In chat with George R.R. Martin & Raymond E. Feist

ChatMod: Hi everybody, thanks for joining us. I'm Ben Trumble for SCIFI. Tonight we're pleased to welcome writers Raymond E. Feist and George R.R. Martin. Tonight's chat is co-produced by ANALOG and by ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION (www.asimovs.com) the leading pubishers of science fiction and fantasy in the magazine format. Our host is Asimov's editor Gardner Dozois.

ChatMod: Brief word about the drill. This is a moderated chat -- please send your questions for our guests to ChatMod, as private messages. (To send a private message, either double-click on ChatMod or type "/msg ChatMod" on the command line - only without the quotes.)...Then hit Enter (or Return on a Mac.)

Gardner: So, Ray, I know that George started out as a Sci-Fi Guy and then switched. Did you start out in fantasy?

REFeist: Well, I actually started off in film. I was the

REFeist: youngest apprentice film editor fired by Richard Zanuck.

REFeist: I got into writing late, but yes, fantasy first.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: George, I know how you got into writing fantasy, but tell the audience.

grrm: I wrote fantasy right from the start, along with SF. My first sale was to GALAXY, my second to FANTASTIC.

grrm: I read them both as well, as a kid. Heinlein, Tolkien, Howard, Lovecraft, read them all.

ChatMod: Let me jump in while I remember -- we will be giving away an autographed copy of Legends II to a randomly selected audience member later in the chat...

Gardner: How big an influence was Tolkien on both of you? As writers of fantasy series, I suppose the comparison is inevitable.

ChatMod: We've lost GRRM. Hopefully he'll be right back

REFeist: Then I'll take the first turn . .

Gardner: Perhaps we could get a wizard to conjure him up...

Gardner: GA, Ray.

REFeist: Tolkien was an influence, but not that big for me. I

grrm: hey, I got booted off, but I'm back

REFeist: was more influenced by the adventure gus, and by Fitz Lieber.

REFeist: GA

Gardner: The question was, how much influence did Tolkien have on you?

REFeist: Er, that's guys, not gus.

grrm: Huge influence on me.

Gardner: (If you get booted, try hitting the "Reload" bar on the top of your screen.)

grrm: ok

Gardner: Can you think of another fantasy writer, George, who had as big an effect on your work?

grrm: Well, before Tolkien, there was Robert E. Howard. I discovered Conan before Middle Earth.

Gardner: Me too. And Fritz Leiber.

grrm: Lovecraft too, but he is usually counted as horror.

Gardner: Ray, if Tolkien didn't influence you all that much, who did?

grrm: Yes, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

grrm: And of course Jack Vance.

Gardner: Of course.

grrm: DYING EARTH

REFeist: Let's see, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson,

grrm: Liane the Wayfarer, Chun the Unavoidable

REFeist: Sabatini, H. Rider Haggard, A. Merrit,

Gardner: Still Old Dead Englishmen, but in a slightly different key. <g> (Scott & Stevenson that is, not Chun and Liane.)

REFeist: Broughs Mars stuff, and just about

REFeist: any good writer I could steal from.

Gardner: Ray, do you think that having been a film editor had an effect on your work?

REFeist: Yes. As well as working in theater. I think

REFeist: in very cinematic/theatrical terms, in how

REFeist: I see the work in progress. And I like

REFeist: very chracter driven stuff.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: How many books in your respective series are you gentlemen up to now?

grrm: I'm still working on number four.

REFeist: About a hundred and eleven, as of yesteray . . .

grrm: It seems I have been working on number four half my life.

REFeist: Seriously, in this particular series, I'm writing book three of five.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: You have other fantasy series, though?

grrm: Other writers have finished whole trilogies while I've been working on number four.

REFeist: Well, they're all realated, as if I was doing

REFeist: a continuing history of my world. GA

Gardner: Counting them all, what number are you up to?

REFeist: It's 21 novels so far.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: I should say to the audience that although we're ostensibly talking about the fantasy anthology LEGENDS II, questions about our guest's other work are welcome as well.

grrm: Yes, but LEGENDS II is really swell and you all need to buy it.

