George R. R. Martin biography

Synopsis

Early Life

A leading fantasy author, George R. R. Martin grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey where his world "was five blocks long." He may have spent his early years never straying far from home, but his imagination seemed to take him places. The oldest of three children, Martin liked to watch offbeat and suspenseful television shows, such as Thriller and The Twilight Zone.

The son of a longshoreman, Martin started writing in elementary school. He sold monster stories to other kids in his working-class neighborhood. During his high school years, Martin moved on to other subjects. He started writing fan fiction based on the comic books he adored and began creating new superheroes as well. At Marist High School, a Catholic boys school, Martin played on the chess team and spent several years on the school's newspaper. After graduating in 1966, he went to Northwestern University where he continued to pursue his passion for writing. He earned first a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1970 and then a master's degree in the same subject the following year.

A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Martin worked with the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation as part of his alternative service from 1973 to 1976. He then spent two years as a college professor at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa.

Career Beginnings

Martin sold his first short story, "The Hero," to Galaxy, a science fiction magazine, which was published in 1971. Continuing to write short stories, he released a collection of his tales as A Song for Lya and Others in 1976. His debut novel, Dying of the Light, came out the following year. Martin also served as an editor on numerous book projects, including New Voices in Science Fiction (1977) and the Wild Cards series.

While he became well regarded in the fantasy and science fiction worlds, Martin had yet to achieve a huge commercial success by the 1980s. He did, however, attract some attention from Hollywood. He worked as story editor for a remake of the old favorite Twilight Zone in 1986, and then became involved with the series Beauty and the Beast. Writing for television posed certain challenges for Martin. "Whenever I would turn in a script, the producers would always say to me: George, this is wonderful, but it would cost five times our budget to produce it," he said in a National Public Radio interview. Weary of the limitations of television, Martin embarked on a new writing project in the early 1990s—a fantasy series inspired by medieval England's Wars of the Roses.

A Song of Ice and Fire

The first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire may not have been an overnight success, but the strong word of mouth boosted sales as the series progressed.