Customer Reviews

Dreamsongs: Volume II

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In this second and final volume of George R. R. Martin's short works, readers are treated to his writings of the 1980's leading up to the 90s when his career took off with the eventual success of his Song of Ice and Fire series. It is in this collection that we learn more of Martin's dabbling into television and screenwriting, as well his exploits into the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Divided into four parts, the first covers two stories involving Martin's eccentric character Haviland Tuf, an animal seller, who is the last surviving member of the ancient and defunct Ecological Group. Tuf with his menagerie travel the universe in The Ark, a ship that is many miles in length. All stories involving Tuf were eventually collected and published in a book, Tuf Voyaging, which Martin recommends fans seek out to read more about the redoubtable Tuf, but they must seek the used and out-of-print stores to find a copy.

The second part covers Martin's trip into screenwriting, specifically for TV shows. Two shows that Martin worked on were the 1980s incarnation of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. Scripts for two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "The Road Less Traveled," and "Doorways" are included here. While this was essentially the end for Martin's involvement in TV, he is quick to point out that he learned greatly from it. It was just one of the stepping stones that led to the creation of his epic fantasy series, still some years away.

In the third section, Martin discusses the surprising success of the Wild Cards series, which began with role-playing games amongst a group of writers - including Martin - when he moved to Santa Fe. The worlds, ideas and set-ups created for the different games were the impetus for the Wild Cards series which is still doing very well and now has its own website at [...]

In the fourth and final part, Martin leads up to the start of his epic series with some popular stories along the way, as well as including the novella The Hedge Knight set ten years before the start of the series. And for those hardcore fans, at the end there is an exhaustive and comprehensive listing of all George R. R. Martin's works, should one feel the compunction to read absolutely everything the man has ever written.

While the completion and release date for the fifth Song of Ice and Fire book, A Dance With Dragons, is still a distant and unknown destination, the Dreamsongs series can lead one on tangents into Martin's other writings, eventually bringing them full circle when A Dance With Dragons is eventually released.

Originally written on December 15th 2007 ©Alex C. Telander.

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enjoyed this authors main series a song of ice and fire... thought id try this, not as good but its cool to learn about people as it is also sort of an autobiography

No question, most of the stories here are available somewhere else. The key though is that this volume collects them together with commentary on the creative process by the author. Its a fun read and there where some stories I'd not seen before.

This is a great way to start reading George R.R. Martin! He has proven to be diverse, his works ranging from epic fantasy sagas to these great short stories!

The Dreamsongs volumes are not a complete collection of GRRM's stories. They provide a selection of work from throughout his career, with each section introduced by an autobiographical essay telling about a little of his life at the time, and how he came to write these particular stories. As the subject says...those alone were worth the price to me. The stories themselves are the bonus.

I just finished listening to Dreamsongs Vol II and it was so well done. The narrators are all great and everyone of the stories was new to me. The addition of Martin's commentary was like icing on the cake. They let me into his world, he talked of being a boy and waiting for the next magazine or pulp novel to come out, the authors he read, what he thought of them and ultimately how this translated into being an author. It took me out of the "Why won't this jerk write me the next Song of Ice and Fire Book" mode and into "Wow, he is really a fan like me!".

I highly recommend the audiobook if you are a fan of Game of Thrones.

...This is just an absolute ripoff to the fans that want a COMPLETE set of all GRRM's short stories. Why not release a 3rd volume to completely cover all of Martin's short stories? Why should I have to try to hunt down all of his old out of print expensive books just for 1 or 2 short stories that were not included in this set?