George R.R. Martin

Born

in Bayonne, New Jersey, The United States

September 20, 1948

Website

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

Twitter

GRRMspeaking

Genre

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror

Influences

J.R.R. Tolkien, Walter Scott, Robert E. Howard, Robert A. Heinlein, St ...more

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George 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 Journal George 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... ...more

1653 posts
George R.R. Martin's Blog

George R.R. Martin isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Emmys, Emmys, Emmys

GAME OF THRONES kicked ass and took names last weekend in LA, at the Creative Arts Emmys, racking up nine victories, way more than any other show.

"Dominates," the Hollywood press is saying. Hey, cool, I will go with that.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/creative-arts-emmys-game-thrones-927671

GAME OF THRONES took home the Emmys for casting, for makeup (non-prosthetic), for makeup (prosthet... Read more of this blog post »

View more on George R.R. Martin's website »

64 likes · Like • 7 comments • flag

Published on September 13, 2016 17:19 • 388 views

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Combine Editions
George R.R. Martin's Books

Average rating: 4.36 · 3,694,893 ratings · 148,703 reviews · 694 distinct works · Similar authors

	A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) 4.44 avg rating — 1,261,020 ratings — published 1996 — 251 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2) 4.40 avg rating — 551,900 ratings — published 1998 — 182 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3) 4.54 avg rating — 477,896 ratings — published 2000 — 158 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) 4.08 avg rating — 434,403 ratings — published 2005 — 158 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5) 4.29 avg rating — 379,125 ratings — published 2011 — 97 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, Part 2 of 2) 4.56 avg rating — 59,410 ratings — published 2000 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, Part 1 of 2) 4.49 avg rating — 47,691 ratings — published 2000 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Song of Ice and Fire (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1-4) 4.63 avg rating — 36,780 ratings — published 2011 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 by George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham (Adapter), Tommy Patterson (Artist) 4.49 avg rating — 26,073 ratings — published 2011 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1-2) 4.53 avg rating — 21,582 ratings — published 1996 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by George R.R. Martin…

Series by George R.R. Martin

Wild Cards #18 (2 books)
by George R.R. Martin
3.73 avg rating — 8,432 ratings

Inside straight (1 book)
by George R.R. Martin (Editor), Walter Jon Williams (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Melinda M. Snodgrass (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Lewis Shiner (Contributor), Victor Milán (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Stephen Leigh (Contributor), John J. Miller (Contributor), Edward Bryant (Contributor) , more…
3.73 avg rating — 7,361 ratings

Dreamsongs (2 books)
by George R.R. Martin
3.97 avg rating — 4,956 ratings

Game of Thrones / Das Lied von Eis und Feuer (Audible) (20 books)
by George R.R. Martin, Reinhard Kuhnert (Sprecher)
4.30 avg rating — 1,437 ratings

Old... (2 books)
by George R.R. Martin (editor), Gardner R. Dozois (editor)
3.57 avg rating — 593 ratings

More series by George R.R. Martin…

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Quotes by George R.R. Martin

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

tags: read, readers, reading, reading-books

27971 likes

“... a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

tags: books, mind

13775 likes

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

tags: identity

10333 likes

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Polls

2016 1st Quarter Long Read

1872, Middlemarch by George Eliot, 904 pages

25 votes, 16.4%

1996, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, 835 pages

19 votes, 12.5%

1853, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, 1017 pages

19 votes, 12.5%

1869, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 667 pages

15 votes, 9.9%

1965, Dune by Frank Herbert, 604 pages

15 votes, 9.9%

1870, Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 733 pages

8 votes, 5.3%

1982, North and South by John Jakes, 812 pages

7 votes, 4.6%

1915, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, 684 pages

7 votes, 4.6%

1928, Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford, 836 pages

6 votes, 3.9%

1925, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, 859 pages

6 votes, 3.9%

1901, Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann, 731 pages

6 votes, 3.9%

1993, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, 1474 pages

4 votes, 2.6%

1987, The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, 656 pages

3 votes, 2.0%

1836, Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens, 688 pages

3 votes, 2.0%

1985, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, 945 pages

3 votes, 2.0%

1983, Helliconia by Brian W. Aldiss, 1305 pages

2 votes, 1.3%

1980, Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, 912 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

1948, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, 740 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

1951, A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement by Anthony Powell, 718 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

1863, Romola by George Eliot, 688 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

152 total votes

12 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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SciFi and Fantasy...: best book you've read this year?	61	1501	Dec 26, 2008 08:00AM
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Amazon Kindle: What kind of book fits the Kindle best?	26	640	May 31, 2009 06:59AM
Challenge: 50 Books: Kez's 50 Books in a Year	22	389	Jun 03, 2009 05:54AM

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George R.R. Martin's Blog

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George R.R. Martin's Books

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Quotes by George R.R. Martin

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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George R.R. Martin’s Followers (64,647)

George R.R. Martin

1653 postsGeorge R.R. Martin's Blog

Combine EditionsGeorge R.R. Martin's Books

Series by George R.R. Martin

Upcoming Events

Quotes by George R.R. Martin

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

1653 posts
George R.R. Martin's Blog

Combine Editions
George R.R. Martin's Books