cooperating. It has the right kind of punch, similar to that of "A Song for Lya", but its theme is much different. One can feel the frustration coming through the story.
Following that story is "The Stone City", which follows an abandoned crew in a city populated by fox-people (and many other types of aliens). Most of the story follows the main character as he tries to keep his other crewmates alive, but then it devolves into ... something. I listened to the ending twice, and then went and read it for myself, and I'm still not sure what happened at the end of the story. It was like the ending of 2001.
"Bitterblooms" follows, and reads more like a fantasy story than a science fiction story. It's a gentler story, and like "With Morning Comes Mistfall", it's a story about the allure of fantasy over reality. It also has a neat nod to Arthurian legend, and has a fun reversal of the adage about advanced technology and magic. It's not a favorite from the collection, but I liked some of the things the story did.
"The Way of Cross and Dragon" concludes this section, and shows how long Martin was developing the idea behind A Song of Ice and Fire before he even thought about writing it. He already used the names Robb and Lyanna in "A Song for Lya", but here he features legends of dragonriders, and I swear I heard the name Arryn, and one that was close to Targaryen, while listening to this story. It's hard to tell from just listening to it, though; in "The Second Kind of Loneliness", the story featured a woman named Karen and a station named Charon, and I kept getting them confused.
The next section is devoted to Martin's fantasy stories, and is remarkably slim compared to the other sections; it's made up of just three stories. The first, "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr", is about a woman who walks between worlds, and meets up with a gentleman who has been expecting her. It's a gentle sort of story
The second story, "The Ice Dragon", almost has a Song of Ice and Fire feel to it, in setting and character. It's a sad tale of warfare and family, though it's sad for different reasons than one would expect.
"In the Lost Lands" rounds out the section, and it's an intriguing look at religion and its purpose. Hint: Martin uses the word "lie" a lot in the story.
The next section is the one I looked forward to the most, since it comprised his horror/sci-fi stories. Unfortunately, it started with "Meathouse Man", a story that's as unlikable as its main character, and should come with its own trigger warning. I think Martin was intending to highlight how violence desensitizes people, but I would have liked it had he approached it from a different angle (though I suppose I should feel relieved that the story disgusted me, proving that I'm not yet desensitized).
"Remembering Melody" isn't quite as visceral as the preceding story, but it's another tough read due to its unlikable characters. It has a better theme -- a burnt-out hippie reunites with an old acquaintance -- and is better presented, but it evokes more pity and frustration than the disgust of "Meathouse Man". It lives up to its genre, though, creating a nice, spooky atmosphere and an ending that should create a shiver or two.
"Sandkings" follows, and is likely Martin's best known work, outside of A Song of Ice and Fire. There's a good reason. If you haven't read it, find it and do so. I'm not going to spoil anything about it here.
The next story is "Nightflyers", a long piece about paranoia in deep space. I had a hard time following it, due to the number of characters and their interactions, though I blame that on listening to the story as opposed to reading it. I have this in print, as well, and expect to get a better understanding of it when I get around to actually reading it. Something to note is that this story was broken across four chapters, and the second one was of a notably poorer recording quality than the other three.
"The Monkey Treatment" follows, and it's one of my favorite stories. I've never read something as equally horrifying and hilarious as it. I believe this was my first exposure to Martin, and it's a story that holds up well.
Following that story is "The Pear-Shaped Man", which won Martin a Bram Stoker award, and is a story I had never read before. I think the story is effective, if a little off-kilter. I find it interesting that Martin uses similar imagery in both this story and "The Monkey Treatment" to evoke horror in the readers and central characters.
The next section highlights Martin's Haviland Tuf character, who features in the book Tuf Voyaging. The first story in that section is "A Beast for Norn", a fun story that hearkens back to Kurosawa's Yojimbo, though with a lighter touch. I had a feeling the story was heading where it wound up, since Tuf seemed to be a more empathetic character than the story led him to be, but it was still a fun read. Er, listen.
The second Tuf story in this section is "Guardians", a curious story about sentience and co-existence. It wasn't quite as engaging as "A Beast for Norn", but it maintained the character of Tuf and kept me wondering. I liked how he used the names of the kittens in the story to symbolize what was happening.
The following section is about Martin's time in Hollywood, and the introduction gives an overview of how he got involved with it, and how he stayed in it. It also includes two teleplays, which weren't included in the audiobook. In a way, it makes sense. A straight reading of the script would be dull, but at the same time, a script makes a perfect opportunity for a multi-narrator production. They put sound effects in the Aftermath audiobooks, but they couldn't do it for two shorter works? I checked out a copy of the book at the library so I could read them.
"The Road Less Traveled" is an episode he wrote when he worked on The Twilight Zone reboot, and it's moving and effective, though nothing new in the world of fiction. In fact, it read like a truncated version of Time and Chance by Alan Brennert, who also worked on the show.
"Doorways" is the script for the pilot of the show Martin pitched to the networks, which has a lot of similarities to the later show Sliders. Interestingly, he pitched his show to Fox, who didn't pick it up, though he makes no mention of Sliders in his introduction. The story is engaging, and has a few elements I didn't expect, though it contains a handful of cliches.
Following that section is one that highlight's some of Martin's contributions to the Wild Cards series. The first story, "Shell Games", is the origin story of one of Martin's characters, but the books are called mosaic novels, because they're written by different people, all using each others' characters. Martin includes a character who was a main character in another author's story, and I felt like I was missing a lot of his backstory to get a good feel for him. The story is more or less self-contained, but I don't think it works out of context of the larger work.
"From the Journal of Xavier Desmond" is an interlude story that takes place among the main stories in Aces Abroad, and is a look at prejudice through the eyes of a Joker, which is a superhero with a deformity (the superheroes who still look human are called Aces). It's also a look at all of the social issues that were prevalent in the 1980s -- AIDS, hunger in Africa, and the Ayatollah. Again, I feel like the piece would work better in context with the story that would surround it.
The last section of the book comprises a handful of stories that refuse to fit in one genre or another. In his introduction, Martin talks about how fiction, no matter what the genre, can be boiled down to just being stories. To prove it, he gives us "Under Siege", a science fiction retelling of the same story he wrote for "The Fortress", way back in the first section of the book. The changes are substantial, though the beginnings of both are, as near as I could tell, identical.
The next story is "The Skin Trade", a novella I read once years before. My only memory of it was that it involved werewolves, so this re-read was a nice surprise. It's a big story, comprising at least four chapters in the audiobook, and it does a good job of combining horror with noir. It alternates between two different characters' points of view, male and female, so the producers had two different people read the alternating sections. I liked the story and the presentation, though it was unfortunate that a disabled tertiary character was continually described as "crippled".
"Unsound Variations" is a chess story, which is about as exciting as it sounds. Martin manages to tell a compelling enough story (which isn't all about chess, but serves as its backdrop), but he populates it with unlikable characters. The antagonist was less a complex character and more a petty shell, and that pettiness brought nothing of value to the story. The message of the story redeems it, and once I got to the end of the story, I realized it was one of the stronger stories in the collection, despite its inauspicious beginning.
"The Glass Flower" follows, and is about a game of minds between a Wisdom, a cyborg, and a third character who didn't seem all that important to the story. I had a hard time getting into it, namely because it was mostly trying to set a futuristic scene, which seems to be more difficult when someone is reading it aloud. Once events were set in motion, it was easier to follow the story, but it was tough getting into at the beginning. I kept getting lost amid all the description.
"The Hedge Knight", which at the time of this collection's publication was previously unpublished, is well-known now as the first of the Dunk and Egg stories set in Westeros. I've reviewed this story before, and still like it a great deal. I'll like pretty much anything that expands on the mythology of Westeros, on principle alone.
"Portraits of His Children" is a darker story, with a hefty theme. It looks at a writer who sees other people's lives as material, and how it can come back and hurt him as much as it hurts the people he uses for inspiration. The ending makes the reader question what has actually just happened, but not in a good way. The story makes perfect sense until the last paragraph, and now I wonder: What was the point?
This is a tremendous collection of stories, most of which are good, and highlight Martin's distinctive style. I was surprised at how much Martin seems to tell instead of show, though without losing the impact of his stories. He likes the word "wan" a lot, I noticed, and he sure does like the word "song": Dreamsongs; Songs the Dead Men Sing; "A Song for Lya"; A Song of Ice and Fire. Like most collections, the stories are hit or miss, but there are more hits than misses here, and the hits that are here are strong enough to overcome the weaker stories. This is probably a collection best suited for the more hardcore fans, but it's a good overview of Martin's career, good and bad.
I especially like the introductions to each section, where Martin himself tells the history behind the upcoming stories. I'm one of those people who likes to know the behind-the-scenes stuff for most everything (movies, music, books, even Disney rides), so those pieces were enlightening, and right up my alley. It's kind of remarkable how much detail Martin can remember for each section.
The first section highlights stories he wrote early in his career, when he was still more a fan than a writer. The first story, "Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark", is notable because it was Martin's first published story. Frankly, it shows. Like Gaiman's "Featherquest", this story shows us a few flashes of Martin's style, but is otherwise a pedestrian story. It was written to feature characters that were included in a comic fanzine in the 1960s.
Next is "The Fortress", a story he wrote for a history assignment in college. It tells the history of a key concession in the history of Finland, and is compelling, if a little heavy-handed in how it presents the facts. As a story, it seems abrupt and anticlimactic, but it has a nice flow, and again you can see the birth of Martin's style.
"And Death His Legacy" is a story about politics and revolution, anarchy and martyrdom. There are a lot of stories like this out there, and there's not much to set this one above the others, but it has a good pace, and should keep the reader engaged.
The next section showcases stories he wrote as he was breaking into the field. "The Hero" is the first story, and is about a space soldier who has served his time and wants to return home to Earth. According to Martin, he submitted this story along with his application as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, which he believed helped his odds in getting that designation. Reading the story, one can believe it.
The second story is a ghost story titled "The Exit to San Breta". It's nothing particularly original, as far as ghost stories go, but it's set against a futuristic backdrop which gives it a touch of originality. It's not particularly creepy, but it's well-written and engaging.
Next was "The Second Kind of Loneliness", a science fiction/horror story that fits right in with the fiction that was being published in the '70s. If the two earlier stories didn't indicate that Martin was coming into his talents, this one certainly did.
The last story in that section was "With Morning Comes Mistfall", one of Martin's more famous stories. It's a poignant story about mystery and fact, environment and urbanization. It speaks to people who enjoy genre fiction, and it also highlights the importance of fiction having something to say. Stories that are just story, or just character are just fine, but when a story can be both of those things and have something to say at the same time, it's even better.
The third section highlights his earliest science fiction stories, and includes some of his best-know works. The first story, "A Song for Lya", is a story of love, humanity, and religion, and shows that Martin has been "doing it right" for a long time. This story was originally published in 1974, and still has an emotional resonance and theme that could convince you it was written just this year.
"This Tower of Ashes" follows, and is about relationships and love. It's an odd story that seems like it would have a nice emotional punch, but it backfires in the way Martin presents the narrator. But maybe we're not supposed to like him; maybe we're just supposed to pity him.
The next story is "And Seven Times Never Kill Man", an ambitious piece about the religion of violence. Colonizers from Earth have adopted a religion that justifies their Ethnocentrism and manifest destiny, treating any other sentient creatures as subhuman, subject to execution for not cooperating. It has the right kind of punch, similar to that of "A Song for Lya", but its theme is much different. One can feel the frustration coming through the story.
Following that story is "The Stone City", which follows an abandoned crew in a city populated by fox-people (and many other types of aliens). Most of the story follows the main character as he tries to keep his other crewmates alive, but then it devolves into ... something. I listened to the ending twice, and then went and read it for myself, and I'm still not sure what happened at the end of the story. It was like the ending of 2001.
