Book Information

George R.R. Martin

George Raymond Martin (he adopted the confirmation name Richard at 13 years old was born on September 20, 1948,in Bayonne, New Jersey,the son of longshoreman Raymond Collins Martin and Margaret Brady Martin. His mother's family had once been wealthy, owning a successful construction business, but lost it all in the Great Depression, something Martin was reminded about every day when he passed what used to be his family's dock and house.He has two younger sisters, Darleen and Janet.

During Martin's childhood, his world consisted predominantly of "First Street to Fifth Street", between his grade school and his home; this limited world made him want to travel and experience other places, but the only way of doing so was through his imagination, and he became a voracious reader.Martin began writing and selling monster stories for pennies to other neighborhood children, dramatic readings included; he had to stop once one of his customer's mothers complained about her child's nightmares.He also wrote stories about a mythical kingdom populated by his pet turtles; the turtles died frequently in their toy castle, so he decided they were killing each other off in "sinister plots".
Martin had a habit of starting "endless stories" that he never completed, as they did not turn out as well on paper as he had imagined them.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and later Marist High School. While there he became an avid comic-book fan, developing a strong interest in the superheroes being published by Marvel Comics,and later credited Stan Lee for being one of his greatest literary influences.
In 1970, Martin earned a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude; he went on to complete his M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Medill.
Eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War, to which he objected, Martin applied for and obtained conscientious objector status;he instead did alternative service work for two years (1972–1974) as a VISTA volunteer, attached to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation.