A Scottish Worldcon

April 2, 2025 at 9:01 am

We spent a month across the pond last summer, from July 15 to August 15. We started in Belfast and environs, where A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS was being filmed. From there we went on to Amsterdam, where I paid a call on my Dutch publisher, and then London to call on Jane Johnson and the good folks at Voyager, my UK publisher. Oxford was next. The Oxford Writers House had invited me to deliver a talk on fantasy with Philip Pullman, the author of HIS DARK MATERIALS. I was really looking forward to that. Unfortunately Pullman was ill and had to bow out, so the event turned into a booksigning and Q&A session, and I ended up flying solo.

It was an enjoyable afternoon in any case, and Oxford was amazing. This was my first visit there. I really must get back there one of these days. Perhaps by then the Eagle and Child will have opened again, and I can raise a pint to the Inklings.

The last scheduled stop on our European travels was Glasgow, and the World Science Fiction Convention. This was the third Glasgow worldcon. Parris and I attended the other two, the first in 1995 and the second in 2005, and we have fond memories of both, so I was determined to make this one too.

I am glad we did. No, I was not on any programming… but we were there, and that’s what matters. I attended my first worldcon in 1971 (that was Boston) and sat on my first panel in 1976 (Big Mac, in Kansas City) — those were the days of single track programming, and you really had to pay your dues before they let you onto the podium. I have lost track of how many program items I’ve been on since. Sometimes the panels were fun, and sometimes they were tedious; I suppose they were good promotion for my books. That was never the point, though. For me, worldcon was a family reunion, a gathering of friends new and old. That was what drew me back, year after year after year.

Glasgow reminded of that. I spent most of the con in the hotel bar, drinking and talking with fellow writers and fans, telling the old stories, remembering the old times, and raising a pint to all those we have lost. Howard and Gardner, Phyllis Eisenstein and Gene Wolfe and Charlie Brown, Harlan Ellison and Fred Pohl, Isaac Asimov and Fred Pohl and Jack Vance, Michael Bishop and Ursula K. LeGuin , Jay Haldeman and Greg Bear and Poul Anderson and so many more. We wandered the art show and the huckster’s room as well, and enjoyed some great meals in Glasgow’s restaurants… the most memorable being our visit to Mr. Singh’s with the Brotherhood Without Banners. I love Indian cuisine, even at home, but it’s so much better in England and Scotland than over here… and nowhere better than at Mr. Singh’s in Glasgow, which has got to be the best I have ever had. (I have eaten there every time I’ve been to Glasgow, and it just keeps getting better and better and better).

Regular readers of this blog will know that for the past couple of years I have been producing a series of short films based on the works of Howard Waldrop, my oldest and dearest friend in fandom, and one of the greatest (and most original) short story writers in the history of the field. We had five films in various stages of production (and a sixth, not based on a Waldrop story, just underway), and were able to wrap up three of them before worldcon: NIGHT OF THE COOTERS (d. Vincent d’Onofrio), MARY MARGARET ROAD-GRADER (d. Steven Paul Judd), and THE UGLY CHICKENS (d. Mark Raso.) We’ve had them out on the festival circuit, but I brought them to Glasgow as well, thinking I might be able to screen them at the con. That’s more complicated than it sounds, for various reasons, and I was never able to get anyone to return my phone calls to see what could be worked out, alas. Fortunately, the hotel where we were staying had a small screening room in the basement, so at least I was able to invite a couple dozen friends over for a semi-private show.

I am pleased to say the shorts seemed to be well received. We got a very nice review from the website WINTER IF COMING, for those of you who would like to know more about them:

https://winteriscoming.net/posts/i-saw-george-r-r-martin-s-howard-waldrop-short-films-and-they-re-delightful-exclusive-01j5x krv0fx3

(Howard liked them too. We were able to screen the final cut of MARY MARGARET for him just six days before he died last January. I am so happy he was able to see it).