"Bitterblooms" follows, and reads more like a fantasy story than a science fiction story. It's a gentler story, and like "With Morning Comes Mistfall", it's a story about the allure of fantasy over reality. It also has a neat nod to Arthurian legend, and has a fun reversal of the adage about advanced technology and magic. It's not a favorite from the collection, but I liked some of the things the story did.
"The Way of Cross and Dragon" concludes this section, and shows how long Martin was developing the idea behind A Song of Ice and Fire before he even thought about writing it. He already used the names Robb and Lyanna in "A Song for Lya", but here he features legends of dragonriders, and I swear I heard the name Arryn, and one that was close to Targaryen, while listening to this story. It's hard to tell from just listening to it, though; in "The Second Kind of Loneliness", the story featured a woman named Karen and a station named Charon, and I kept getting them confused.
The next section is devoted to Martin's fantasy stories, and is remarkably slim compared to the other sections; it's made up of just three stories. The first, "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr", is about a woman who walks between worlds, and meets up with a gentleman who has been expecting her. It's a gentle sort of story
The second story, "The Ice Dragon", almost has a Song of Ice and Fire feel to it, in setting and character. It's a sad tale of warfare and family, though it's sad for different reasons than one would expect.
"In the Lost Lands" rounds out the section, and it's an intriguing look at religion and its purpose. Hint: Martin uses the word "lie" a lot in the story.
The next section is the one I looked forward to the most, since it comprised his horror/sci-fi stories. Unfortunately, it started with "Meathouse Man", a story that's as unlikable as its main character, and should come with its own trigger warning. I think Martin was intending to highlight how violence desensitizes people, but I would have liked it had he approached it from a different angle (though I suppose I should feel relieved that the story disgusted me, proving that I'm not yet desensitized).
"Remembering Melody" isn't quite as visceral as the preceding story, but it's another tough read due to its unlikable characters. It has a better theme -- a burnt-out hippie reunites with an old acquaintance -- and is better presented, but it evokes more pity and frustration than the disgust of "Meathouse Man". It lives up to its genre, though, creating a nice, spooky atmosphere and an ending that should create a shiver or two.
"Sandkings" follows, and is likely Martin's best known work, outside of A Song of Ice and Fire. There's a good reason. If you haven't read it, find it and do so. I'm not going to spoil anything about it here.
The next story is "Nightflyers", a long piece about paranoia in deep space. I had a hard time following it, due to the number of characters and their interactions, though I blame that on listening to the story as opposed to reading it. I have this in print, as well, and expect to get a better understanding of it when I get around to actually reading it. Something to note is that this story was broken across four chapters, and the second one was of a notably poorer recording quality than the other three.
"The Monkey Treatment" follows, and it's one of my favorite stories. I've never read something as equally horrifying and hilarious as it. I believe this was my first exposure to Martin, and it's a story that holds up well.
Following that story is "The Pear-Shaped Man", which won Martin a Bram Stoker award, and is a story I had never read before. I think the story is effective, if a little off-kilter. I find it interesting that Martin uses similar imagery in both this story and "The Monkey Treatment" to evoke horror in the readers and central characters.
The next section highlights Martin's Haviland Tuf character, who features in the book Tuf Voyaging. The first story in that section is "A Beast for Norn", a fun story that hearkens back to Kurosawa's Yojimbo, though with a lighter touch. I had a feeling the story was heading where it wound up, since Tuf seemed to be a more empathetic character than the story led him to be, but it was still a fun read. Er, listen.
The second Tuf story in this section is "Guardians", a curious story about sentience and co-existence. It wasn't quite as engaging as "A Beast for Norn", but it maintained the character of Tuf and kept me wondering. I liked how he used the names of the kittens in the story to symbolize what was happening.
The following section is about Martin's time in Hollywood, and the introduction gives an overview of how he got involved with it, and how he stayed in it. It also includes two teleplays, which weren't included in the audiobook. In a way, it makes sense. A straight reading of the script would be dull, but at the same time, a script makes a perfect opportunity for a multi-narrator production. They put sound effects in the Aftermath audiobooks, but they couldn't do it for two shorter works? I checked out a copy of the book at the library so I could read them.
"The Road Less Traveled" is an episode he wrote when he worked on The Twilight Zone reboot, and it's moving and effective, though nothing new in the world of fiction. In fact, it read like a truncated version of Time and Chance by Alan Brennert, who also worked on the show.
"Doorways" is the script for the pilot of the show Martin pitched to the networks, which has a lot of similarities to the later show Sliders. Interestingly, he pitched his show to Fox, who didn't pick it up, though he makes no mention of Sliders in his introduction. The story is engaging, and has a few elements I didn't expect, though it contains a handful of cliches.
Following that section is one that highlight's some of Martin's contributions to the Wild Cards series. The first story, "Shell Games", is the origin story of one of Martin's characters, but the books are called mosaic novels, because they're written by different people, all using each others' characters. Martin includes a character who was a main character in another author's story, and I felt like I was missing a lot of his backstory to get a good feel for him. The story is more or less self-contained, but I don't think it works out of context of the larger work.
"From the Journal of Xavier Desmond" is an interlude story that takes place among the main stories in Aces Abroad, and is a look at prejudice through the eyes of a Joker, which is a superhero with a deformity (the superheroes who still look human are called Aces). It's also a look at all of the social issues that were prevalent in the 1980s -- AIDS, hunger in Africa, and the Ayatollah. Again, I feel like the piece would work better in context with the story that would surround it.
The last section of the book comprises a handful of stories that refuse to fit in one genre or another. In his introduction, Martin talks about how fiction, no matter what the genre, can be boiled down to just being stories. To prove it, he gives us "Under Siege", a science fiction retelling of the same story he wrote for "The Fortress", way back in the first section of the book. The changes are substantial, though the beginnings of both are, as near as I could tell, identical.
