Watch trailer for George R.R. Martin’s Night of the Cooters

When he’s not writing The Winds of Winter…or consulting on HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel shows…or helping write high fantasy video games…George R.R. Martin is a voracious reader of sci-fi and fantasy. He’s always eager to bring attention to classics of the genre, including the works of genre author Howard Waldrop. In fact, he’s produced a short film based on Waldrop’s 1993 short story Night of the Cooters, about a Martian invasion of a small Texas town in the Old West.

It’s cowboys vs aliens, basically, with no relation to Jon Favreau’s 2011 movie Cowboys & Aliens, which you probably forgot existed until I brought it up. Filmed entirely on a green screen in Martin’s native Santa Fe, the short film will have a unique, rotoscope-looking aesthetic, courtesy of what Martin calls “the wizards” at Trioscope Studios.

Martin and company debuted this trailer at World Fantasy Con in Montreal, where Waldrop received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Watch it below:

George R.R. Martin and Vincent D’Onofrio team up for Night of the Cooters

Another interesting wrinkle is that the short film is directed by none other than Vincent D’Onofrio, who’s currently getting a lot of press for returning as Marvel villain the Kingpin in Hawkeye. They timed this trailer well!

Also, before we end, just to head off any potential blowups, I don’t think this short film actually distracted Martin from writing The Winds of Winter. At this point, he basically throws his name onto projects he likes in the hopes that his celebrity will increase their visibility, and I think it’s working.

There’s no release date for Night of the Cooters as of yet.

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