Gardner: Having said that, what ABOUT LEGENDS II. Tell folks about it. (Hold the cover up to the camera...)

REFeist: And remember, they make wonderful gifts!

grrm: Silverbob should be here to hold it up. He's the editor.

Gardner: Silverberg may be too OLD to hold it up. <g> This is one BIG book!

grrm: Me, I just did a novella. "The Sworn Sword." The return of Dunk and Egg, from LEGENDS I.

REFeist: Well, Silverbergh had me at "the check won't bounce." Seriously . .

REFeist: Most of my work was big picture stuff, and

REFeist: the smaller stories were very appealing to me in the collection.

Gardner: What's your story called, Ray?

grrm: If you all buy lots of copies, maybe some day there will be a LEGENDS III.

Gardner: Did we lose Ray?

Gardner: Ah, there he comes again.

REFeist: Yes, but I just got beter.

REFeist: Did the last answer get through?

Gardner: You're not fooling anyone, you know. <g>

Gardner: No.

REFeist: Anyway, I just wanted the chance to do

REFeist: stories that were smaller in scale, more personal

REFeist: than the epic stuff in the novels. And

REFeist: the two collections gave me that chance.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: What's the name of your story, Ray?

REFeist: The Messenger, which is a pretty straightforward

REFeist: "what does that guy do?" sort of story about a

REFeist: spear-carrier in the opera. GA

ChatMod: Let me throw in some audience question while Gardner catches his breath

ChatMod: <AKNicolle> to <ChatMod>: Addressed to both GRRM and Ray: How do you feel the genre has changed since you first started out?

Gardner: They pay you more money now? <g>

grrm: Depends on how you define the genre.

grrm: If it's just fantasy, it's boomed.

REFeist: I agree. The category has changed in terms

REFeist: of business. In terms of writing, I think

REFeist: it's still some really good stuff and some junk. GA

grrm: If you include SF and fantasy both, you have seen a shift from one to the other.

REFeist: Yes, Jane Johnson (my publisher in England) goes pale

REFeist: when I talk about an SF novel I want to write. GAS

grrm: Of course, publishing has changed a lot as well. All genres.

ChatMod: <Chooch> to <ChatMod>: Do GRRM and RF plot the short pieces differently than thier longer pieces?

REFeist: By its nature, a short form piece has different

REFeist: requirements than a novel. The shorter the story,

REFeist: the faster you have to make your point.

REFeist: ga

REFeist: For me, short fiction is harder. ga

grrm: You can't have the same level of complexity in a short story. Though sometimes I try.,..

grrm: Giant megaseries are harder for me. Especially the fourth volume...

ChatMod: Another question...

ChatMod: <WJ> to <ChatMod>: To REF: We had recently a discussion, if there was a Moredhel language. There were some things in your books that on the one hand look like there was a language, and on some other occasions, it looked like there wasn't. So the question: Is there a moredhel language and in which way is it related to the other Elven languages

REFeist: OK, George, here's how to finish the forth volume . .

REFeist: Put To Be Continued where you are, then start volume 5.

REFeist: ga

grrm: ack! no, no, that's just what I've been trying to avoid...

grrm: though some days I do get tempted

Gardner: You could use the ever-reliable "And then they were all run over by a truck. The End." Although in this case, I suppose it would have to be a troll...

grrm: I don't do Trolls. Except in WILD CARDS.

REFeist: Actually, I prefer, And then he woke up! It was all a dream!

ChatMod: Let me repeat that last question for REF

ChatMod: <WJ> to <ChatMod>: To REF: We had recently a discussion, if there was a Moredhel language. There were some things in your books that on the one hand look like there was a language, and on some other occasions, it looked like there wasn't. So the question: Is there a moredhel language and in which way is it related to the other Elven languages

Gardner: And we're not giving you your money back!

grrm: I did once end a short story with the sun going nova. Always wanted to do that.

Gardner: Ga, Ray.

REFeist: OK, great question.