The next story is "The Skin Trade", a novella I read once years before. My only memory of it was that it involved werewolves, so this re-read was a nice surprise. It's a big story, comprising at least four chapters in the audiobook, and it does a good job of combining horror with noir. It alternates between two different characters' points of view, male and female, so the producers had two different people read the alternating sections. I liked the story and the presentation, though it was unfortunate that a disabled tertiary character was continually described as "crippled".
"Unsound Variations" is a chess story, which is about as exciting as it sounds. Martin manages to tell a compelling enough story (which isn't all about chess, but serves as its backdrop), but he populates it with unlikable characters. The antagonist was less a complex character and more a petty shell, and that pettiness brought nothing of value to the story. The message of the story redeems it, and once I got to the end of the story, I realized it was one of the stronger stories in the collection, despite its inauspicious beginning.
"The Glass Flower" follows, and is about a game of minds between a Wisdom, a cyborg, and a third character who didn't seem all that important to the story. I had a hard time getting into it, namely because it was mostly trying to set a futuristic scene, which seems to be more difficult when someone is reading it aloud. Once events were set in motion, it was easier to follow the story, but it was tough getting into at the beginning. I kept getting lost amid all the description.
"The Hedge Knight", which at the time of this collection's publication was previously unpublished, is well-known now as the first of the Dunk and Egg stories set in Westeros. I've reviewed this story before, and still like it a great deal. I'll like pretty much anything that expands on the mythology of Westeros, on principle alone.
"Portraits of His Children" is a darker story, with a hefty theme. It looks at a writer who sees other people's lives as material, and how it can come back and hurt him as much as it hurts the people he uses for inspiration. The ending makes the reader question what has actually just happened, but not in a good way. The story makes perfect sense until the last paragraph, and now I wonder: What was the point?
This is a tremendous collection of stories, most of which are good, and highlight Martin's distinctive style. I was surprised at how much Martin seems to tell instead of show, though without losing the impact of his stories. He likes the word "wan" a lot, I noticed, and he sure does like the word "song": Dreamsongs; Songs the Dead Men Sing; "A Song for Lya"; A Song of Ice and Fire. Like most collections, the stories are hit or miss, but there are more hits than misses here, and the hits that are here are strong enough to overcome the weaker stories. This is probably a collection best suited for the more hardcore fans, but it's a good overview of Martin's career, good and bad.
January 8, 2023
Note: This book is also sold as two separate volumes, so don't get Volume I or II confused with the complete collection.
If you never heard of George Martin before the world discovered his magnum opus, A Song of Ice and Fire (known to the TV world only as A Game of Thrones), you might be surprised to discover he didn't spring into being a fully formed fantasy author, like Athena from Zeus's brow. He actually has a past, in which he wrote and published things in various genres, won some awards, and gained moderate fame and acclaim in certain circles. He likes to point out a bit sardonically that he's a frequent Hugo and Nebula award loser, coming in second to quite a few authors you probably heard of long before you heard of him. Dreamsongs is a collection of that past. I personally was shocked, for no good reason, to learn that he was being nominated for and sometimes winning science fiction and fantasy awards for his short stories and novellas back in the 1970s, and that he was writing for TV in the 1980s.
Dreamsongs is a monster collection, and it's a lot of Martin to take in all at once, but because it's mostly short stories with a few novellas, it's good as something you dip in and out of between other reads. And if you know nothing about him but ASOIAF (which I admit I didn't), it's a revelation.
The collection as a whole is a largely chronological tour of his writing career (and yes, that means the most mature writing and many of the best stories are in the second half), during which he got started as a kid writing superhero stories, wrote mostly science fiction in the 70s, branched into fantasy, horror, and paranormal in the 80s, and the last section brings his various forays into genre writing full circle, where he has realized that a good story doesn't have to be limited by genre, or even limited to a single genre. Some of my favorite stories are the most overtly genre-bending of any of them: a haunted house story set in a spaceship, a gumshoe detective story featuring werewolves, a time-travel story focusing on the Russian siege of Sveaborg in the 1808 Finnish War.
I'm not actually a big fan of the short story as a form – you might say my motto is, “Any story worth telling is worth telling at length.” I love long, dense novels that you can really get deeply invested in, that you can live inside for weeks at a time. I picked up Dreamsongs not because I love reading short stories, but because it was on mad sale and I was curious to know more about where George Martin came from. And sure enough, a lot of the stories in here leave me feeling the way I usually feel when I read short stories... if it's good, I generally wish there was more. And a lot of it was good, and I did want more.
To me, the ideal short story is kind of like a really good, well-told joke – the pacing has to be spot-on, and the punch line hits you in the gut at the end, and there's not one thing more you could say to make it better. There are really just a handful here that I felt were perfectly crafted: The Second Kind of Loneliness and The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr are probably my two favorites, and I also really liked Sand Kings, Nightflyers, The Skin Trade, The Glass Flower, and The Hedge Knight. There were very few that I just flat-out did not like – Martin is an awesome generator of ideas and a master storyteller at every length and in every genre.
Audio Notes: My favorite thing about the audio version of Dreamsongs is that it features Martin himself narrating his personal introductions to the various sections, and it reads a little like an autobiography featuring many exhibits of his work during the different stages of his writing career. Martin doesn't have a technically good narrator's voice, and he's not likely to ever be engaged to professionally narrate any of his own work. But he's curiously charming, and his sense of dramatic storytelling is just as spot-on when he's narrating as it is when he's writing... to the point that he can tell you about his ordinary white-bread childhood growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey, and have you eating it up and panting for more. For the various stories, there are an assortment of narrators, and they range from quite good to ho-hum.
The audio version of Dreamsongs is technically incomplete, but unless you are a true completist, don't let that bother you. The only items missing from it are two television scripts from the “Siren Song of Hollywood” section. Yes, he briefly wrote for one of the later incarnations of The Twilight Zone.