THE UGLY CHICKENS and MARY MARGARET ROAD-GRADER are still out playing festivals, by the way, so you still may be able to see them, depending on where you live. The Chickens won the award for Best Short last week in San Jose at Cinequest, and will be showing again this weekend in Cleveland. Catch it if you can; it is one of Howard’s classics.

The other highlight of my worldcon was the Alfie Awards banquet we held at our hotel

The Alfies are named in honor of Alfred Bester, one of the giants of the field, the author of THE DEMOLISHED MAN, “Fondly Fahrenheit,” THE STARS MY DESTINATION, and a long list of other great stories. Bester was the winner of the first Hugo Award for Best Novel (for THE DEMOLISHED MAN, at the 1953 worldcon in Philadelphia). He turned up at the very first Hugo Losers Party as well, in 1976 at Big Mac in Kansas City, and insisted he still counted as a loser since that first Hugo trophy was a made from an Oldsmobile hood ornament, and had rusted and corroded over the years. We all laughed, and let him in.

We created the Alfie Awards in 2015, at the worldcon in Spokane. That was the year of Puppygate, when a number of writers and fans who would surely have been nominated for a Hugo Award were squeezed out when the Puppies (Sad and Rabid) stuffed the ballot with their own favorites. There was no way to rectify that (though various people tried, with everything from wooden asterisks to rules reform to voting No Award). My own approach was the Alfies; consolation trophies made of old hood ornaments, like many of the early Hugo Awards, given to writers and fans who missed out on nominations they likely would have gotten in a normal year. (I don’t say they would have won, there was no way of knowing that, but it IS an honor to be a Hugo loser. I should know, I’ve lost a fair number of them myself). You can learn way more than you ever wanted to know about the Hugo brouhaha of 2015 in from the myriad accounts on the web.

I gave another set of Alfies out in 2016, when the worldcon was in Kansas City. The Hugo rules were different that year, so I tweaked the Alfies as well… but the winners still seemed to appreciate them. (And that’s what awards are all about, really). By 2017, when the con was in Helsinki, the need for the Alfies seemed to have passed. We threw a great Hugo Losers Party that year, but handed out no hood ornaments. Come 2018, worldcon went to San Jose, and we awarded a single Alfie, to John Picacio for his Mexicanx Initiative, a commendable effort to put more world in worldcon. We went international as well in 2019, in Dublin. Alfies were presented there to two titans of British publishing, Malcolm Edwards of Gollancx and Jane Johnson of Voyager, two of the leading editors in the history of our genre, neither of whom had gotten so much as a Hugo nomination in years past. They were long overdue.

There were no Alfies given at the worldcons in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The New Zealand con had to go virtual, due to the pandemic, and I was not able to attend the 2021 con in Washington, DC or the Chicago con in 2022. But the next one up was in Chengdu, China… and that’s where the problems came in. The Chinese fans designed a handsome Hugo trophy, for certain… but when the nomination totals were finally revealed, it became clear that the vote counting had gone seriously awry. The numbers did not seem right, and four possible contenders (a television show, a fan writer, a new writer, and a major novel) were unaccountably missing from the final ballot, despite having received more than enough nominations. They had been disqualified and removed from the ballot. Why? No one would say.

I won’t attempt to describe what followed. You can read all about it on line.

It was time for the Alfies to return. Fortunately, I still had a garage full of old hood ornaments. And our hotel had a room that just the right size for a small, invitation-only celebration to honor those who were wrongfully denied their chance to contend for a Hugo rocket.

We shared some food and drink instead.

The Chengdu Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, was won by EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. Short Form went to “Babylon’s Ashes”, an episode of THE EXPANSE. Worthy winners both, but some of the competition was missing. SANDMAN received 139 nominations in Short Form for “The Sound of Her Wings,” almost a hundred more than the EXPANSE episode, but was removed from the ballot for reasons never satisfactorily explained. In Long Form, the first season of SANDMAN got 50 nominations, which would not have been enough to make the ballot… but the series was removed from that category as well (just to be sure?)

