George RR Martin has shared a bittersweet message about attending Worldcon, as he reflected on the fellow fantasy authors who are no longer with us.
The Game of Thrones writer posted an update to his website, Not a Blog, on 8 September after attending the World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, in Seattle.
The annual event hosts science-fiction and fantasy fans as well as creators, such as authors, filmmakers and actors, and also presents the Hugo Award for the best works and achievements of the past year.
“Caught up with some old fan friends, made some new ones,” Martin, 76, wrote. “I did two panels, both of them enjoyable, and the autographing was well-run, drew about 300 [people].”
He said that the highlight of the convention was a screening of three of the four short films based on works by late author Howard Waldrop: Night of the Cooters, Mary Margaret Road-Grader, and The Ugly Chickens.
“We had a full house for that, every seat occupied, people sitting in the aisles and standing in the back of the hall, and everyone seemed to enjoy the movies, which pleased me no end,” he said. “I just wish Howard could have been there to see them.”
“When not signing books or doing a panel or showing a film, I mostly sat around in the bar with [my wife] Parris and friends, chatting about everything and nothing,” Martin continued in his post.
“I have reached the point in life where that’s the best part of any con for me. It does bring back memories, though. Worldcons these days are filled with ghosts: Howard and Gardner, Ed Bryant and John Miller, so many more.”
Martin became friends with Waldrop while searching for a very rare DC comic, The Brave and the Bold issue 28, which he found and purchased from a fellow teenage boy – Waldrop – in Arlington, Texas.
Both went on to write science-fiction works: Waldrop was regarded more as a cult figure, while Martin achieved significant mainstream success with his A Song of Ice and Fire series.
In December last year, Martin told The Hollywood Reporter that he broke the “cardinal rule” of the film industry – to never use your own money to fund a project – by self-funding the four short films.
He made the decision after trying for years to get a studio to adapt Waldrop’s work: “I tried for a number of years… I finally gave up.”
Waldrop died of a stroke on 14 January 2024.
Fellow science-fiction author and editor Gardner Dozois died in 2018, while sci-fi and horror writer Edward Bryant passed away a year earlier. John Miller, who was best-known for his Wild Cards series of anthologies and novels – which were edited by Martin – died on 5 January 2022.
In his website post, Martin made no mention of the incident where he was confronted during a Worldcon panel by a disgruntled fan about The Winds of Winter, the long over-due penultimate book in his A Song of Fire and Ice series.
The fan in question told the author he was “not going to be around much longer” before suggesting he let fellow panellist and author Brandon Sanderson finish the series.
His comment was met by boos from fellow attendees and denounced by others on the panel before the event was ended prematurely by the hosts.
On social media, many fans of Martin branded the outburst “inappropriate” and said the author “deserves respect”.
Martin said he was back home and “back at it”, with New York City Comic Con, taking place between Thursday 9 October to Sunday 12 October, next on his schedule.
“I’ll be meeting up with the stars and showrunner of [A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms],” he said, referring to the forthcoming fantasy drama series he created with Ira Parker.
The latest prequel to Game of Thrones will mark the third TV series in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Franchise, and uses his Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas as its source material.
Earlier this year, it was announced that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms had been delayed by HBO until next year.
