George RR Martin is busier than ever. Aside from his commitment to completing his A Song of Ice and Fire book series with The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, he has multiple other projects ongoing, including Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. At 73, the author is understandably anxious about protecting his health, as he confessed in a new blog post.
Martin shared he will be attending San Diego Comic-Con at the end of the month, but pleaded with fans to comply with his interaction demands.
The Game of Thrones creator wrote: “I will also be doing a couple of signings at San Diego. One for my publisher, Bantam Spectra/ Random House. I will be signing copies of FIRE & BLOOD and my other novels. And one for Marvel Comics, with Paul Cornell, to promote the new Wild Cards graphic novels that Paul has scripted…This being Comicon, where the crowds are immense, all these signings will be capped and strictly limited, so if you want me to scrawl on one of your books, join the queue early. (Sorry, I will NOT sign while walking the floor, eating lunch, or taking a piss in the men’s room. Don’t ask, okay?)”
Martin continued: “In June 2021, I went to Chicago for a week to accept an honorary doctorate from Northwestern. Aside from that, this will be the first time I have left home since the pandemic struck in March 2020. I am looking forward to it… but, truth be told, I am also a tad anxious. I have managed to avoid getting covid so far, knock wood… but if this Comicon is like the last one I went to, I am going to be in one big room with 150,000 other people, some of whom may not have been as careful as we have. That could be a challenge. Yes, I am fully vaccinated and double boosted, but that’s true of a number of friends of mine, who have still contracted omnicron despite that. (Mild cases, mostly, but still).”
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Martin, who said his current mood was “anxious” added: “I do not want covid, not even a mild case, so please be advised, I will be doing all I can to prevent that. I will be masked almost all the time. I will not be shaking hands, sorry. Or even bumping fists. You can take my picture when I am signing your book, but stay on your side of the table, please. No selfies. No hugs. In past years, I was always glad to do all that, to make myself available to my readers, but these are not normal times. Once covid goes away for good — if it ever does — perhaps I will be able to do all that again. But not now. I cannot get sick. I have too much work to do. I ask for your understanding. And I hope all of us have a great time in San Diego, regardless of these challenges.”
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Martin has been working on The Winds of Winter for the last 11 years and has A Dream of Spring to pen afterwards. Considering his advancing age and workload, some fans have been concerned if he’ll actually finish A Song of Ice and Fire.
If he doesn’t, the series could face what happened to Robert Jordan’s fantasy series The Wheel of Time. In this case, the author died before he could complete his epic and Brandon Sanderson was hired to finish the last three books in the series. But hopefully, it won’t come to that for the Game of Thrones legend.