In the fan writer category, CHRIS BARKLEY was the winner. He had received 90 votes during the nomination round, only one more than another perennial contender, PAUL WEIMER, who got 89… the third highest total, and more than enough to make the final ballot. But Weimer’s name did not appear. It was said that he was disqualified for the crime of visiting Tibet at one point. Except he hadn’t. Whoever removed him did not seem to know the difference between Tibet and Nepal, which he had visited.

Paul was at Glasgow, but the concom had him working during our banquet, so he was not able to attend. No one from SANDMAN was in Glasgow, sad to say. (We got them their Alfies regardless. And none of our trophies broke, I am assured).

Our final two winners were on hand, however.

Believe it or not, I was a new writer once, and in 1973 I was a finalist for a brand new award for Best New Writer, the first year it was given. It was called the John W. Campbell Award then, and for many years thereafter. Today it is called the Astounding Award, but it’s the same award. “Not a Hugo,” by either name, it is awarded to the best new writer to break in during the previous two years.

XIRAN JAY ZHAO was a finalist for the Astounding Award in 2022. They lost, just as I did in 1973 — but hey, it is an honor just to be nominated, and I certainly felt that way in ’73. The first time is always special. Jay got enough votes to make the ballot again in 2023, their second year of eligibility… 178, to be precise, the fourth highest nomination total. But their name did not appear on the final ballot.

Why? No idea.

Instead, we gave them an Alfie.

The final Alfie of the night went to R.F. KUANG for her novel BABEL, OR THE NECESSITY OF VIOLENCE,, which received 810 nominations, the third highest total. Nonethelss, there was no place on the ballot her. That was especially egregious, I thought, since BABEL would have had an excellent chance of coming out on top if the book had been nominated. The novel had already won the Nebula Award and the Locus Award, among other honors; a Hugo would have given it a rare sweep of SF’s most prestigious awards. Alas, BABEL never got the chance to contend.

But it did get an Alfie. And Rebecca herself was there to collect it.

Will there be more Alfies in the years to come? Only time will tell.

But Glasgow was fun. And I hope to see you all again this year, in Seattle.

GRRM

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Tags: awards, conventions, travels, worldcon

Lord Jago Wants You

March 29, 2025 at 8:56 am

Lord Jago Branok is having a party at Loveday House.

Truth be told, he has a party every month. No two are ever the same. But nothing is ever the same at Loveday, his lordship’s rambling mysterious (some say haunted) manse, perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea on Keun Island, off the Atlantic coast of Cornwall. It’s a queer place, Keun,. Three miles of mudflats and an ancient stone causeway connect the rocky island to the Cornish mainland during low tide, but when the tide comes roaring in… fast as a galloping horse, as the locals say… the road is submerged and Keun becomes a true island, accessible only by boat.

The island has been inhabited, off and on, for millennia. Archeologists have found Stone Age cairns there, and the jagged remnants of standing stones larger than any of those at Stonehedge. A ringfort stood atop the island’s sheer black cliffs during the Dark Ages; later a crude castle of rough-hewn stone went up in its place. For hundreds of years Keun was the stronghold of a clan of reavers and pirates known as the Hounds of the Sea, who raided and plundered up and down the Cornish coasts and into Wales and England. It was from them the island got its name; keun being Cornish for ‘hound.’ They were finally extinguished in 1308 by Piers Gaveston, new-made 1^st Earl of Cornwall, who put to death every member of the clan and razed their castle. Legends claim that the last surviving hound pronounced a curse on Gaveston as he died.

