George R.R. Martin talks reading, research, and rulership

George R.R. Martin recently accepted the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s Carl Sandburg Literary Award, an honor given to “an author whose significant body of work has enhanced the public’s awareness of the written word.” And given how much Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — and the HBO adaptation that followed it — has impacted the fantasy genre (and entertainment in general), it seems like a well-deserved honor.

Receiving a literary award from a library seems like an appropriate achievement for the author, and not just because his epic fantasy story has arguably changed the way that people view the genre. Unsurprisingly, Martin has loved books and libraries since childhood. Without libraries, it’s possible Martin wouldn’t have gone on to write novels of his own.

While signing a stack of 1,200 copies of A Game of Thrones at the River North hotel (apparently that’s “not even close” to the most he’s signed in one sitting), Martin explained the important role libraries played in his life, especially when he was growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey. With few options as to where to get books, the library served as Martin’s main source of reading material. “Our family was working-class poor,” Martin said. “My father was unemployed for long periods of time, so there was never much money, and even if there was money there wasn’t a book store in Bayonne.”

But even with no book store around, Martin managed to read plenty of science-fiction stories growing up using his local library. “I pretty well went into that library and read every science fiction book that they had,” the author said. He paid particular attention to The Science Fiction Handbook by L. Sprague de Camp, a how-to book for budding science fiction writers. ““You could always look in the back of library [books] those days and see who had taken it out, and you know for like two years it was just me bringing it back, taking it out again, and bringing it back. It had a huge impact on me.”

"Through books I experienced a much bigger life. I mean, I could go to Mars. I could go to other planets. I could go to the Middle Ages and adventure with Robin Hood or King Arthur and his knights. Or I could go to Gotham City or Metropolis [to check in on] Superman or Batman. So books broadened my world and made it much richer and more exciting."

That passion for reading continued into his writing career, with Martin preferring to inhale huge amounts of research before starting on a new project, including A Song of Ice and Fire.

"I read all these books about the Middle Ages, the War of the Roses, the Crusades, the 100-Years War…Total immersion in the Middle Ages and knights and all of that stuff. Cause you never know what you’re gonna need. You’re sitting there writing and you suddenly realize you have to describe what kind of underwear someone might be wearing. And you better know that, cause if you have to stop and go to the library or go online and research medieval underwear, it breaks the flow. So I try to do most of the research before I even begin a book."

Martin also talked about the enormous influence The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien had on him, while admitting that the two of them have very different viewpoints. According to Martin, Tolkien held pretty fast to the notion that as long as there was a good ruler in place — a noble king like Aragorn, say — things would work out alright. As A Song of Ice and Fire fans know, Martin takes a dimmer view. “You can be a really decent human being…you can have the noblest of intentions, and your reign can still be horribly screwed up,” he said.

"Ruling is very hard. You have to make a lot of hard decisions, and sometimes there is no answer to the problems confronting your country or its people. It’s not enough just to be good or strong or well-intentioned. You have to solve the problems. Actually, if you look at English history or even French history, the kings who were best were pretty appalling human beings in a lot of ways."

“None of which is to excuse Donald Trump, who is both an appalling human being and a terrible president,” Martin added. I’ll just leave that there.

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Anyway, we can see Martin’s outlook played out in his work, where well-intentioned leaders like Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen still get murdered by their underlings or run out of town on a dragon respectively. Having watched the end of the show, it makes you wonder how Martin will handle Daenerys’ final act, where a character we’ve rooted for and sympathized with crosses a line that cannot be uncrossed.

Congratulations to Martin for being presented with the Carl Sandburg Literary Award.

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