George

See that white-bearded figure sitting on the throne to the left? That's George RR Martin, author of a series of epic doorstopper novels on which a TV series called 'Game of Thrones' is based. You may have heard of it. I travelled all the way down to that London on Tuesday to attend a talk he was giving with fellow scribe Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm to the IRS), in the Gothic extravaganza that is the Freemason's Hall in Holborn. I could have done with arriving a little bit earlier and ended up right at the back as you can see, reducing the 'OMG, it's him!' factor by a few decibels. But it still made for a worthwhile outing. 'GRRM' - as he is known to fans - is a charismatic interviewee - think, basically, twinkly-eyed Father Christmas. He has plenty to say for himself and clearly enjoys the limelight, but long-suffering readers might have cause to wish he'd spend a little less time travelling around the world to events like this and a little more time writing his books. His Georgeness has been straining the patience of readers by writing his epic tomes very sloooowly for well over ten years now. The last fly-squashing tome took six years to complete and the one before that five. There is still no scheduled publication date for book six (of seven) and recent discouraging rumours suggest it now might not appear till 2016, a full five years after the last one, leaving the show in a strange place. I for one hope not but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile GRRM, already well into his 60s, isn't getting any younger....
I do watch the TV show, and enjoy it for the most part, but the books are a much richer and subtler brew and one, moreover, that hasn't been quite so crassly sexed up in places. But maybe I'm just an old fuddy-dud....