Thereafter the island remained uninhabited for several centuries, save for seabirds and an occasional fisherman. The fisher folk did not like to stay overnight, however; it was said the island was haunted. There were also tales of merfolk in the waters surrounding Keun Island; some stories spoke of beautiful mermaids who lured sailors to their doom, others of more grotesque creatures, not unlike the Deep Ones of H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos. Humanity returned to the island in the 1500s. A new castle arose atop the cliffs on the seaward side of the island, and a fishing village on the landward side. Over the years half a dozen noble families came and went, leaving legends of their own behind,. The last and greatest of the lordly manors on Keun was called Loveday Castle, the seat of the family St. Gerren…. but when the last of the line, the widowed Lady Morwen (known as Mad Morwen) died during the Great Storm of 1703 as the castle collapsed about her, she left no heirs, the ruins of Loveday were left to decay… until 1857, when a wealthy merchant styling himself Marcus St. Gerren laid claim to the island, pulled down the overgrown ruins of the old castle, and used its stones to build a large, splendid Victorian mansion on the site, which he named Loveday House. By the turn of the century, however, most of the money was gone, and the great house had begun to decay, a process that continued until the Great Depression, which took the last of the family wealth.

The last St. Gerren attempted to sell Loveday House, but found no buyers; the mansion had become a white elephant, too huge to maintain without servants, impossible to heat, its paint peeling, its foundations cracked. When old Tristan St. Gerren died in 1937, Loveday was abandoned once more and left to rot. And so it did… until a new owner turned up and set about restoring the old house to its former splendor. The “new lord” is a mysterious figure who goes about in a hooded cloak, always masked, who seems to have no limit to his wealth. A dozen mutually contradictory tales are told of him in the village, but on one point the villagers agree: Jago Branok is a wild card of some sort. An ace, a joker, a knave, no one is quite certain… but one of them, no doubt.

And the quests who visit Loveday each month are just as queer, the villagers will tell you. They come to Keun from all over the world. Most of them leave after the party winds down. Most of them. As to the others…

None of the villagers are quite certain. There are stories, though. Stories told by the likes of Stephen Leigh, Mary Anne Mohanraj. Kevin Andrew Murphy, Peter Newman, Peadar O Guilin, and Caroline Spector. They know a few things. They were guests at Loveday last year, accompanied by their characters old and new.

You can read all about it in HOUSE RULES, the latest volume in our long-running WILD CARDS series of mosaic novels. Volume thirty-four in the ongoing series (which launched way back in 1987)… and no, you don’t need to read the preceding thirty-three to enjoy this one… HOUSE RULES was released by HarperCollins Voyager in the UK in December, and by Bantam in the USA on January. (Yes, I am a few months late in getting out the word, but I have been crazy busy of late).

For those of you who like autographed editions, Beastly Books in Santa Fe has signed copies of both editions in stock.

(And they have many of the older volumes as well).

Whether you’ve been a Wild Cards fan from the very beginning, or are a newcomer curious to visit our world, do come to Keun. Jago Branok’s parties are not to be forgotten… and who knows, we may even let you leave.

GRRM

Current Mood: weird weird

Tags: anthologies, wild cards

On the Festival Circuit

February 28, 2025 at 8:44 am

This is not your occasional message from George or the minions of Fevre River, but a new addition to the team – I’m Michael Cassutt, writer of fiction, non-fiction, lots of television (TWILIGHT ZONE, MAX HEADROOM, EERIE INDIANA, more recently THE DEAD ZONE and Z-NATION). Since October I’ve been working with George as his “creative director,” helping to shape and advance non-HBO TV, film and game projects and even some publishing. (No, I’m not “helping” George with his writing.)

Last spring and early summer I directed a short film titled THE SUMMER MACHINE, based on a lost TWILIGHT ZONE TV concept by George, from my script. We shot for eight days in Alamagordo and Las Cruces, New Mexico, with a cast led by Lina Esco, Charles Martin Smith and Matt Frewer, and just recently finalized the cut.

This is the fifth film that George has produced, following four adaptations of stories by his great friend Howard Waldrop: NIGHT OF THE COOTERS, HEIRS OF THE PERISPHERE, MARY MARGARET ROAD-GRADER and THE UGLY CHICKENS. Four are complete.

So what do you do with a short film? Theatrical exhibition is always a goal, but difficult for even feature-length projects these days.

Streaming? Yes, but you have a short film, under 40 minutes in length. Where does it fit on Netflix, Amazon, Apple+ etc.? Almost nowhere.

