Dreamsongs: Volume 1 - Part 1 - Discussion

Few days late, my apologies, but not too late anyway, heh. So, been about two weeks since I posted the first post, time to start up discussion on the first portion of Dreamsongs, Vol. 1.

A Four-Color Fanboy

Though not required, I figure some of you may've read through this portion anyway. Good thinking, in any event. No real questions about it as it is just an autobiographical bit by Martin, but just out of curiosity, what did you think so far? One thing of interest especially, I think, is how he refers to the three stories that follow as his "apprentice work" and to "read on if you dare."

Only Kids Are Afraid of The Dark

The first of the three stories, involving Saagael, the Prince of Demons, Lord of Darkness, etc etc (so many titles) and the hero Doctor Weird.

1. What did you think of the overall story? Did it seem somewhat childish to you, battle between definite good and evil, a superhero, demon, and so on?
2. Even as one of his early works, Martin's ability to set up a scene is evident in this story. Did you find his description of the temple, of the plane where Saagael waited to be overly descriptive, or fitting?

The Fortress

The Fortress, aka Sveaborg, is, if you couldn't tell/didn't know, based on a real location of the same name (though it was once known as Suomenlinna). This is a departure, in my experience, from most of Martin's work. Typically he doesn't go for a sort of historical fiction. An oddity.

1. Why do you think Martin chose Sveaborg to write about? Was he trying, much like the character Carl Bannersson in the Epilog, to be an armchair general of sorts (though to be fair to Bannersson, at least in the story, he was present at Sveaborg so had some ground to stand on in that regard)?
2. Based on your reading of these three stories, do you think that Martin's choice of historical fiction was a good idea?
3. With question # 2 in mind, why do you think Martin chose to not do any historical fiction stories (that I know of, anyway, Dreamsongs vol. 1 & 2 do not, to my recollection, have any other, his A Song of Ice and Fire series is not based on our reality, and the Wildcard series of books based on present day with superheroes and the like)?

And Death His Legacy

Personally, my favorite of the first three. I found it an interesting way to tell a story.

1. Just whose legacy is death in this story? The Prophet or Maximillian de Laurier?
2. Though he wrote it around 1968, in a way this story could easily (and eerily) be seen as taking place today. Whatever your feelings about the current (and immediate future) political layout, do you think this story holds a message? And do you agree with it?
3. And do you agree with what Maximillian chose to do in the end? More to that matter, do you think it was the right thing to do at all?

And I'll end this out with announcing that Part 2, The Filthy Pro, which encompasses The Hero, The Exit To San Breta, The Second Kind Of Loneliness, and With Morning Comes Mistfall, will be up next Friday (if I'm on time, anyway, heh). Enjoy!

Dreamsongs: Volume 1 - Part 1

First, sorry for the delay on making this, life got a bit busy and then my book vanished on me. Finally found it, in the last place I looked, of course: My car.

So! I have it now, heh. And figure its time to start a reading for it. Not sure how many of you are going to join in, so for the first part I figure I'll give it two weeks time. Plenty of time to get a book (if you don't have it at the moment), maybe let stragglers in.

Anyway, part 1. Both volumes of Dreamsongs are helpfully split up into subsections, so we'll just go with that. For the most part, each section follows a theme. It also starts with a small autobiographical bit from the author, George R R Martin.

So, for the first reading, Part 1, A Four-Color Fanboy. This includes the following three stories:

• Only Kids Are Afraid Of The Dark
• The Fortress
• And Death His Legacy

Simple enough stuff at the start, as I recall. I believe some of these are his earliest works (fitting then that they show up at the start of his sorta-autobiography), so they may be a bit rough around the edges, but still a good read, I think. I'll make the discussion post for this on October 26th.

Happy reading!