George R.R. Martin speaks at The Landmark Loew’s Theatre in Jersey City

George R.R. Martin made a rare appearance last night at the Landmark Loew’s Theatre in Jersey City, near his hometown of Bayonne, NJ. He was there to promote his new book Fire & Blood, on store shelves now. Thanks to the combined efforts of @BryndenBFish, @WatchersOTWall and hellspawn3000, who uploaded video from the presentation, we can hit some of the highlights of his on-stage interview with actor and author John Hodgman, as well as the question-and-answer session that followed.

UPDATE: Or you can just watch the whole thing below. Either way.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: No, Martin did not announce the completion of The Winds of Winter. He gets up every day to work on it and is taking it one page at a time. He’s not as involved with HBO’s Game of Thrones as he used to be on account of the need to finish it. He feels bad about not getting it out sooner. It is coming.

To me, the most interesting bit was Martin, at the urging of an audience member, comparing his life story to Daenerys Targaryen’s, albeit very loosely. Like Dany’s forebears, Martin’s family was once successful but fell on hard times. Martin actually grew up near some of the holdings his family had lost. It made him feel like disinherited royalty. That’s a fairly short jump to Daenerys and Viserys, minus the dragons and plus housing projects.

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Other notable moments:

• Martin thinks The Hobbit’s Smaug could defeat Daenerys’ dragons, on account of Smaug being smarter.
• On the subject of the Game of Thrones prequels, Martin reiterated that HBO has multiple series in development, although it’s officially given the green light only to one set thousands of years before the mainline show, during the Age of Heroes. He’s spoken with showrunner Jane Goldman about her ideas, and he praised Naomi Watts, who’s been cast in a lead role.
• His favorite Targaryen king is Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Jaehaerys reigned during a time of peace and prosperity. At first, Martin thought this would be boring to write about, but ended up diving in and enjoying it.
• Remember: Fire and Blood is only Volume 1 of a two-volume history. The second part will cover everything from the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons through the rein of King Robert Baratheon.
• Someone brought up Thanksgiving, and Martin revealed that there are no turkeys in Westeros. What a hell.

At the end of the Q&A, one audience member stated their support for Martin in the face of online harassment and a fan culture that can at times be toxic. There was a big round of applause. It sounds like a nice way to end the interview.

And with that, Martin left, possibly back to his mysterious mountain hideaway so he can keep working on Winds, one page at a time.

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h/t Los Siete Reinos