You can all stop panicking, please and thank you, because the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series is not actually dead. And, even if you don't believe it from me, maybe you will when you hear it from him, as George R.R. Martin promises he's very much alive. But just to explain away the confusion, someone named George Martin did die, you're not wrong. It's just that it was a different famous George Martin, minus the double Rs in the middle.
This Martin one was the music producer whose collaboration with the Fab Four led to him being known as "the fifth Beatle," and he passed away on Mar. 8 at age 90. The other Martin, author of Game of Thrones and the four books that have so far succeeded it, is 67 and very much alive, as he had to reassure his fans on LiveJournal after they lost their minds over the thought that the writer may have died suddenly before finishing his most popular series. But this is George R.R. Martin we're talking about, after all, so he wasn't content to clear up the misunderstanding with a simple, "Hi, hello, I'm not dead."
Instead, he managed to include a classic quote, honor the other George Martin, and share an anecdote about meeting Paul McCartney once, back in the day. Here's a little tidbit:
While it is strangely moving to realize that so many people around the world care so deeply about my life and death, I have to go with Mark Twain and insist that the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. It was Sir George Martin, of Beatles fame, who has passed away. Not me.
And not that it's any of our business what Martin gets up to in his spare time, however much we might want him to pick up the pace on The Winds of Winter so we can have it in our hot little hands as soon as possible, but he also shares that he's still hard at work, just to set our minds at ease.
I am still here, still writing, still editing, still going to movies and reading books, and I expect to hang around for quite a while yet, thank you very much.
Thank you very much, for dispelling the rumors in such a respectful and compelling way. Sir George Martin, you will be missed, and George R.R. Martin, we're lucky to have you. Now carry on.