Table of Contents
A FOUR-COLOR FANBOY
Only Kids Are Afraid Of The Dark
The Fortress
And Death His Legacy
THE FILTHY PRO
The Hero
The Exit To San Breta
The Second Kind Of Loneliness
With Morning Comes Mistfall
THE LIGHT OF DISTANT STARS
A Song For Lya
This Tower Of Ashes
And Seven Times Never Kill A Man
The Stone City
Bitterblooms
The Way Of Cross And Dragon
THE HEIRS OF TURTLE CASTLE
The Lonely Songs Of Laren Dorr
The Ice Dragon
In The Lost Lands
HYBRIDS & HORRORS
Meathouse Man
Remembering Melody
Sandkings
Nightflyers
The Monkey Treatment
The Pear-Shaped Man
A TASTE OF TUF
A Beast For Norn
Guardians
THE SIREN SONG OF HOLLYWOOD
The Twilight Zone: “The Road Less Traveled” [cut from the audiobook edition]
Doorways [cut from the audiobook edition]
DOING THE WILD CARD SHUFFLE
Shell Games
From The Journal Of Xavier Desmond
THE HEART IN CONFLICT
Under Siege
The Skin Trade
Unsound Variations
The Glass Flower
The Hedge Knight
Portraits Of His Children
If you never heard of George Martin before the world discovered his magnum opus, A Song of Ice and Fire (known to the TV world only as A Game of Thrones), you might be surprised to discover he didn't spring into being a fully formed fantasy author, like Athena from Zeus's brow. He actually has a past, in which he wrote and published things in various genres, won some awards, and gained moderate fame and acclaim in certain circles. He likes to point out a bit sardonically that he's a frequent Hugo and Nebula award loser, coming in second to quite a few authors you probably heard of long before you heard of him. Dreamsongs is a collection of that past. I personally was shocked, for no good reason, to learn that he was being nominated for and sometimes winning science fiction and fantasy awards for his short stories and novellas back in the 1970s, and that he was writing for TV in the 1980s.
Dreamsongs is a monster collection, and it's a lot of Martin to take in all at once, but because it's mostly short stories with a few novellas, it's good as something you dip in and out of between other reads. And if you know nothing about him but ASOIAF (which I admit I didn't), it's a revelation.
The collection as a whole is a largely chronological tour of his writing career (and yes, that means the most mature writing and many of the best stories are in the second half), during which he got started as a kid writing superhero stories, wrote mostly science fiction in the 70s, branched into fantasy, horror, and paranormal in the 80s, and the last section brings his various forays into genre writing full circle, where he has realized that a good story doesn't have to be limited by genre, or even limited to a single genre. Some of my favorite stories are the most overtly genre-bending of any of them: a haunted house story set in a spaceship, a gumshoe detective story featuring werewolves, a time-travel story focusing on the Russian siege of Sveaborg in the 1808 Finnish War.
I'm not actually a big fan of the short story as a form – you might say my motto is, “Any story worth telling is worth telling at length.” I love long, dense novels that you can really get deeply invested in, that you can live inside for weeks at a time. I picked up Dreamsongs not because I love reading short stories, but because it was on mad sale and I was curious to know more about where George Martin came from. And sure enough, a lot of the stories in here leave me feeling the way I usually feel when I read short stories... if it's good, I generally wish there was more. And a lot of it was good, and I did want more.
To me, the ideal short story is kind of like a really good, well-told joke – the pacing has to be spot-on, and the punch line hits you in the gut at the end, and there's not one thing more you could say to make it better. There are really just a handful here that I felt were perfectly crafted: The Second Kind of Loneliness and The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr are probably my two favorites, and I also really liked Sand Kings, Nightflyers, The Skin Trade, The Glass Flower, and The Hedge Knight. There were very few that I just flat-out did not like – Martin is an awesome generator of ideas and a master storyteller at every length and in every genre.
Audio Notes: My favorite thing about the audio version of Dreamsongs is that it features Martin himself narrating his personal introductions to the various sections, and it reads a little like an autobiography featuring many exhibits of his work during the different stages of his writing career. Martin doesn't have a technically good narrator's voice, and he's not likely to ever be engaged to professionally narrate any of his own work. But he's curiously charming, and his sense of dramatic storytelling is just as spot-on when he's narrating as it is when he's writing... to the point that he can tell you about his ordinary white-bread childhood growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey, and have you eating it up and panting for more. For the various stories, there are an assortment of narrators, and they range from quite good to ho-hum.
The audio version of Dreamsongs is technically incomplete, but unless you are a true completist, don't let that bother you. The only items missing from it are two television scripts from the “Siren Song of Hollywood” section. Yes, he briefly wrote for one of the later incarnations of The Twilight Zone.
Table of Contents
A FOUR-COLOR FANBOY
Only Kids Are Afraid Of The Dark
The Fortress
And Death His Legacy
THE FILTHY PRO
The Hero
The Exit To San Breta
The Second Kind Of Loneliness
With Morning Comes Mistfall
THE LIGHT OF DISTANT STARS
A Song For Lya
This Tower Of Ashes
And Seven Times Never Kill A Man
The Stone City
Bitterblooms
The Way Of Cross And Dragon
THE HEIRS OF TURTLE CASTLE
The Lonely Songs Of Laren Dorr
The Ice Dragon
In The Lost Lands
HYBRIDS & HORRORS
Meathouse Man
Remembering Melody
Sandkings
Nightflyers
The Monkey Treatment
The Pear-Shaped Man
A TASTE OF TUF
A Beast For Norn
Guardians
THE SIREN SONG OF HOLLYWOOD
The Twilight Zone: “The Road Less Traveled” [cut from the audiobook edition]
Doorways [cut from the audiobook edition]
DOING THE WILD CARD SHUFFLE
Shell Games
From The Journal Of Xavier Desmond
THE HEART IN CONFLICT
Under Siege
The Skin Trade
Unsound Variations
The Glass Flower
The Hedge Knight
Portraits Of His Children
January 16, 2013
c2003. I must have missed the explanation of why this is a "rretrospective" unless it is supposed to be a clever echo of the author's middle initial. I had the most strange relationship with this book. I resented its size and weight and frequently decided to stop and class it as a 'DNF'. But then, I would read 'just one more' and then before I knew it - I had finished the book. The tale of the Hedge Knight alone was worth the cost of the physiotherapist for the shoulder troubles. I found some of the introductions to the various 'chapters' more interesting than some of the stories. A mention of Iowa City (Go Hawks) and now I understand after spending some winter time in Iowa, how Mr Martin was inspired to write about an encroaching and never ending winter. I found 'The Exit to San Breta' to have been a nice typical Twilight Zone-like story and was his idea of 'wraiths' ripped off by the Stargate franchise? I have to hunt me some more of the Dunk and Egg stories. Absolutely wonderful. Recommended to those of the crew who lift weights. 'Lonely? Yes. But a solemn, brooding, tragic loneliness that a man hates with a passion - and yet loves so much he craves for more.'