But you want your film seen, so . . . .

You hit the festival circuit. Not only does this expose your work to an audience, but it opens the door to the holy grail of indie filmmaking, distribution.

Winning awards helps with that, too.

Our team started with NIGHT OF THE COOTERS, which had its premiere showing at the LA Shorts film festival in North Hollywood in August 2022, where it won best sci-fi short. COOTERS, directed by and starring Vincent D’Onofrio, earned additional honors at Midwest Weird (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) and the Atlanta Film Festival, too.

Since then we’ve released MARY MARGARET and THE UGLY CHICKENS, and both of them have picked up awards and made themselves known:

MARY MARGARET, written and directed by Steven Paul Judd, has been recognized by the deadCenter Film Fest and the Mojave Wasteland Film Fest.

At the recent Miami SciFi Film Fest, Steven was judged co-winner of the Russell Bates award, honoring the first Native writer of SF for television.

As for THE UGLY CHICKENS, directed by Mark Raso, written by me and starring the talented Felicia Day—

Felicia was chosen as best actress at the Yellowstone (India) Film Festival last fall, and Mark won the best director, short film, at the Pittsburgh Film Festival in December.

This week is the Pendance Film Festival in Toronto, and UGLY CHICKENS has already won the Best Canadian Short Film.

Upcoming we have the Fargo Film Festival, where Mark will be present. I will be attending

Cinequest in San Jose (March 22-24) and producer Elias Gallegos will be representing us at the Cleveland International Film Festival (late March-early April).

And new news, UGLY CHICKENS has been accepted at the Certain.e.s laiment court (CLAC), a short film festival in Lyon, France, April 4-5.

And we’re nowhere near done with MARY MARGARET, which has been submitted to half a dozen upcoming festivals. (Typically we find out about acceptances three weeks ahead of time.)

My SUMMER MACHINE will be submitted for the first time this spring.

I mentioning these events now because George and I and the team that made these films would like you to see them, too – and dozens of other great shorts and features at these festivals.

And if you do attend and see one of us, say hello!

# # #

Current Mood: accomplished

A Feast for Your Eyes

February 24, 2025 at 10:38 am

We have a cover for the illustrated edition of the fourth book in my A Song of Ice and Fire series! This gorgeous, illustrated edition of A Feast for Crows will be arriving on shelves November 4.

The special edition of A Feast for Crows features 24 original color illustrations from artist Jeffrey R. McDonald and a special foreword by Joe Abercrombie.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it’s not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. At a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

We’ll be sharing a couple of the interior illustrations later this spring so you can see what Jeffrey R. McDonald has in store for A Feast for Crows. In the meantime, you can visit Jeffrey’s website to see examples of his previous work.

Preorders are available now!

Enjoy.

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A Voyage to Saturn

February 20, 2025 at 10:02 am

The Saturn Awards were created in 1973 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, to honor the year’s best work in genre television, film, and home entertainment. They have been given annually ever since. This year’s year’s awards ceremony, the 52nd, was held in the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles, on February 2.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON had three finalists in the television division.

EMMA D’ARCY was nominated as Best Actress in a Televsion Series, and MATT SMITH for Best Supporting Actor.

The show itself was up against AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, FOR ALL MANKIND, THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, and PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS for BEST FANTASY SERIES.

Our congratulations go out to Emma and Matt. It is an honor just to be nominated (as I’ve been told more times than I can count). It’s true. Matt and Emma did not win (this year), but they did outstanding work bringing Rhaenyra and Daemon to vivid life.

And there’s always next year.

I am pleased to say that HOUSE OF THE DRAGON itself did take home the prize, and claimed the Saturn for BEST FANTASY SERIES.

Here’s the full list of finalists and winners for the year, for those of you who like to keep track of these things.

https://www.saturnawards.org/

I was not able to attend the awards ceremony, but I am happy we won. There was some tough competition, especially FOR ALL MANKIND, which is such a damn fine show, especially if you grew up during Mercury and Apollo, as I did.

