A law unto himself

Edinburgh seems the perfect place to be speaking to George R.R. Martin, here for the book festival, because one of the city’s residents is among the few authors able to empathise with his predicament.

The closest parallel to the impact made by J.K. Rowling’s seven-book fantasy sequence and related movies about Harry Potter is Martin’s projected seven-book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, and the globally successful spin-off HBO miniseries A Game of Thrones, named after the first of the five books that have so far appeared.

Rowling once said she still suffered moments of shock at the global industry and cultural phenomenon that had resulted from telling a story. Does Martin feel a similar sensation? “I wouldn’t use the word shock. But, yes, it does seem unreal at moments. I’m constantly forgetting my life has been transformed. I think Rowling was a different case because they were her first books. I’d had 20 years of fantasy and science fiction books that had done well, but not like this,” he says.

“There’s part of me that [thinks] I’m still that person and can live that kind of life. And then I’m reminded I’ve become a celebrity. There are nice things about it and not so nice.”

The negative aspect, he says, is “loss of privacy and the fact that it’s out of your control”. He and Parris, his third wife, came to Edinburgh three or four years ago and could listen to the street musicians and go to plays and performances. And, “in the whole week we were here, maybe three people recognised me, and I was happy to sign autographs.