REFeist: When I stayed awake during a linquistics

REFeist: class in college, a point one lecturer made to

REFeist: me was that in the 18th Century, a great

REFeist: paraiste infestation destroyed a large part

REFeist: of the Great Norther bison herd. The Cheynne split up

REFeist: into two bands, one going north to live with the

REFeist: Lakota, and the other going south to live with the Arapaho.

REFeist: Fifty years later they reunited, and they could

REFeist: barely speak to one another. I view

REFeist: the moredhel as the elves who haven't

REFeist: spoken to their cousins in a hell of a long time.

REFeist: They can communicate, but there's a lack

REFeist: of neuance and sub-text. GA

ChatMod: <Odie> to <ChatMod>: grrm: Do you have any idea yet on how many more Dunk and Egg stories you plan to write? Given the ending of The Sworn Sword, it seems that there will be at least one more, and possibly more given that Dunk eventually becomes Lord Commander of Aegon's Kingsguard.

grrm: Oh, more than one. Maybe six or seven. I want to follow them through their lives.

grrm: And they live in an especially eventful period of Westerosi history.

grrm: Of course, I need to finish A FEAST FOR CROWS before I write the next Dunk & Egg.

grrm: I should mention that the first D&E story, "THe Hedge Knight," has also been made into a great comic book

REFeist: By Roaring Studios, to be follwed by . .

grrm: by Roaring Studios. Script by Ben Avery, art by Mike S. Miller and Mike Crowell.

REFeist: The Wood Boy, my story from Ledgens I.

REFeist: ga

ChatMod: Many people are asking just how close you are to finishing Feast of Crows....

grrm: Not as close as I'd like to be,

Gardner: Any volunteers to finish it FOR him? <g>

REFeist: What's it pay?

ChatMod: Another less loaded question...

ChatMod: <Huskies4all> to <ChatMod>: I was curious to know if you have the slightest pang of regret when you kill off characters?

REFeist: I don't. I find that it gives a sense of

REFeist: peril that is sorely lacking in a lot of

REFeist: ficiton. GA

grrm: Yes. There is one infamous chapter in A STORM OF SWORDS that I could hardly bring myself to write.

REFeist: I figure if I thought up one good character, there are more where he/she came from. GA

Gardner: It gives me a pang when I realize that God probably feels no more compunction about killing off His characters. <g>

grrm: My characters are part of me. When I kill them, it hurts.

REFeist: Like a good wrier, God can make as many as He wants. GA

Gardner: Think how they feel.

REFeist: I guess I just don't get emotionally attached. Some are far

REFeist: more fun to write, but I'm not in love with any of them. GA

ChatMod: Chooch> to <ChatMod>: What are each of the author's daily writing practices? Music listening habits while writing?

grrm: I, on the other hand, am in love with all of them. Even the bad guys.

ChatMod: STATION IDENTIFICATION:

ChatMod: Just a reminder. We're chatting with writers Raymond E. Feist and George R.R. Martin. Tonight's chat is co-produced by Asimov's magazine (www.asimovs.com) Our host is Gardner Dozois. This is a moderated chat -- please send your questions for our guests to ChatMod, as private messages. (To send a private message, either double-click on ChatMod or type "/msg ChatMod" on the command line - only without the quotes.)...Then hit Enter (or Return on a Mac.)

grrm: No music for me. No distractions. Just me, the computer, the beads of blood.

REFeist: The bad guys are the most fun to write. That's why the villian in my last two books is the heor of the next one!

REFeist: Anyway, I jump out of bed, run 20 miles, eat

REFeist: grass clippings, cure cancer, then I start

REFeist: writing . . .wait a minue, you want a real answer.

REFeist: OK, I write between reading the newspaper, yelling at my

Gardner: Don't forget the eight impossible things you have to do before breakfast...

REFeist: kids, taking them to school, shopping, dating girls half my age, paying bills, etc.

REFeist: I write all the time I'm not doing other stuff.

REFeist: GA

grrm: Ray has a much more interesting life than I do.

Gardner: what about music?