Actually, I’ve managed to attend the Saturn Awards only once, and that was way way back in the 90s, where I went to one of their awards luncheons to represent BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. We didn’t win that year, but I got a nice lunch. The big winner was Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose acceptance speech was short and very very funny.

Looking back over the history of the Saturns between then and now, I was surprised to learn that GAME OF THRONES won six of them over its run. Our winners were:

2015      BEST LIMITED RUN TELEVISION SERIES
2015     BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES: MAISIE WILLIAMS
2019     BEST FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
2019     BEST ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES: EMILIA CLARKE
2019     BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES: PETER DINKLAGE
2019     BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES: MAISIE WILLIAMS

That’s six Saturns for GAME OF THRONES and one for HOUSE OF THE DRAGON.

The weird thing is, this was the first I’ve heard of any of these. The Saturns were broadcast this year (on Roko), but that hasn’t been true for most of their run… but you’d think someone would have told us. No one did. At least they did not tell me. Maybe all the trophies are lined up on a shelf at HBO somewhere, surrounded by all the other awards HBO has won over the decades. There have been a lot of them.

In any case, belated congratulations to Maisie and Peter and Emilia, and the rest of our amazing team, to David and Dan and Bryan Cogman, to David Nutter and Alan Taylor and Miguel Sapochnik and all the other writers and directors who helped make GOT what it was… and to the cast and crew who worked beside them in 2015 and 2019. Take a (belated) bow.

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Tags: awards, hbo, House of the Dragon, television

Dunk, Egg, a Few Random Mutterings

January 28, 2025 at 7:14 am

Where does the time go? January went by in a flash. I had a lot of posts I wanted to make, a lot of things I wanted to say, I had writing to do, I had zooming to do, meetings to attend, I had scripts to read, notes to give. There was travel, some for business and some for fun. There were friends to mourn, books to blurb. I saw a few good movies and television shows, that gave me some pleasure. The NFL did not. I missed most of the games this season, but that was probably a good thing, sinceit relieved me of having to write any of those “life is meaningless and full of pain” posts… though it was, the Jets were wretched and the Giants were worse.

We returned from our summer travels on August 15, and I had a ton of things I wanted to talk about. Instead of one long post, I decided to break up my trip and make a series of shorter ones. I figured I’d have it all done by the end of August. Well, no… I still have a worldcon to cover, and the Alfies, and my visit to Tolkien’s grave. I DID cover some of that… not in my Not A Blog, but in a rambling speech I gave at Bubonicon… but my phone screwed up and the video we made was lost, so my Not A Blog ended up being Not A Speech. Sigh.

Well, I will try to get to that later… eventually… for now, let me touch briefly on better news.

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, for starts. It’s done. Ira and his team wrapped the first season months ago, and moved right on to post production. I’ve seen all six episodes now (the last two in rough cuts, admittedly), and I loved them. Dunk and Egg have always been favorites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible. The rest of the cast are terrific as well. Wait until you guys meet the Laughing Storm. and Tanselle Too-Tall.

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS is an adaptation of “The Hedge Knight,” the first of the novellas I wrote about them. It’s as faithful as adaptation as a reasonable man could hope for (and you all know how incredibly reasonable I am on that particular subject). Viewers who are looking for action, and more action, and only action… well, this one may not satisfy you. There’s a fight scene here, as exciting as anyone could ask for, but there are no dragons this time around, no huge battles, no white walkers… this is a character piece, and its focus is on duty and honor, on chivalry and all it means. “The Hedge Knight” was published between A GAME OF THRONES and A CLASH OF KINGS in Robert Silverberg’s epic anthology LEGENDS, and was so popular that it brought tens of thousands of new readers to Westeros. Sales of my novels were much higher after LEGENDS than before, and for that I credit Silverbob, and Anne Groell, and Dunk and Egg. This one ranks as one of the best stories I’ve ever written, and I am so so so pleased that Ira Parker, Ti Mikkel, Aziza Barnes (may they rest in peace), Owen Harris, and our astonishing cast and crew did right by them.