March 22, 2016
i finally got through this!! what a huge thing really. but it covers probably all of martin's pre-GoT stuff and even features one story in the same world. anyways, it was good, i cannot say i didn't like it. i was very surprised in his interest in the Finnish defensive structures called suomenlinna. he wrote two short stories about it! wow. there were some stories that i liked a lot, like the sandkings. what a great story. there were, of course, also enough stories that were not really my thing and not the style i normally read. i hate to give this only three stars, but this is only my personal opinion and it's not martin's fault that i'm not into some of the stories he writes. he seems to be a genius with a vivid imagination. he can write whatever style he wants, and he will be good in it. awesome writer, that is for sure. i will some time later read a bit of GoT, i have the first book here. i'm not sure if i will continue, though. martin is maybe too epic for me there, haha.
February 12, 2017
Kind of ok. The autobiographic part was not that much interesting and the stories were nowhere near the level of his later works and although I am a huge admirer of his work I was not really impressed.
March 19, 2017
A fascinating dive into George RR Martin evolution as a writer
The stories are all quite interesting, even the freshman efforts, they show glimpses of the literary skill Martín has used to construct the far more familiar world of the seven kingdoms.
The stories are all quite interesting, even the freshman efforts, they show glimpses of the literary skill Martín has used to construct the far more familiar world of the seven kingdoms.
August 19, 2018
Remarkable collection, loved the thematic structure. Came away feeling like I'd learned a lot about the craft of writing, publishing and weaving multi-genre stories as much as exploring RR Martin's back catalogue of stories. It was a beast to read but well worth it.
June 19, 2020
Esse livro me acompanhou por meses e não à toa, considerando seu grande comprimento – 1100 páginas ao todo. Se trata de uma coletânea de histórias, contos e roteiros do George Martin – escritos no decorrer de toda sua carreira – intercalados com trechos nos quais ele fala sobre sua trajetória pessoal e profissional. Apesar do tamanho do livro, que de início assusta, a leitura não é difícil. Os textos rapidamente capturam a atenção do leitor e não terminam na última página, habitando a mente de quem lê por um longo tempo após seu término.
Os excelentes contos “O dragão de gelo” e “O cavaleiro andante”, obras já bastante conhecidas e celebradas do autor, estão presentes integralmente. Destaco a parte dedicada à literatura fantástica – uma grande carta de amor do autor ao gênero – e os trechos nos quais ele questiona a própria divisão dos gêneros literários como algumas das melhores partes do livro.
Quem não conhece Martin para além de “As Crônicas de Gelo e Fogo” pode ter nesse livro um maravilhoso início, uma vez que os textos incluídos passam por todos os diversos gêneros explorados por ele. Estão presentes alguns dos melhores trabalhos do autor, sendo “Reis da areia”, “O segundo tipo de solidão” e o “O tratamento do macaco” alguns exemplos. O único ponto negativo do livro, para mim, foi a vontade que fica de comprar toda a obra do autor para continuar a leitura.
George R.R. Martin é um dos poucos autores atuais que escreve bem sobre tudo a que se propõe e faz belo uso disso, tendo uma obra extensa e variada. Destaco aqui também o “Retratos de seus filhos”, último conto da coletânea, no qual trata temas delicados como estupro de forma sensível, ao mesmo tempo em que reflete sobre o preço pago por escritores pela sua obra. Ao terminar a leitura é inevitável lembrar do ponto levantado pelo próprio autor no decorrer do livro: independente do gênero ou formato no qual se apresente, o verdadeiramente importante são as histórias – e Martin se atém ao que diz, nos trazendo acima de tudo histórias impecáveis nesse livro.
Instagram literário @nodunquerque
Os excelentes contos “O dragão de gelo” e “O cavaleiro andante”, obras já bastante conhecidas e celebradas do autor, estão presentes integralmente. Destaco a parte dedicada à literatura fantástica – uma grande carta de amor do autor ao gênero – e os trechos nos quais ele questiona a própria divisão dos gêneros literários como algumas das melhores partes do livro.
Quem não conhece Martin para além de “As Crônicas de Gelo e Fogo” pode ter nesse livro um maravilhoso início, uma vez que os textos incluídos passam por todos os diversos gêneros explorados por ele. Estão presentes alguns dos melhores trabalhos do autor, sendo “Reis da areia”, “O segundo tipo de solidão” e o “O tratamento do macaco” alguns exemplos. O único ponto negativo do livro, para mim, foi a vontade que fica de comprar toda a obra do autor para continuar a leitura.
George R.R. Martin é um dos poucos autores atuais que escreve bem sobre tudo a que se propõe e faz belo uso disso, tendo uma obra extensa e variada. Destaco aqui também o “Retratos de seus filhos”, último conto da coletânea, no qual trata temas delicados como estupro de forma sensível, ao mesmo tempo em que reflete sobre o preço pago por escritores pela sua obra. Ao terminar a leitura é inevitável lembrar do ponto levantado pelo próprio autor no decorrer do livro: independente do gênero ou formato no qual se apresente, o verdadeiramente importante são as histórias – e Martin se atém ao que diz, nos trazendo acima de tudo histórias impecáveis nesse livro.
Instagram literário @nodunquerque
September 3, 2025
Fora as histórias de "terror incel", "terror ateu" e "fase emo-depressiva" do George Martin, ele tem histórias MUITO BOAS.
