Last week, Irene and I were in St. Petersburg, Russia for a post-Helsinki Worldcon trip, and on our first night, as we wandered the Nevsky Prospekt, who should we run into but—George R. R. Martin!

Well, not the real George R. R. Martin. Rather, a larger-than-life version in a bookshop window.

He was plastered there because he was scheduled to sign around the corner from our hotel at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, Agust 17th, as was verified by a sign near the escalators leading to the area where his books were stocked.

I headed upstairs and checked out the science fiction and fantasy section, where I discovered something unusual about George’s books. (more…)

On the final day of the second annual StokerCon—which took place in Long Beach, California aboard the now permanently docked Queen Mary—I disembarked with one of the Guests of Honor to record the fifth and final Eating the Fantastic episode of the weekend. We headed to Thai District, which serves dishes from Northern Thailand, as opposed to most of the other Thai restaurants in the area which tend to focus on that country’s central region.

I’ve known this episode’s guest in the flesh for decades, and on the page for even longer, going back to my earliest days in comics fandom. George R. R. Martin is a multifaceted talent, with a list of credits so vast, many might only be aware of a fraction of them.

Some of might know him from the superhero short stories such as “Manta Ray Meets the Executioner” he was publishing in the ’60s in one of the greatest fanzines of all time, Star Studded Comics (which is where, as a young teen, I first encountered him), or as the creator and editor of the long-running Wild Cards series of mosaic, multi-author novels, some may know him better from such award-winning short fiction as “Sandkings” and “The Pear-Shaped Man,” or novels like Fevre Dream and The Armageddon Rag, while still others might know him best from his TV work … like … you know … The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast—and don’t forget Max Headroom!

We discussed why he was annoyed Marvel Comics printed his letters but DC never did, the reason Gardner Dozois was responsible for his first science fiction short story sale, how the rock ‘n’ roll novel Armageddon Rag got him a job on the rebooted Twilight Zone, what he learned from the arc of Stephen R. Donaldson’s career, how losing the John W. Campbell Memorial Award got him his first editing gig, why he almost became a realtor, the time Harlan Ellison convinced him to apply to be the editor of Analog, and more. PLUS: Hear a snippet from an interview I did back in 1993 in which he makes an amusing admission about “a fantasy novel I’ve been working on off and on for awhile.”

Here’s how you can join us for our Thai feast— (more…)

While digging out that 44-year-old Analog rejection letter I shared with you, I also ran across one of my own letters, sent just a few years later, which speaks to the ambitions of me at 19.

Because (as the letter reveals) I was trying to become George R. R. Martin’s publisher.

Back in 1975, when I was still living with my parents, flush with earnings from my new job at Marvel Comics, and feeling myself then to be more a part of comics than science fiction, I decided I’d start a publishing company which would do for comics what Advent Press was then doing for SF.

At the time, George had only published around a dozen short stories, had yet to come out with a novel, and I knew him best for his prose appearances in the pages of Star-Studded Comics, a fanzine out of Texas.

One such superhero adventure was “Powerman vs. the Blue Barrier,” which had appeared 10 years earlier. (more…)

I got back home from my Chicago Worldcon trip after midnight last night—or should I say, this morning—and while I’d love to write up right now how much fun I had, both at the con and elsewhere (like at Alinea!), it’s unlikely I’ll be able to compose my thoughts until the weekend.

After all, I did return from my trip to something like 5,000 emails!

So let these eight photos, one for each day I was away, stand in for the posts to come.

Wednesday
A note left on our table at the start of Next restaurant’s Sicilian meal

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While at Aussiecon4 earlier this month, I recorded two panels—”These are not the people you are looking for: race in SF/F” and “Write what you know!” So considering the speed with which I uploaded Readercon video, some of which went live while Readercon was still ongoing, why haven’t I shared snippets of them here yet? Because I was disappointed in the audio quality captured by my iPhone4, and haven’t decided whether it’s worthy of your eyes and ears. Though I may end up posting it, since it’s better to have some record of the event loose in the world than none at all.

I’ve learned my lesson, though. Next time I want to save a con panel, I’ll use my Flip.

Meanwhile, Phillip Lowles had better luck recording a panel I was on, using his HTC Desire running Google Android. So here’s the “Vampire vs. Zombie Smackdown,” in which I’m joined by George R.R. Martin, Foz Meadows, Narrelle M Harris, Felicity Dowker, and Chuck McKenzie.

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