The Complete Dreamsongs Quotes

“The House of Fantasy is built of stone and wood and furnished in High Medieval. Its people travel by horse and galley, fight with sword and spell and battle-axe, communicate by palantir or raven, and break bread with elves and dragons.

The House of Science Fiction is built of duralloy and plastic and furnished in Faux Future. Its people travel by starship and aircar, fight with nukes and tailored germs, communicate by ansible and laser, and break protein bars with aliens.

The House of Horror is built of bone and cobwebs and furnished in Ghastly Gothick. Its people travel only by night, fight with anything that will kill messily, communicate in screams and shrieks and gibbers, and sip blood with vampires and werewolves.

The Furniture Rule, I call it.
Forget the definitions. Furniture Rules.”
― George R.R. Martin, The Complete Dreamsongs

“When I finished Fellowship of the Ring, it was the only volume out in paperback. I had to wait for Ace to bring out The Two Towers, and again for The Return of the King. Not a long wait, admittedly, but somehow it seemed like decades. The moment I got my hands on the next volume, I put everything else aside so I could read it, but halfway through The Return of the King, I slowed down. Only a few hundred pages remained, and once they were done, I would never be able to read The Lord of the Rings for the first time again. As much as I wanted to know how it all came out, I did not want the experience to be over - that was how fiercely I loved those books... as a reader.

As a writer, however, I was seriously daunted by Tolkien. When I read Robert E. Howard, I would think, "Someday I may be able to write as well as him, " and when I read Lynn Carter or John Jakes, I would think, "I can write better stuff than this right now!" But when I read Tolkien, I despaired. "I will NEVER be able to do what he's done," I would think. "I will never be able to come close.”
― George R.R. Martin, The Complete Dreamsongs