Fantasy author taunts Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin in his new book

George R.R. Martin is the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which was adapted for TV as Game of Thrones. Only the producers behind Game of Thrones had to finish the story before Martin finished the source material; he released the last book in his series, A Dance With Dragons, way back in 2011. Fans have been waiting for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, for over a decade at this point. And Martin will still have at least one more book to write, A Dream of Spring, after that.

Martin's exceedingly slow writing pace with Winds has become legendary among fans, with some wondering if he'll ever finish the book. Fantasy author Larry Correia — who is publishing the sixth and final book in his own epic fantasy series, Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, in February — has noticed. He's included a dig at Martin on the dedication page of his new book, Heart of the Mountain. "To George R.R. Martin," Correia writes. "See? It's not that hard."

Is this a playful jab or a petty insult? It's probably closer to the latter, seeing as how Martin and Correia have locked horns before. Their last public clash involves the Hugo Awards, which are handed out every year to honor the best in science fiction and fantasy fiction. Martin has been attending the Hugos since the 1970s, while Correia got involved in the 2010s.

To make a very long story short, Correia was involved with a faction of Hugo voters called the Sad Puppies, who thought that too many awards were going to authors who wrote about social issues. They conspired to manipulate the voting process and push the authors they didn't like off the ballots. A smaller faction known as the Rabid Puppies did much the same thing, only with a lot more overt racism, homophobia and sexism. It was a strange scandal that resulted in a lot of the big Hugo Awards going to "No Winner" in 2015.

Martin has been involved with the Hugos for a long time and was not a fan of what the Sad and Rabid Puppies were doing. He and Correia wrote back and forth about their perspectives on the matter, much of which is preserved online, like on Martin's blog. Their exchanges are very wordy, but it basically breaks down to Correia claiming that he felt shut out of the cool kids' club at the Hugo Awards and was thus justified in ruining the awards for everyone, while Martin argued back that he was behaving like a bitter angry loser desperate to feel like a victim despite his work being on The New York Times Best Seller list.

That's my paraphrase, of course. But the point is that these two had a little internet feud back in the day, which might explain why Correia decided to taunt Martin on the dedication page for his new book rather than, I don't know, thank his family or something. Clearly the argument still bugs him.

Anyway, The Saga of the Forgotten Warrior begins by introducing us to Ashok Vadal, who is charged with enforcing the brutal law of Correia's fantasy world. The first book in the series, Son of the Black Sword, came out in 2015. Nine years later, it wraps up with Heart of the Mountain. Obviously, Correia's series isn't anywhere near as well-known as Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, so taunting Martin in the dedication page, petty though it is, may be good for exposure. We'll see if all press is good press when Heart of the Mountain drops on February 4.

As for when The Winds of Winter might come out, who knows? At least a bunch of chapters are already available to read:

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