The series will make its debut late this year, I am now told. How late, I could not say. Maybe in the fall.

I hope you will love the show as much as I do.

Meanwhile, we’ll be moving on to “The Sworn Sword,” the second tale of Dunk & Egg. And once I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, I will need to get hopping on “The Village Hero,” and all the other tales that await the lads. Don’t worry, I am sure you folks will remind me.

Current Mood: excited excited

Tags: everyday life, hbo, nfl, politics, travels, writing

Meet us in Miami

January 13, 2025 at 1:01 pm

GEORGE and team are officially going to Miami to attended the Miami Science Fiction Film Festival on January 18th and 19th. If you’re around and want to check out some amazing films including our very own MARY MARGRET ROAD GRADER come on down and check it out at the James L. Knight Center, our film will be showing on Saturday Evening around 6:45 during the shorts program.

OFFICIAL FILM FESTIVAL WEBSITE

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In the Lost Lands hits theaters this March

January 8, 2025 at 9:27 am

Seek the power. Free the people.

Based on a short story by the same title and director Paul W.S. Anderson, #InTheLostLands stars Dave Bautista and Milla Jovovich and is exclusively in theaters March 7

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A Day to Remember

December 21, 2024 at 8:48 am

Sometimes you CAN go home again, no matter what Tom Wolfe said. At least for a visit.

For me, home was Bayonne, New Jersey, just south of Jersey City, on a peninsula sandwiched between New York and Newark. I was born in Bayonne in 1948, and spent my childhood there, most of it in the federal housing projects on First Street, with the lights of Staten Island across the waters of the Kill Von Kull. Bayonne was my world until 1966, when I went off to college at Northwestern, the first time I ever went beyond the borders of Jersey and NYC (except in books and comics, of course, where I could oft be found wandering Middle Earth, on Barsoom, Trantor, or Venusport, or slinking down the mean streets of Gotham City).

After college, I remained in Chicago for two years of alternative service with VISTA, and a couple of additional years directing chess tournaments throughout the midwest. My years in Dubuque, Iowa came after that, until I finally settled down in the Land of Enchantment (Santa Fe) come 1979. I spent time in Hollywood as well.

I still had family in Jersey, though, so I returned to Bayonne once or twice a year, most years. It was always nice to come back, see my sisters and their kids and grandkids… and remember. Bayonne has changed some over the years…the city has lost all its movie houses, along with Uncle Milty’s Amusement Park where I had my first job… but the projects are still there, and Brady’s Dock, and Mary Jane Donohoe School on 5th Street… the candy store on Kelly Parkway where I bought my comic books and Ace Doubles is still there, and so is the Fifth Street Deli-Ette… oh, and Hendrickson’s Corner, and Judicke’s sprinkle Donuts…

And the public library remains… changed some, yes… but better than ever.

I remember the library. I always will.

And it would seem that the library remembers me. They have just completed some renovations, and did me the honor of naming one of the new rooms after me: the George R.R. Martin Room for Popular Fiction. To mark the occasion, they declared October 15 to be George R.R. Martin Day.

That is… so cool, so, so, so… well, words fail me. I have won a lot of awards over the course of my career: Emmys and Golden Globes, Hugo Awards and Nebulas, Lovecrafts and Stokers and Dragons. (I have lost a lot more, to be sure, but then that’s only fitting for a guy who helped found the Hugo Losers Club)… but I have never had a day before. Few have. After all, there are only 365 of them.

James (Jimmy) Davis, Bayonne’s mayor, presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Old friends and new attended.

Of course, we had a great turnout from the library staff.

The library also added a wonderful mosaic dragon to its decor.

I was asked to say a few words, and was thrilled to do so. Given the circumstance I could probably have talked for hours. So many memories, so much to say. But I resisted the impulse. We shook a few hands, and then went down to Hendrickson’s Corner.

