George Rr Martin Popular Books
George Rr Martin Biography & Facts
George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer, and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). He also helped create the Wild Cards anthology series, and contributed worldbuilding for Elden Ring. In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin "the American Tolkien", and in 2011, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He is a longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he helped fund Meow Wolf and owns the Jean Cocteau Cinema. The city commemorates March 29 as George R. R. Martin Day. Early life George Raymond Martin (he adopted the confirmation name Richard at 13 years old) was born on September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of longshoreman Raymond Collins Martin and Margaret Brady Martin. His mother's family had once been wealthy, owning a successful construction business, but lost it all in the Great Depression, something Martin was reminded about every day when he passed what used to be his family's dock and house. He has two younger sisters, Darleen and Jane. He is predominantly of Irish descent; a DNA test on the series Finding Your Roots showed him to be 53.6% "British and Irish", 22.4% Ashkenazi Jewish, and 15.6% "Broadly Northwestern European". The family first lived in a house on Broadway belonging to Martin's great-grandmother. In 1953, they moved to a federal housing project near the Bayonne docks. During Martin's childhood, his world consisted predominantly of "First Street to Fifth Street", between his grade school and his home. This limited world made him want to travel and experience other places, but the only way of doing so was through his imagination, and he became a voracious reader. Martin began writing and selling monster stories for pennies to other neighborhood children, dramatic readings included. He had to stop once a customer's mother complained about her child's nightmares. He also wrote stories about a mythical kingdom populated by his pet turtles — the turtles died frequently in their toy castle, so he decided they were killing each other off in "sinister plots". Martin had a habit of starting "endless stories" that he never completed, as they did not turn out as well on paper as he had imagined them. Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and later Marist High School. While there, he became an avid comic-book fan, developing a strong interest in the superheroes being published by Marvel Comics, and later credited Stan Lee for being one of his greatest literary influences; "Maybe Stan Lee is the greatest literary influence on me, even more than Shakespeare or Tolkien." A letter Martin wrote to the editor of Fantastic Four was printed in issue #20 (November 1963); it was the first of many sent, e.g., Fantastic Four #32, #34, and others. Fans who read his letters wrote him letters in turn, and through such contacts, Martin joined the fledgling comics fandom of the era, writing fiction for various fanzines; he bought the first ticket to the world's first Comic-Con, held in New York in 1964. In 1965, Martin won comic fandom's Alley Award for Best Fan Fiction for his prose superhero story "Powerman vs. The Blue Barrier". In 1970, Martin earned a B.S. in journalism with a minor in history from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude; he went on to complete his M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Medill. Eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War, to which he objected, Martin applied for and obtained conscientious objector status; he instead did alternative service work for two years (1972–1974) as a VISTA volunteer, attached to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. Career Early writing career Martin began selling science fiction short stories professionally in 1970, at age 21. His first sale was "The Hero", sold to Galaxy magazine and published in its February 1971 issue; other sales soon followed. His first story to be nominated for the Hugo Award and Nebula Awards was "With Morning Comes Mistfall", published in 1973 in Analog magazine. In 1975 his story "...for a single yesterday" about a post-apocalyptic timetripper was selected for inclusion in Epoch, a science fiction anthology edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg. His first novel, Dying of the Light, was completed in 1976 right before he moved to Dubuque and published in 1977. That same year the enormous success of Star Wars had a huge impact on the publishing industry and science fiction, and he sold the novel for the same amount he would make in three years of teaching. The short stories he was able to sell in his early 20s gave him some profit but not enough to pay his bills, which prevented him from becoming the full-time writer he wanted to be. The need for a day job occurred simultaneously with the American chess craze which followed Bobby Fischer's victory in the 1972 world chess championship. Martin's own chess skills and experience allowed him to be hired as a tournament director for the Continental Chess Association, which ran chess tournaments on the weekends. This gave him a sufficient income, and because the tournaments only ran on Saturdays and Sundays, it allowed him to work as a writer five days a week from 1973 to 1976. By the time the chess bubble subsequently burst and no longer provided an income, he had become much better established as a writer. Teaching In the mid-1970s, Martin met English professor George Guthridge from Dubuque, Iowa, at a science fiction convention in Milwaukee. Martin persuaded Guthridge (who later said that at that time he despised science fiction and fantasy) not only to give speculative fiction a second look, but also to write in the field himself. Guthridge has since been a finalist for the Hugo Award and twice for the Nebula Award for science fiction and fantasy. In 1998, Guthridge and Janet Berliner won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in the Novel for their Children of the Dusk. In turn, Guthridge helped Martin in finding a job at Clarke University (then Clarke College). Martin "wasn't making enough money to stay alive" from writing and the chess tournaments, says Guthridge. From 1976 to 1978, Martin was an English and journalism instructor at Clarke, and he became Writer In Residence at the college from 1978 to 1979. Concentration on writing While he enjoyed teaching, the sudden death of friend and fellow author Tom Reamy in late 1977 made Martin reevaluate his own life, and he eventually decided to try to become a full-time writer. In 1979 he resigned from his job and moved from Dubuque to Santa Fe, New Mexico at the end of the year. There he would live alone for.... Discover the George Rr Martin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular George Rr Martin books.
Best Seller George Rr Martin Books of 2024
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The Grace of Kings
Ken LiuOne of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All TimeTwo men rebel together against tyrannyand then become rivalsin this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, re...
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Fire and Blood
George R.R. Martin & Doug WheatleyThe thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work by the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the inspiration for HBO’s Game of Thrones. With all the ...
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Carrie
Stephen King#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET ATWOOD Stephen King's legendary debut, the bestselling smash hit that put hi...
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Masterpieces
Orson Scott CardA collection of the best science fiction short stories of the 20th century as selected and evaluated by criticallyacclaimed author Orson Scott Card.Featuring stories from the genre...
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A Game of Thrones
George R.R. MartinNOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONESTHE MASTERPIECE THAT BECAME A CULTURAL PHENOMENON Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost o...
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Quillifer
Walter Jon Williams“Walter Jon Williams is always fun, but this may be his best yet, a delight from start to finish, witty, colorful, exciting and amusing by turns, exquisitely written.” George R. R....
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God of Vengeance
Giles KristianA glorious, bloody, perfect Viking saga of honour, courage, blood feud and revenge from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lancelot, Giles Kristian. Perfect for fans of Bernard...
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Avenger of Rome
Douglas JacksonIf you like Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane, you'll absolutely love this enthralling and actionpacked novel of Roman adventure from bestselling author Douglas Jackson. Readers are lovin...
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Hammer of Rome
Douglas JacksonPerfect for fans of Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane, this formidable and compelling historical thriller from bestselling author Douglas Jackson will have you absolutely gripped..."Spect...
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A Clash of Kings
George R.R. MartinTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK TWO In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, Geo...
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Caligula
Douglas JacksonPerfect for fans of Robert Harris, Conn Iggulden and Simon Scarrow, a riveting thriller set in Ancient Rome from bestselling author Douglas Jackson."...gripping Roman thriller. It'...
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Enemy of Rome
Douglas JacksonA gripping, adrenalinfuelled historical pageturner from bestselling author Douglas Jackson. Perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane.Readers are loving Gaius Valerius Verrens...
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The Rise of the Dragon
George R.R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. & Linda AntonssonNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This lavish visual historyfeaturing over 180 allnew illustrationsis a stunning introduction to House Targaryen, the iconic family at the heart of HBO’s G...
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Tuf Voyaging
George R.R. MartinLong before A Game of Thrones became an international phenomenon, #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin had taken his loyal readers across the cosmos. Now back i...
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Old Mars
George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Michael Moorcock, Joe R. Lansdale & James S. A. CoreyFifteen allnew stories by science fiction’s top talents, collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and multipleaward winning editor Gardner Dozois Burroughs’s A Pr...
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The Forgotten Kingdom
Signe PikeFrom the author of The Lost Queen, hailed as “Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, the author of The Gloaming) and “The Mists of Avalon for a new generation” (Linnea Hartsuyker,...
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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
George R.R. Martin & Gary GianniNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LOS ANGELES TIMES AND BUZZFEED Taking place nearly a century before the events of A Game of Th...
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Busted Flush
Wild Cards Trust & George R.R. MartinNow in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co...
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Sword of Rome
Douglas JacksonBestselling author Douglas Jackson expertly brings the Roman Empire to life in this brutal and bloody historical adventure. Perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow, Ben Kane and Conn Igg...
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Inside Straight
George R.R. Martin & Wild Cards TrustSoon to be a show on Hulu! Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co...
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The Eyes of the Dragon
Stephen King“It is just not possible to stop turning the pages” (The Washington Post) of this bestselling classic talean epic fantasy as only #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King ...
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The Lost Queen
Signe Pike“Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, author of The Gracekeepers) in the first book of an exciting historical series that reveals the untold story of Languoretha powerful and, u...
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Fevre Dream
George R.R. MartinA THRILLING REINVENTION OF THE VAMPIRE NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF MODERN FANTASY, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s ami...
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Down and Dirty
George R.R. Martin & Wild Cards TrustNow in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co...
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Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon
James HibberdThe perfect read and perfect gift for Game of Thrones fans The official, definitive oral history of the blockbuster show from Entertainment Weekly’s James Hibb...
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Suicide Kings
George R.R. Martin & Wild Cards TrustSoon to be a show on Hulu! Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co...
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Fort Freak
George R.R. Martin, Melinda Snodgrass & Wild Cards TrustNow in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co...
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Wings of the Storm
Giles KristianA Viking saga of warmongering, honour and loyalty from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lancelot, Giles Kristian. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Games of Thrones."A...
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The A Song of Ice and Fire Series
George R.R. MartinFor the first time, all five novels in the epic fantasy series that inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones are together in one eBook bundle. An immersive entertainment experience unlike an...