It's the first installment of io9 sponsored podcast Geek's Guide to the Galaxy! In this episode, George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, talks about his books and the HBO adaptation of A Game of Thrones.


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Geek's Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley.


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You can download the MP3 for this episode here, subscribe to The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast feed here, and browse other episodes here.

Here's what's in store for you, minute-by-minute:

0:00 Introduction by io9.com

1:04 Dave and John introduce the show

1:30 Dave recaps Eps. 1-21 of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, available on Tor.com

4:24 Ad spot for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Interview: George R.R. Martin

05:29 Interview begins

05:42 Comic book adaptations of Fevre Dream and Doorways

09:18 Editing anthologies, including Jack Vance's Songs of the Dying Earth and Warriors and Songs of Love and Death (all edited alongside Gardner Dozois)


10:49 Gathering contributors for Songs of the Dying Earth

12:34 Crossing genres with Songs of Love and Death

16:21 The possibility of new Haviland Tuf stories

17:23 The future of the Wild Cards series, including volume 21, Fort Freak and comic books


19:32 Advice on launching a successful shared-world series

21:59 Role-playing with a gaming group

22:36 Health Insurance as a full-time fiction writer

28:04 Teaching at Writing Workshops, including Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop and Odyssey Writing Workshop


29:55 Roger Zelazny's and Howard Waldrop's original involvement in the series

33:53 Doing a book signing at the same time as Clifford the Big Red Dog

36:10 Game adaptations of A Song of Ice and Fire: board games, card games and video games


37:50 Collecting Miniatures and its influence on writing

38:43 Continuity between newer and older novels; would George like to go back and change anything in his earlier books?


39:53 Noteworthy examples of fandom related to George's work

42:39 Upcoming appearances

42:54 HBO's adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire

43:54 Discussion of A Song and Ice and Fire begins

44:20 Zombies!!

44:45 Surprises while developing A Song of Ice and Fire

46:01 Hacking at the infamous "Meereenese Knot"

48:29 Merging the timelines of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons

49:53 How the HBO series will be adapted beyond the first season

51:14 What if the HBO series catches up to the published novels?

52:49 Will HBO streamline the series for Television?

54:04 Leaving and then returning to Hollywood and Television

55:04 End of interview

55:12 Ad spot for The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor

Dave and John talk about George R.R. Martin and his writing

55:53 Quick update on Geek's Guide to the Galaxy

56:27 Now accepting listener donations via PayPal (geeksgalaxy@gmail.com)

57:13 Dave discovers Sandkings, a Hugo Award winning short story, and studies it at Odyssey Writer's Workshop


59:02 John reminisces about Meathouse Man andÉ sex with zombies?

1:00:32 Dreamsongs, a collection of Martin's short fiction

1:01:24 Favorite George R.R. Martin short stories

1:03:03 Dave's introduction to A Song of Ice and Fire

1:03:59 An intense connection to the characters of A Song of Ice and Fire

1:05:46 John's introduction to A Song of Ice and Fire

1:07:19 Recommending A Song of Ice and Fire to friends

1:07:51 The appeal of the series to non-Fantasy readers

1:08:48 Over 1,000 named characters in A Song of Ice and Fire!

1:09:49 Amoka's fan art

1:10:56 A Song of Ice and Fire 2011 Calendar, illustrated by Ted Nasmith and the board games


1:12:25 Is A Song of Ice and Fire the Harry Potter of adult Fantasy Fiction? Plus the huge community that's grown around the game

1:14:42 Unfinished series, fan fan-fueled vitriol, and Neil Gaiman

1:16:33 John predicts some mayhem in the comments section

1:16:49 What to read while waiting for A Dance with Dragons; fantasy inspired and influenced by George R.R. Martin: Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora, Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, Brian Ruckley, Swords & Dark Magic, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, Glen Cook


1:20:37 Re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire; even better the fifth time around says Dave!

1:23:28 References to Martin's earlier short stories and novels

1:24:28 John wonders about Martin's obsessions with "Songs"

1:26:08 Is A Song of Ice and Fire Martin's magnum opus?

1:27:08 Is Sandor Clegane one of the "sexiest" characters in A Song of Ice and Fire?


1:28:15 Casting for the HBO Television Series; the official teaser trailer

1:29:34 Dave reads a quote about Martin as a writer

1:30:43 Show wrap-up

Thanks for listening!


John Joseph Adams is an anthologist, a writer, and a geek. He is the bestselling editor of the anthologies By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Living Dead (a World Fantasy Award finalist), Seeds of Change, andWastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. His most recent books are The Living Dead 2 and The Way of the Wizard, and he is currently assembling several other anthologies, including Brave New Worlds and The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination. Barnes & Noble.com named him "the reigning king of the anthology world," and his books have been named to numerous best of the year lists. In addition to his anthology work, he worked for more than eight years as an editor at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,and is currently the fiction editor of Lightspeed Magazine.


David Barr Kirtley has published fiction in magazines such as Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Lightspeed,Intergalactic Medicine Show, On Spec, and Cicada, and in anthologies such as New Voices in Science Fiction,Fantasy: The Best of the Year, and The Dragon Done It. Recently he's contributed stories to several of John's anthologies, including The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, and The Way of the Wizard. He's attended numerous writing workshops, including Clarion, Odyssey, Viable Paradise, James Gunn's Center for the Study of Science Fiction, and Orson Scott Card's Writers Bootcamp, and he holds an MFA in screenwriting and fiction from the University of Southern California. He also teaches regularly at Alpha, a Pittsburgh-area science fiction workshop for young writers. He lives in New York.

Show notes compiled by podtern Aidan Moher.

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