Beyond Westeros: Exploring the other works of George R.R. Martin
By Daniel Roman
Gore Verbinksi is set to direct a feature film adaption of George R.R. Martin’s ‘SANDKINGS’ for Netflix.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 2, 2021
The story follows a wealthy playboy who buys organisms of an alien species, but when he fails to care for them, they become a threat.
(Source: https://t.co/Dp0CvHXtoK) pic.twitter.com/JJ3OHPcvDw
8. Short Stories and Novellas
As many novels as George R.R. Martin has written, he is far more prolific when it comes to shorter fiction. Short stories and novellas are what started his career, and what won him his first awards in the Science Fiction and Fantasy community. By the time Dying of the Light came out in 1977, he’d already published upwards of 10 shorter works. It almost feels like a crime not to write a whole other article just about his short stories. There really are that many of them.
There are a ton of notable works here to consider. Nightflyers, a sci-fi horror adapted for the big screen in 1987 and for the small one on SyFy in 2018; A Song for Lya, a haunting story about two lovers/telepaths named Robb and Lyanna (yes, Martin likes to reuse names) who try to understand an alien species’ religion, with beautifully tragic results; The Skin Trade, Martin’s take on werewolves; Meathouse Man, the darkest, most messed up story in GRRM’s entire catalog (remote controlled zombies doing all sorts of awful stuff. That’s all I can say without making this NSFW); Sandkings, an award-winning story that revolves around a kind of black-market style fighting ring.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, there’s also a children’s book called The Ice Dragon. That story follows a young girl who befriends a dragon that breathes ice instead of fire. It’s recently been re-released as a small hardcover book with a ton of beautiful artwork, so now you can get your kids started on GRRM from an early age.
And of course, there’s always Dunk & Egg. These novellas follow Ser Duncan the Tall of Westeros and his squire. They have everything there is to love about A Song of Ice and Fire, but condensed down into 100-150 page shorts. They’ve been collected in the book A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and can’t be recommended enough for any Game of Thrones fan.
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The list of shorter works goes on and on and on. Many of them, including some of the Haviland Tuf stories, have been combined into anthologies over the years, and in many cases those are the easiest way to find them. A Song for Lya and Sandkings both have an anthology bearing their name that houses other short stories as well. And there’s also Dreamsongs Vol. I & II as well, which are some of the most comprehensive short story collections you can find of Martin’s work.
Next. George R.R. Martin thinks modern fandom is more “toxic” than it used to be. dark
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