Sério, alguns podem dropar o livro porque algumas histórias do início são tristes demais (O Farol) e as primeiras de terror vão para aquela pergunta de "uhhh e se Deus não existe? Não é assustador? UHHHHHh" (A história da Ameba, Entre a Cruz e o Dragão, etc.). Parece até que foi feito de propósito botar as mais fraquinhas/deprês no começo.
Daí o George Martin consegue finalmente ganhar um Nebula por "A Morte da Luz" e uma namorada e para de escrever essas merdas emos. Daí melhor 1000% a escrita! Tem 1 história só de fantasia, mas depois você entende que o cara escreve MUITO BEM FICÇÃO CIENTIFICA e umas FICÇÕES ESPECULATIVAS mesmo. Minhas favoritas aqui: "Homem-Pera", "Dieta do Macaco" e "Reis de Areia" (a mais foda do livro, na minha opinião).
Dá pra passar um bom tempo e até ver o livro como uma biografia do George Martin. Então, todo mundo pode curtir.
Sério, alguns podem dropar o livro porque algumas histórias do início são tristes demais (O Farol) e as primeiras de terror vão para aquela pergunta de "uhhh e se Deus não existe? Não é assustador? UHHHHHh" (A história da Ameba, Entre a Cruz e o Dragão, etc.). Parece até que foi feito de propósito botar as mais fraquinhas/deprês no começo.
Daí o George Martin consegue finalmente ganhar um Nebula por "A Morte da Luz" e uma namorada e para de escrever essas merdas emos. Daí melhor 1000% a escrita! Tem 1 história só de fantasia, mas depois você entende que o cara escreve MUITO BEM FICÇÃO CIENTIFICA e umas FICÇÕES ESPECULATIVAS mesmo. Minhas favoritas aqui: "Homem-Pera", "Dieta do Macaco" e "Reis de Areia" (a mais foda do livro, na minha opinião).
Dá pra passar um bom tempo e até ver o livro como uma biografia do George Martin. Então, todo mundo pode curtir.
November 26, 2017
Има няколко страхотни разказа, но има и такива, които ми се сториха много скучни и ми оставиха малко "лош вкус", като хвърлиха сянка върху цялата книга. Дори тези 4 зезди, може би, са много за сборника, но ги давам, най-вече заради няколкото разказа, които наистина ми харесаха много.
Най-добрите разкази, за мен, са:
Играта на Костенурката
Из дневника на Хавиер Дезмънд
Под обсада
Търговия с кожи
Губещи варианти
Портрети на неговите деца
Тези, които също ми допаднаха:
Крепост
Втори вид самота
Спомен от Мелъди
Терапия с маймуни
Останалите 11 разказа спокойно бих си ги спестил.
Така изброени, излиза, че са ми допаднали по-малко от половината разкази. За да съм коректен - трябва да кажа, че обясненията на Мартин за различните периоди и творби също са доста интересни и си заслужава да бъдат прочетени от феновете.
Най-добрите разкази, за мен, са:
Играта на Костенурката
Из дневника на Хавиер Дезмънд
Под обсада
Търговия с кожи
Губещи варианти
Портрети на неговите деца
Тези, които също ми допаднаха:
Крепост
Втори вид самота
Спомен от Мелъди
Терапия с маймуни
Останалите 11 разказа спокойно бих си ги спестил.
Така изброени, излиза, че са ми допаднали по-малко от половината разкази. За да съм коректен - трябва да кажа, че обясненията на Мартин за различните периоди и творби също са доста интересни и си заслужава да бъдат прочетени от феновете.
April 30, 2024
If I’m being honest? GRRM needs a stricter editor. Even with his short stories. His creativity is there, and sometimes it’s really transportive, but is often so mired by too much language, that even his best work doesn’t feel much greater than above average.
A few entertaining, well told stories (A Song For Lya, Sandkings) but I was a bit shocked at how half-baked and overwritten the majority of these stories were. To be fair, I stopped after The Pear Shaped Man, so maybe it was all perfection after that.
A few entertaining, well told stories (A Song For Lya, Sandkings) but I was a bit shocked at how half-baked and overwritten the majority of these stories were. To be fair, I stopped after The Pear Shaped Man, so maybe it was all perfection after that.
January 26, 2025
Fun read! Specially the early stories which I didn't even know had been published. I thought The Hero was the oldest out. I cheated because I skipped the stories I had read before, except With Morning Comes Mistfall and Lya which are some of my favorites. That season in Iowa explains the ice stuff in so many of his later stories, I guess.
I wish it went into more depth in some stuff like the Hugo loser club, but I appreciate wanting to keep some things private. Good choice given how huge he became in the following years.
I wish it went into more depth in some stuff like the Hugo loser club, but I appreciate wanting to keep some things private. Good choice given how huge he became in the following years.
August 13, 2017
Мартин не е само "Песен за огън и лед", и този сборник е едно добро начало на опознаването на другото му творчество. Някои от разказите (особено от по-ранните) не са нищо особено, докато други са невероятни... Определено ме насочи и към поредицата "Wild Cards"!
June 8, 2017
This is a wonderful insight into the man who is George R. R. Martin. There is some outstanding material in the book but it the journey through his career that makes it such as fascinating read.
August 9, 2018
Приятна антология. Доста интересно бе да прочета за творческият път на Мартин, подкрепен с разкази от съответния период.
July 11, 2019
good view of how RR Martin writing started
May 20, 2020
A mixed bag - some good, most average, none that were really bad. I found myself skipping a lot. Disappointing.
October 17, 2024
Not every story is a banger but these are now some of my favorite shorts i've ever read, i love martins writing style and this makes me want a collection of ALL of his thousand worlds series.
October 1, 2015
http://radiradev.blogspot.bg/2015/09/...
Напоследък около името на Джордж Р. Р. Мартин се разгаря същинска медийна истерия. Аз не съм от най-големите фенове на този писател. С лекота бих могъл да изброя поне десетина имена на автори на научна фантастика и фентъзи, които са били велики много преди Мартин да се появи на белия свят.
