There haven't been many house cat acts - they are difficult to see in the ring. But there have been some, and some of those have been outstanding.
Have any of you little hobos read George R.R. Martin? I have no idea who he is, but I feel I can recommend his books without hesitation. I almost saw a kid die for one today.
He was crossing the street near my house, his nose buried deep in one of Martin's fantastic yarns, unaware that a beat up red car was speeding towards him. I noticed it, panicked, didn't say anything, took a step back, then the kid noticed it, panicked and took a step back. The car screeched and swerved around him. And you know how I know that Martin is a good writer? Because the kid waited a minute, crossed the street then carried on reading. Perhaps he should think about reading this instead:-
1. THINK FIRST - Find the safest place to cross, then stop.
2.STOP
3. USE YOUR EYES AND EARS - Look all around for traffic, and listen.
4. WAIT UNTIL IT'S SAFE TO CROSS - If traffic is coming, let it pass.
5. LOOK AND LISTEN - When it's safe walk straight across the road.
6. ARRIVE ALIVE - Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross.
If Martin really wanted to prevent 'R.R. related road deaths' he could work this code into a storyline, or at least print it on the inside cover. After all, dead fans don't really buy books George, no matter how well you write.
posted by andrew taylor at 10:24 PM
3 Comments:
Just been to Martin's website. Imagine Robert Wyatt without the wheelchair, and you're halfway there with GRRM. Maybe GRRM is Robert Wyatt, but he only appears when Wyatt is having a good day, physically.
The site leaves me thirsty for more GRRM.
Here's a quote from one review of GRRM's masterwork, 'Fire and Ice':
Tournaments, love, hatred. War, battle, trials. Disaster and victory. And that’s not the half of it...'
Great! Here's another juicy quote from that vox populi, amazon reviews. This reviewer conjures up a novelist so economical in style that 'Song of ice and fire' can be little more than a series of bullet points...
George R. R. Martin is an extremely accomplished writer. The action never gets bogged down with long-winded descriptive passages, and he manages to keep the plot flowing quickly while still delivering a huge amount of information to the reader. It becomes apparant there is a lot of backstory to events that we are unaware of, but much of this is told to us gradually through dialogue and character's inner monologues.
So GRRM would appear to be in total command of all the novelist's standard tools.
I like the fact that Amazon rates the following reviewer in its top 100. Just shows that, these days, Dyslexia need not be a barrier to success, i guess.
THE STORY:
The War of the Five Kings takes a remarkable twist when three of them are suddenly killed. In the far east Queen Danaerys begins breaking the city-states of the slavers, whilst in the frozen north, the Wildlings reach the Wall, with the Others not far behind.
WHAT'S GOOD:
I simply cannot explain to a newcomer how good Martin's book's are. He is constantly surprising you, with characters you thought invincible dying and other you thought villains proving themselves honourable (Jaime Lannister). The author's not afraid to challenge our expectations, showing time and time again that nothing is certain. Of all the fantasy author's out there, Martin's characters are the most thoroughly developed and realistic and his plotlines are entirely believable. He has chosen to introduce magic to his series very slowly, an idea which I applaud for it's tension building qualities, and here we just begin to get the impression of a far more dangerous threat in the north.
WHAT'S BAD:
Only three things I can possibly complain about: 1) My favourite character, Tyrion, is always getting the bad end of the stick. 2) His stories are a little too historically realistic and as such, quite depressing. 3) I've got to wait until next year to find out what happens next!
Seriously, could that review possibly be improved?
Wowww! Four deletes. Indecisive!
Thanks for the reviews, though. Shed a bit of light on old RR. So, he appears to be some kind of fantasy author, a bit like J 'RR' Tolkien. And Terry 'RR ' Pratchett. Anne 'RR' McCaffrey. JK 'RR' Rowling. And so on.
And, yes. You're right. He does look like Robert Wyatt, only happier and more rural. That wasn't just FANTASY.
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