REFeist: Never while I'm working. If I do, I start dancing around the house, which a man

REFeist: my age shouldn't do unless he's really trying to embarass his kids in

REFeist: front of their friends. Actually, I often have sports talk radio going while I work. I can multi-task. GA

Gardner: Hey, George, you could shop and pay bills TOO.

ChatMod: The winner of our book give away tonight is ...drum roll...miranda. To claim your prize send an email to feedback@www.scifi.com and put book winner in the sujb. line

grrm: Congrats, miranda.

grrm: Enjoy the book.

REFeist: MIranda, good for you!

ChatMod: <Sax6ton> to <ChatMod>: Do either of you see the genre of High Fantasy as a tired one? One contributor to the book commented that he would never write andything with "stuff like swords and dragons" because it has become so cliche'd.

grrm: We should mention that there's lots of other stuff in LEGENDS II besides my story and Ray's.

Gardner: But not Miranda? She's a Rudolph Valentino fan, and she doesn't try to understand...(sorry, sixties flashback)

REFeist: What, Lou Reeds in the house?

grrm: Which contributor said that? Pfui on him or her.

Gardner: I could guess.

REFeist: Look, every time you start one of these

grrm: Look, everything is old. Nothing new under the sun. It all depends on what you do with it.

REFeist: conversations, you end up back at

REFeist: Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crud. It's not what you do, folks,

REFeist: it's how you do it. Or, if you're talking Armageddon Rag, it's also what you do. My favorite book by George.

Gardner: Who else IS in LEGENDS II?

grrm: Robin Hobb.

REFeist: Tad Williams

grrm: Her story is excellent, I think.

ChatMod: Still one of only a few "rock" novels worth reading

grrm: Scott Card.

grrm: Silverberg has a Majipoor story as well as editing.

REFeist: I'm doing shilling. ga

Gardner: Who else SHOULD HAVE BEEN in LEGENDS II who ISN'T?

grrm: There's Diana Gabaldon and Elizabeth Haydon.

ChatMod: <Lucieve> to <ChatMod>: May we ask what influence, if any, the gentlemen believe their works have had on the fantasy genre as a whole?

REFeist: Man, now you really want us to feel old!

grrm: Well, I've been telling Silverbob for years that JACK VANCE should be in the books, with a Dying Earth story.

REFeist: I was told by Sarrah Douglass I was an

Gardner: Right on!

REFeist: influence. I told her she'd have to prove it

REFeist: and no jury on Eath would covict me.

REFeist: Amen to Jack. If we can ever get him

grrm: That's not for me to say. I see some books with "in the tradition of George R.R. Martin" on the cover, but they're not.

REFeist: off of that damn yatch.

grrm: I think there should be a law. If they want to be in my tradition, they should have to get my permission.

Gardner: Ick. He's on a yatch? Sounds painful.

grrm: Sounds like something in a Vance story, actually.

Gardner: Many here would probably be willing to pay you for the priviledge, George.

REFeist: Jack sits down to write, and Paul Allen calls him

REFeist: and says, "Le's go sailing to Tahiti!" Drives Jacque Post

REFeist: his Dutch publisher nuts. Jack is HUGE in Holland. GA

ChatMod: <Sax6ton> to <ChatMod>: Mr. Martin, not that I'm eager to see an end to Fire and Ice, but do you see a personal return to SF anytime in the near future?

grrm: Roger Zelazny would have belong in LEGENDS too, with Amber, but he died too soon.

grrm: This series is going to take several more years at least. After that, who knows?

REFeist: Amen. Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness, and Roadmarks are stunning.

Gardner: Who else should have been in the infinately expansible version of LEGENDS II? Any overlooked and/or young writers who're doing really good fantasy work?

REFeist: I'd like to see Steve Stirling and Bill Forstchen do fantasy work, and there should be

REFeist: a Joel Rosenberg and Janny Wurts storie, IMHO.

grrm: China Mieville. Lynn Flewelling. Daniel Abraham.

REFeist: The fact I've collaborated with all of them tells you how I feel about their work.

grrm: Ursula Le Guin was in the first LEGENDS, and should have been in this one.

