Huddleston, Tom: The Worlds of George RR Martin

In the many realms of modern fantasy there is only one true King, and his name is George Raymond Richard Martin.   With A Song of Ice and Fire , Martin has created a world on a scale almost unrivalled by any other single writer. Approaching two million words and still evolving , this genuinely epic series of novels, with its deeply interlocking narratives, finely crafted drama and enormous range of characters, is a creation of extraordinary breadth.   So how did a writer best known for short stories come to craft such a gigantic sequence of novels, and what is the key to their extraordinary success? What sources – historical, literary and personal – did Martin draw upon in the writing, and what inspiration did they give him?   The Worlds of George R.R. Martin is an in-depth bringing together of the enormous range of inspirations behind Martin’s work ­– from historical borrowings as wide-ranging as the Roman empire, the Wars of the Roses and the Mongol conquests, to diverse literary and mythological texts, and Martin’s own family experience and biography.