Read/reading: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

A Game of Thrones was more or less exactly what I thought it would be - four young adult novels with vastly more interesting and complex subject matter, interwoven around each other to make an 800-page behemoth. I loved it. I think I might get the rest of them.

Stardust, incredibly, is only my second Neil Gaiman novel (after American Gods. I’m very excited. I haven’t seen the film, either - I’ve been holding off.

Read/reading: Drive by James Sallis, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.

Drive was lean, and brilliant, and reminded me that some writers can say more in ten words than others can say in a hundred. It gives me confidence. When I’m writing fiction, I try and pare things down to the essentials, but you see it so rarely that often I wonder if I’m not just doing it for simplicity’s sake. I’ll definitely be looking at more of Sallis’s work.

… you don’t need me to talk about A Game of Thrones. Its reputation more than precedes it.