REFeist: Ditto Stephen King.

Gardner: I've been nagging George to write some short SF at least, but I think it's unlikely to happen until after he finishes his book.

grrm: Silverbob crossed genre lines to get Diana Gabaldon. He should have gotten Bernard Cornwell too.

REFeist: I would have KILLED to get a Bernad Cornwell story in the collection.

grrm: Oh, and Neil Gaiman is in LEGENDS II. We haven't mentioned him yet. One of the great modern fantasists.

ChatMod: <Jon> to <ChatMod>: To both GRRM and REFeist: will there be a legends III?

grrm: Neil comes out of comics, of course. Makes you wonder what Alan Moore, the other great comic writer of our day, could do.

REFeist: Alan told me once he has trouble with the prose form.

grrm: I'd write for it... but the decision rests with Robert Silverberg, and Del Rey Books, and depends on the sales on this one.

Gardner: They sell pretty well, i'd guess--but they also cost a lot.

Gardner: So there's a bigger nut to earn back.

grrm: True.

grrm: Very good books for the writers, though.

Gardner: I assume that LEGENDS made money, though, or there wouldn't have been a LEGENDS II.

grrm: Not only is the pay good, but LEGENDS broadens your audience.

grrm: I've had lots of people say they discovered my work in LEGENDS I, after buying it for the King story or the Pratchett story, etc.

REFeist: I'm am so tired of getting bombed off.

REFeist: Did anyone mention Clive Barker? He should

REFeist: have been in, too.

grrm: Yes, Clive would be a good choice.

Gardner: How about Peter Straub?

REFeist: I loved Shadowland, but is there

REFeist: an existing "universe" in which Peter could

REFeist: write a short piece?

REFeist: ga

grrm: Of course, LEGENDS is more than just "stories by your favorite writers."

ChatMod: Another question...

ChatMod: You've both created works that could be called "epic" in scope. Do you ever find yourself getting impatient with the details while you are trying to complete a greater story arc?

grrm: It's "stories by your favorite writers writing in their most famous universe."

REFeist: I don't. I love discovering what my characers

REFeist: are up to. They surprise the heck out of me.

grrm: The devil is in the details.

REFeist: ga

Gardner: I assume that J.K. Rowland was asked to contribute to LEGENDS and did not?

REFeist: I don't thinkso, but you'd have to ask AGbob.

grrm: You'd have to ask Silverbob.

Gardner: Would make sense, if only from a commercial standpoint.

Gardner: Do you read her books? Do you think she reads yours?

grrm: I've read three of them. I doubt she reads mine.

REFeist: I have no idea if she's read my stuff, and I've read the 1st 3 books. Pretty fun stuff.

REFeist: The only famous person I know who's read

REFeist: me is Keith Richards of the Stones. ga

Gardner: Before we wrap up, do either of you have any upcoming projects to plug other than ones we've discussed already?

REFeist: King of Foxes, out in the US in April. Exile's Return

REFeist: out in the UK in November!

grrm: GRRM, my Retrospective collection, is out from Subterreanean. Half a million words of SF, fantasy,horror, and me.

grrm: And there's the WILD CARDS reprints from iBooks.

REFeist: Thanks for having us! Got to go.

Gardner: Considering the staggering success of HARRY POTTER, do either of you have any intention of trying your hand at Young Adult fantasy?

ChatMod: Our time is about up. Thanks for a great chat guys. Tonight's chat is co-produced by Asimov's magazine (www.asimovs.com) Join us again in two weeks when we'll be chatting with writers Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, Andrea Hairston, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, and Kalamu ya Salaam . We'll open the floor now. Good night.

Fico!!! Ma dove l'hai trovato?

MI-TI-CO!

Grande Gil!!!!!

a Gil!!! :smack: :smack:

Gil te lo richiedo di nuovo: dove l'hai trovata? Possiamo andare anche noi comuni mortali in questa chat? Quando?

non l'ho trovata in una chat ma in un sito dove era riportata questa discussione. Non so dirti di quale chat si tratti. Sorry!!