George Martin – Versatile Science Fiction Author

George Martin is an American science fiction writer, screenwriter, producer and editor who has won numerous literary awards. In 2011, he was named one of the most influential people in the world by Times. G.Martin began his career by writing science fiction stories. G.Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” and “Game of Thrones” series have made his name an idol.

Youth and family

The writer George Martin was born on September 20, 1948. His father worked as a stevedore at the port. Initially the family lived in a house on Broadway that had belonged to his mother Margaret’s relatives. In 1953 the whole family moved to the urban area for the convenience of the father’s work. The family had three children and quite modest economic conditions. As a child, George taught himself to play chess and liked reading books, especially enjoying Stan Lee’s comics.

The future fantasy writer imagined himself becoming a character in his favorite Marvel works. The little boy wrote his first stories at school, which were naive horror stories following the motif of urban novels. After graduating from Marist High School, George took a journalism course at the University of Chicago. When he received his bachelor’s degree in 1970, the young man was drafted, but George’s application for exemption from military service was reviewed and accepted. For two years, George did service jobs, continued to write stories, and persistently sent them to science fiction publishers, but was often rejected.

In 1975, Martin met professor and literary activist George Guthridge, who reviewed the young writer’s stories. What was read made such a strong impression on Guthridge that he helped Martin get a job at the University of Iowa. Here Martin taught introductory journalism for several years until he decided to give up teaching and devote all his mind to his beloved work of writing books.

Beginning of a career

In 1980, George Martin had passed 30 years old, considered quite a mature age for a writer. For example, at this age Dreiser wrote “Sister Carrie”, Hemingway wrote “A Farewell to Arms” and Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby”. Tired of the cold weather in the West, George chose sunny and beautiful Santa Fe as the most suitable place for his literary activity ideas. After settling in his new home, Martin started working but his writing assets included only one published story. However, with the release of “Star Wars”, the genre of science fiction novels became extremely popular which gave strength and inspiration to the writer.

After that, Martin was introduced to Philip De Guerre, producer of The Twilight Zone project, and he had to postpone his writing activities for 10 years. From 1982 to 1991, Martin wrote scripts for The Twilight Zone, the sci-fi horror films “Nightflyers”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Max Headrum”. The screenwriting work was quite highly paid but took up all of Martin’s time so by the end of 1991 he quit screenwriting to seriously pursue literary writing.

“A Song of Ice and Fire” – George Martin took nearly 5 years to create this series. It is believed that the author was inspired by J.R.R Tolkien’s works when creating this work. However, some genres featured in the works, including realism, are skillfully combined with naturalism as well as nostalgia for romanticism and the author’s reflections on the eternal themes of love, betrayal, good and evil that have concerned humanity since ancient times.

“Game of Thrones” – The work was born in 1996 and immediately became a bestseller. By 2011, Martin had written 5 more books, events taking place in a time somewhat reminiscent of medieval Europe on the continent of Westeros. The plot includes many branches, united by one theme – the struggle for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. The growing ambition of House Lannister encounters resistance from the Starks, the rulers of the northern lands. The heir to the extinct Targaryen dynasty is gaining strength and young Daenerys is a real threat to the legitimacy of Lannister rule. Many “smaller” families also have their own vision for the future of the Seven Kingdoms. But the wars for the throne and independence from the crown are nothing compared to the threat from the distant North, from the lands separated from the Seven Kingdoms by a huge ice wall that has existed for hundreds of years.

The media giant HBO bought the exclusive rights to film the entire series in 2007. Preparation for the first part took nearly 4 years, so the first episodes of the project were only released in 2011. But the wait was worth it, from the very first episodes the highest standards were shown by the creators. G.Martin himself participated in writing the scripts and filming, the characters he portrayed were no less masterful than the star actors. In addition, young actors were also invited to participate in the project and they were very excited. The series has won all kinds of film awards and is named among the best projects in film history.

Personal Life

George Martin’s first spouse was Gale Burnick whom he married in 1974 and they divorced 5 years later. Not long after the breakup, Martin met Parris McBride and they cohabited for over 30 years without marriage. In the winter of 2011, the writer and his girlfriend got engaged at Martin’s house in Santa Fe and held their wedding ceremony in the summer. George Martin and Parris McBride have repeatedly made the list of the most influential people in the world with an estimated net worth of $70 million, but they have no children.

For nearly 25 years, the writer raised his cat Caligula who passed away in 2018, when he expressed his grief and received many condolence messages from fans. He is actively involved in charity and participates in some animal support projects. George Martin is on the list of the most influential people in the world. He is also known for his fondness for hats and he often appears in public wearing a Greek fisherman’s hat, he has a huge hat collection.

Present

In his literary career, Martin has written many works, but his most famous and beloved by readers worldwide is still “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Part 7 of the series was released in 2017 and was no less popular with all fans of the fantasy genre and the amazing performances of the actors. In 2019, part 8 and the final part was released.

In 2018, Martin’s novel “Nightflyers” was filmed but this series did not receive even 1/10 of the popularity of “Game of Thrones”. Interestingly, all the negative reviews and criticisms were aimed at the creators of the film project and the actors, but did not affect the writer who was also a co-screenwriter.

In 2021, the 6th book “The Winds of Winter” was released. Fans believe that their favorite characters from Game of Thrones will continue. Although Martin was directly involved in screenwriting, many important parts of the plot were omitted and the ending of the book is very different from what was presented in the TV project.