Sean Bean portrays Eddard Stark in a scene from the HBO series, 'Game of Thrones', based on the George R.R. Martin series.
AP Photo/HBO, Nick Briggs
In 2011, everybody wanted to journey to the fantastical land of Westeros — a place teeming with dragons, monster-sized wolves, incestuous aristocrats, teen virgins and impossibly tall walls of ice.For his epic Game of Thrones, author George R.R. Martin wears the crown of USA TODAY's Author of the Year.
Thanks to HBO's hit adaptation, Martin ascended from best-selling cult writer (especially popular with young men) to king of the book world.
The former Hollywood writer meticulously crafts an intricate world out of the fertility of his own imagination. Inspired by the dynastic wrangling of the War of the Roses in 15th-century England, the sexy, violent saga features three warring clans: the Starks, the Lannisters and the Targaryens.
Martin's mammoth, page-turning "A Song of Ice & Fire" fantasy series proves that the human attention span hasn't shriveled to the size of a starlet's thong or an Ashton Kutcher tweet. The five-book saga, which began in 1996 with A Game of Thrones (HBO dropped the "A"), spans 4,197 pages. More than 12 million copies are in print.
In July, Martin, 63, published the series' fifth book, A Dance of Dragons, sending fans into a frenzy. It hit No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list — a first for the Sante Fe resident.
And he's still writing.
With Game of Thrones set to return to HBO for a second season in April, we say… long may he reign.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-12-29/george-r-r-martin-is-author-of-the-year-2011/52256412/1
No comments:
Post a Comment