George is coming home...

[Baradakas]

I was surprised to learn that George RR lived in Iowa back in the late 70's, but I was PSYCHED to learn that he is stopping in Dubuque late this September for a book signing for Ice Dragon. I intend to take Feast with me to be signed. Does anyone know if he'll sign books other than Ice Dragon? I would hate to break some unwritten rule or commit a book signing snafu without meaning to. Anyone know?

-B

[Baradakas]

Well. No one else posted on this so I suppose I'll tell myself how it went. After a necessary tire change, driving 150 miles out of the way to pick up one more die hard fan and a total of 500 miles on the road, we only arrived two hours late for the book signing. We exited the van to see absolutely NO ONE in the bookstore. Just as I felt my heart sinking into my boots, I looked over to a portly man in that notorious hat standing by his car, getting ready to leave. My heart stopped. I slowly walked over, got a good look, and said very quietly; "Mr. Martin?". He turned and said, "Yes?". Elation took over, and I said as slowly as possible, "Sir, are you calling it a day?" He said, "Yes I was just about to leave." "Oh." I said. " I was just wondering, you see, we had tire trouble, and we've driven about 500 miles today, and I was wondering if you might be willing to sign a few autographs for us?" I trembled at my own temerity. After all, this is the one and only George RR Martin!!! I prepared myself for a scathing refusal.
George replied, "Sure, I've got a few minutes." He proceeded to sign my book, then Nick's and Trisha's. Trisha pretended to go into the bookstore to use the bathroom, then promptly reappeared, having purchased every book Martin had written that was still in circulation. He signed those too. He happily marked the location of Summerhall on the map of my hardback edition of FFC. Trembling like a windblown leaf, I took another chance. "Do you have time to possibly answer a few questions?" Nick gave me a look of pure joy, as no one else had the courage to ask him, since he had just put up with two hours of endless questions and autographs.
"No problem, though I am late for dinner, so we'll have to keep it short."
(Please remember these are not exact quotes)
Question 1:(Nick)(I am too shocked at how kind and understanding this man is, and couldn't think for the life of me a single question): How do you manage so many personality types so different from your own?

Answer: "Most of my characters are born partially from my own experiences, or from people I've known for years. However in the case of characters far removed from myself (for instance he mentioned a little girl or a dwarf, since he is neither) I use empathy. I try to see from thier POV."

Oops, I have to go, but I will post the rest of my Q&A soon.

Sorry! (oh wait, none of you have been reading this anyway...)

-B

[Waddley]

HEY!!!

I am SOOOO reading I'd love to hear the rest of the questions you guys asked.

That's awesome that he stopped to sign for you. He's a very cool dude. Do you keep up with his blog at all? He's talked about some political thingies, and is all in all an entertaining blogger (I suppose I should expect nothing less)

Anywhoo, thanks for posting about this!

(oh! sorry, blog address is grrm.livejournal.com/)

[duchess of malfi]

I am glad that you ended up having such a great experience.

I will always treasure the memory of my meeting with GRRM last year.

He is very considerate and friendly, isn't he?

When he found out that my husband was a builder, he discussed the on-going renovations on his house with him.

[Baradakas]

Holy crap! This has been a busy month, and I apologize that I havent finished this post until now...

Anyway, to continue...

2. (Nick) (I still, cannot for the life of me think of a single question!) How long have you been working on this project?
Martin replied he had been working on this since 1991. He stated that 5 years is about what he had come to expect between books, though he pointed out that Dance will be an exception. Around that time, he made mention of the legendary "master map" that he has at home. I asked him if the fact that Summerhall does not appear on any of the book maps was deliberate, and he stated that this was a mistake by his publisher, and pointed out that Sunspear was missing from some of the earlier books as well.

3. (Me) SPOILER QUESTION!!! (sort of)

Spoiler

Why does Cersei change so much between CoK and FFC, and how do you feel about "self fulfilling prophecy"?

Spoiler

First of all, Martin stated that he didn't feel Cersei had changed much at all, just that it may seem that way, since we finally get a look inside her head in FFC. As for self fulfilling prophecy, George became vague. He questioned whether anything about Cersei's position had been self fulfilling at all, but rather a consequence of other people's actions that put her in the position to fail, combined with her own nightmarish fears of the valonqar. He did not mention in any way the mystical connotations attached to her story, nor the validity of said previsions.

There is one more question, which Trisha asked, but I think I'd better call her and make sure I remember it right, lest she beat me senseless, lol.

[Roland of Gilead]

I agree with Martin's opinion completely. Cersei doesn't change, we're just seeing her character from her own limited and biased point of view.

Once again, masterful writing on Martin's part. His characterization is the best in the genre, IMHO.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Martin replied he had been working on this since 1991. He stated that 5 years is about what he had come to expect between books, though he pointed out that Dance will be an exception.

Ok, let me do the math: 5 years per book, and 6 or 7 books. Let's see, 5 times 6 or 7, that makes 30-35 years. He was actually planning out a 30+ year project? Wow! That's kind of crazy, isn't it? Good thing he's been keeping a solid pace.

[Roland of Gilead]

Stephen King considered The Dark Tower a lifelong project, but fortunately for his readers, he got down and finished the thing, after nearly perishing in an auto accident. Hopefully Martin will not "push the envelope" regarding his own mortality, and he will manage to knuckle down and complete his "lifework" in much less than thirty years.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Stephen King considered The Dark Tower a lifelong project, but fortunately for his readers, he got down and finished the thing, after nearly perishing in an auto accident. Hopefully Martin will not "push the envelope" regarding his own mortality, and he will manage to knuckle down and complete his "lifework" in much less than thirty years.

Are those Dark Tower books any good? I hear people talk about them all the time. The only King novel I've ever read was "The Stand." Unfortunately, all I could find was the new "author's cut" version, that was maybe 500 pages longer than the editted version. After reading it, all I could think was that the book would've been a lot better if it was maybe 500 pages shorter. From what I've heard about King, his books always start out really strong, but kind of fizzle towards the end. That was my impression of "The Stand" as well. I really loved the beginning, and the middle when all of the good guys moved to Boulder was pretty cool (especially because one of the main characters moved into a house on the street behind ours at the time). But as I recall the last few hundred pages dragged a bit, and the ending was kind of bland. I might've liked it better if I had the original copy, but since reading it I've never really felt like delving into any more King, especially a long series by him.

[Warmark]

I really enjoy King's book, especially The Dark Tower series. Loads of info/opinions in the SK forum.

I will be majorley pissed if GRRM doesnt finish this series.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I really enjoy King's book, especially The Dark Tower series. Loads of info/opinions in the SK forum.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I finished Crows last night, although I didn't realize it until just now. I was too tired last night to read the chapter "Meanwhile, Back to the Wall..," and just found out that it's an author's note and I was done. Dang! I can't wait until the next one comes out. This book was frustrating at times, but it was still much better than most of the garbage I read.