This was a very special day for me. One I will longer remember.

Current Mood: loved loved

Tags: awards, bayonne, speeches, travel

R.I.P Trent

December 7, 2024 at 7:47 am

We spent Thanksgiving as we usually do, gathering at Melinda Snodgrass’s place in the hills above Lamy to enjoy the company of friends old and new over a sumptuous meal. Turkey, stuffing, deviled eggs, Melinda’s home made nog, a slice or two of apple pie (with cheese, of course). The food was lovely, and it was good to be with friends.

But 2024 was a dark year, and our Thanksgiving was to have a dark end. Later that night, at home, we received a shattering text from Shannon Zelazny. Her brother Trent had died earlier that day of acute liver failure.

Trent had suffered a massive stroke back in September that had left him unable to walk… but he had been in rehab subsequently, and was making good progress. He was still Trent, still a fighter, and we all hoped he was on his way to recovery. It proved not to be.

He was only 48. In fact, Thanksgiving was his birthday.

I have known Trent since he was a small boy. His father was Roger Zelazny, a brilliant brilliant writer and one of the kindest men I have ever known… and a mentor to me, of sorts. He was the only person I knew when I moved from Iowa to New Mexico in 1979. He took me under his wing, invited me to dinners and parties, introduced me to First Friday and the Albuqerque science fiction fans.. I saw Zozobra for the first time from his house on Stagecoach Road, whose windows looked down on Old Man Gloom and Fort Marcy Park.

And of course met his family. Shannon had not yet been born, though she was on her way, but his sons were never far from their dad.

Devin, the older boy, looked so much like Roger he could have been a twin, and like Roger he was painfully shy. Trent was anything but. My earliest memory of him is from the year his dad brought him to Bubonicon, where he went everywhere and charmed everyone, clad in a t-shirt that read MY DAD WROTE LORD OF LIGHT.

A later (and much sadder memory) was from 1995, where Roger lay dying in St Vincent’s Hospital. Like many of his friends, I came and went during that dreadful week, visiting as often as I could, but Trent never left his father’s side.

He got married soon after Roger left us, and his wife gave him a son. He named the boy Corwin. (What else?) For a time, he was my tenant; he and his wife and his new son were renting my old house on Declovina, the first place I lived in Santa Fe.

Life happens, though. Corwin and his mother moved to California and the marriage ended. Trent continued to write, and begin to sell. He had his own voice, though. He loved his father’s work, and knew it better than anyone, but he was never an echo. He loved horror stories, and crime fiction, and noir, and did a lot of work in those fields. Sales started to be more common. While I was out in LA working in television, Trent moved to Florida, and I lost track of him for a few years. Florida was not kind to him, through, and he lived through some sort of tragedy down there.

When he came back to the Land of Enchantment, I had just bought the Jean Cocteau Cinema. Trent needed work, and I made him my second hire. He started out selling popcorn, but soon was promoted to projectionist. He helped in promotion and scheduling as well, and sat in on some of my events, interviewing some of the writers who came by on promotional tours. He was a great employee, always… but never wanted to go full time. Writing was his true love, and he wanted to focus on that. His father would have said the same.

A few years further on, his sister Shannon his son Corwin both came to work at the JCC as well. And when declining health left his mother unable to continue managing Roger’s estate, Trent and Shannon took it on together. It was around then that they left the JCC, to devote more time to running the Amber Corporation… and giving Trent more time to write.

By then he had published a number of books, in several genres. I did not doubt that there were more to come. He had talent, and he had determination. Life had dealt him some hard blows, but he never gave up. Six months ago, if you had asked me, I would have said that Trent Zelazny was just at the beginning of his career.

I could never have dreamed that he was close to the end.

He is survived by his sister Shannon, his brother Devin, his son Corwin… and more friends than I can count.

We’re all going to miss him.

And if there is life beyond this, somewhere in Shadow on the road to Amber, I know his father is proud of him.

GRRM

Tags: friends, life and death

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