От друга страна бих желал да отбележа, че „Рицарят на седемте кралства” е сред най-добрите книги в жанр "класическо фентъзи", които съм чел през последните десет години.
"Приказни песни" ми бе по-интересна от останалите произведения на автора. В тази книга има много думи, написани в първо лице. Мартин ни разказва доста за своето детство. За пластмасовите войници, рицари, извънземни и супергерои. За фантастичните филми. А малко по-късно и за необикновения свят на американските комикси.
Джордж пише също така и за най-популярните писатели, с които някога се е срещал. Той е получил от тях внимание и подкрепа. Писатели, чиито имена са легендарни в определени жанрове и самият Мартин не би могъл да настигне, дори да пише още сто години:
"Когато след развода се преместих в Санта Фе, не познавах в града никого освен Роджър Зелазни, и то бегло. Роджър ме взе под крилото си."
Изключително впечатление ми направиха разсъжденията на Мартин за жанра фентъзи. В действителност съм чел само едно по-добро есе на тази тема и то е на Урсула Крьобер Ле Гуин. Ето само една малка част от словата, които е посветил Джордж на приказната фантастика:
"Фентъзито грее в сребро и пурпур, индиго и лазур, обсидиан с нишки от злато и лапис лазули. Реалността е плавей и пластмаса в кални, бозави цветове."
Време е да представя разказите в антологията според моето лично класиране.
"Мъглите падат на разсъмване". Това е един от най-сантименталните, красиви, мечтателни, горчиво-сладки научнофантастични разкази за всички времена. Може да съперничи по романтика на всяка една история от сборника "Допълнителна примамка" на Робърт Ф. Йънг. Майсторството на Мартин в научната фантастика се е доближило до това на Рей Бредбъри. За първи път прочетох този разказ преди много години в списание „Върколак“. Там беше преведен като "Мистфалът идва с утрото".
"Само децата се боят от мрака". Джордж Р. Р. Мартин много мрази /също както и Урсула Ле Гуин/ да се лепят етикети на неговите творби и да се вкарват в определени категории. Въпреки това не мога да се сдържа и ще кажа, че в тази история се срещат хоръра и супергероят от комиксите. На земята е призовано велико, чутовно зло. Светлината ще даде достоен отпор, представена от един наистина необикновен доктор.
"Търговия с кожи". Не съм предполагал че хоръра и криминалната литература могат да се съчетаят така добре. Разследването продължава през цялата история. Има сериозна доза напрежение. В този разказ се срещнах с един от най-симпатичните и благородни върколаци в литературата. Уили е болнав в човешкия си образ, дори има астма. Той обаче винаги и навсякъде се държи като ликантропския вариант на Робин Худ.
Думите на автора в тази книга ни запознават подробно с историята на американската фантастика. Освен това ни описват развитието и колорита на масовата поп култура.
Напоследък около името на Джордж Р. Р. Мартин се разгаря същинска медийна истерия. Аз не съм от най-големите фенове на този писател. С лекота бих могъл да изброя поне десетина имена на автори на научна фантастика и фентъзи, които са били велики много преди Мартин да се появи на белия свят.
От друга страна бих желал да отбележа, че „Рицарят на седемте кралства” е сред най-добрите книги в жанр "класическо фентъзи", които съм чел през последните десет години.
"Приказни песни" ми бе по-интересна от останалите произведения на автора. В тази книга има много думи, написани в първо лице. Мартин ни разказва доста за своето детство. За пластмасовите войници, рицари, извънземни и супергерои. За фантастичните филми. А малко по-късно и за необикновения свят на американските комикси.
Джордж пише също така и за най-популярните писатели, с които някога се е срещал. Той е получил от тях внимание и подкрепа. Писатели, чиито имена са легендарни в определени жанрове и самият Мартин не би могъл да настигне, дори да пише още сто години:
"Когато след развода се преместих в Санта Фе, не познавах в града никого освен Роджър Зелазни, и то бегло. Роджър ме взе под крилото си."
Изключително впечатление ми направиха разсъжденията на Мартин за жанра фентъзи. В действителност съм чел само едно по-добро есе на тази тема и то е на Урсула Крьобер Ле Гуин. Ето само една малка част от словата, които е посветил Джордж на приказната фантастика:
"Фентъзито грее в сребро и пурпур, индиго и лазур, обсидиан с нишки от злато и лапис лазули. Реалността е плавей и пластмаса в кални, бозави цветове."
Време е да представя разказите в антологията според моето лично класиране.
"Мъглите падат на разсъмване". Това е един от най-сантименталните, красиви, мечтателни, горчиво-сладки научнофантастични разкази за всички времена. Може да съперничи по романтика на всяка една история от сборника "Допълнителна примамка" на Робърт Ф. Йънг. Майсторството на Мартин в научната фантастика се е доближило до това на Рей Бредбъри. За първи път прочетох този разказ преди много години в списание „Върколак“. Там беше преведен като "Мистфалът идва с утрото".
"Само децата се боят от мрака". Джордж Р. Р. Мартин много мрази /също както и Урсула Ле Гуин/ да се лепят етикети на неговите творби и да се вкарват в определени категории. Въпреки това не мога да се сдържа и ще кажа, че в тази история се срещат хоръра и супергероят от комиксите. На земята е призовано велико, чутовно зло. Светлината ще даде достоен отпор, представена от един наистина необикновен доктор.
"Търговия с кожи". Не съм предполагал че хоръра и криминалната литература могат да се съчетаят така добре. Разследването продължава през цялата история. Има сериозна доза напрежение. В този разказ се срещнах с един от най-симпатичните и благородни върколаци в литературата. Уили е болнав в човешкия си образ, дори има астма. Той обаче винаги и навсякъде се държи като ликантропския вариант на Робин Худ.
Думите на автора в тази книга ни запознават подробно с историята на американската фантастика. Освен това ни описват развитието и колорита на масовата поп култура.
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