Fevre Dream

by George R. R. Martin

  —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  “A chilling vampire novel that will have those little hairs on the back of your neck standing at constant attention. A five star beauty [and one of] the best two books of the season.” —Boston News Digest

  “The vampire novel is one of the most difficult forms of horror literature to write well. . . . [Here] solid characters, vivid descriptions of an opulent world, a plausible explanation of vampirism and some genuinely chilling scenes create one of the best. . . . The most satisfying and frightening novel of its kind since Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.”

  —Roanoke Times & World Herald

  “Spectacular, simply one of the best frighteners to appear in years . . . inventive, lucid and genuinely scary—I’d recommend this to anyone who scoffs at genre writing.” —Time Out

  “Moves crisply from sensation to sensation to reach a chilling climax among the bayous of the river’s delta.” —Derby Evening Telegraph (UK)

  “It’s great . . . slowly unfolds its horrors like petals of some corrupt flower. . . . There were moments when I was frightened to turn the page. . . . Simply but masterfully written, I can’t believe Fevre Dream won’t be one of the best five horror novels this year.”

  —New York City Limits

  “George R. R. Martin has established himself as a major talent in the realms of science fiction and fantasy. . . . This novel is classic horror-fare: it is fine writing and happens to scare the bejeezus out of you as well.”

  —Daily Texan

  “The best vampire novel since Suzy McKee Charnas’ The Vampire Tapestry: generally understated, firmly grounded in the Twain-worthy steamboat setting, abundantly creepy . . . and modestly resonant in the portrayal of inter-species camaraderie.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Skillfully balances historical realism and flights into fantasy and obsession. Its characters linger in the mind, along with the beauty of the great boats and the greater river.” —Locus

  “Filled with rich characters and almost continual suspense . . . the best vampire novel I’ve read, and Martin’s recreation of the 1850s along the Mississippi is the equal of the best historical novels.”

  —Science Fiction Review

  “You normally don’t think of vampires and steamboats at the same time, but in Fevre Dream, George R. R. Martin has taken this unlikely combination and turned out a novel that goes beyond either historical fiction or horror. . . . Memorable characters, believable backgrounds, and realistic plots and situations . . . To describe the book as ‘haunting’ may be trite, but odds are you’ll find yourself thinking about the situation, and the characters, for days after you finish reading it.”

  —Amazing

  “Fresh and interesting . . . One addition to the literature for vampiromaniacs that is worth taking a look at.” —Asimov’s

  “Eminently cinematic . . . an engrossing, thoroughly readable story which is rich in detail and has a vivid cast of characters. The jacket blurb compares

  Martin with Stephen King and Peter Straub,

  and for once the comparison is justified.”

  —Starburst

  “A terrific book, a treasure, an achievement, and a unique reading experience . . . The story is told in a crisp, clean style, both subtle and haunting. . . . This novel has it all: atmosphere, mood, a unique blend of history and legend. . . . The characterization is vivid and the clash between good and evil marks an all-time high for believability and rousing impact. Fevre Dream will surely become a horror classic, and a standard by which later, similar works will be judged. Very highly recommended.” —Fantastic Films

  “A skillful blend of adventure, supernatural horror, and accurate historical settings . . . Exceptionally good, this deserves superlatives in almost every respect.” —Science Fiction Chronicle

  “Martin is, by his own account, an artist of sunsets; his fin de siècle canvas may variously take in dying planets, the death of the modern age, or the long decline of chivalry, but loss is always the keynote, and the mood is ever a frenzied celebration of a glory that is passing. . . . Martin relates a grand adventure, but his true subject is the anatomy of the tomb, whether the entombment is that of an individual, a way of life, a nation, or a species. . . . Unfolds with an elegant, sensuous grotesquerie that has few parallels in literature . . . The riverboats and the plantations and the vampires roar a mighty defiance in their dying, raging (in a powerful echo of an earlier Martin novel) against the dying of the light. . . .

  A superb novel.” —Infinity Plus

  “Not only a compelling novel, but also a powerful tale of supernatural terror—one of the very few books which are satisfying on both those levels. Frightening, moving, haunting, beautiful, with utterly believable characters, both human and other, it can hold its own against any horror novel by any writer of his generation. It looks to me as if Fevre Dream makes him one of the most impressive new writers in the field.”

  —Ramsey Campbell

  “Will delight fans of both Stephen King and Mark Twain . . . Darkly romantic, chilling and rousing by turns, moody and memorable, Martin’s novel is a thundering success.” —Roger Zelazny

  “What an idea! A picaresque journey down a river of terror. The subtle atmosphere of menace grows and grows until toward the end it becomes almost unendurable. Add to that a fresh vision of the vampire, a lot of historical fun, and you have one very special horror novel.”

  —Whitley Strieber

  DYING OF THE LIGHT

  “The Wild West in outer space, complete with a chase that will keep you awake. Slick science fiction.” —Los Angeles Times

  “The galactic background is excellent. . . . Martin knows how to hold the readers and will probably be one of our finest novelists of the next decade.” —Asimov’s

  “The kind of imagination that makes science fiction worth reading . . . An effective, affecting story.” —Galaxy Magazine

  “Something special which will keep Worlorn and its people in the reader’s mind long after the final page is read.” —Galileo Magazine

  “George R. R. Martin has the voice of a poet and a mind like a steel trap.” —Algis Budrys

  “Even in the best science fiction stories, it is rare to find a genuine alien culture that is believable and self-consistent. George R. R. Martin’s novel presents several such cultures, and forces them into conflicts that bring out the best—and the worst—in the human characters who make this story live, breathe and bleed.” —Ben Bova

  “Wonderful, rich-tapestried. The excitement and strangeness are still there after the last sentence.”—A. E. van Vogt

  “Each of George R. R. Martin’s stories is a gem, cut with verve and polished with abundant skill, reflecting the face of humanity in its many facets—its mood colored, highlighted by a master of misplay . . . by a lover of his tools and trade.”—Roger Zelazny

  WINDHAVEN

  with Lisa Tuttle

  “The pace never slackens, shifting easily from moments of almost unbearable tension to others of sheer poetry and exhilaration. Martin and Tuttle make wonderful professional music together.”

  —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

  “Twenty years after the first publication of this novel, it still stands the test of time.” —Talebones

  “Windhaven is a powerful flight of the imagination, a tale well-told . . . an entirely enjoyable reading experience, wrought by a pair of writers noted for excellence.” —Roger Zelazny

  “I didn’t mean to stay up all night to finish Windhaven but I had to!”

  —Anne McCaffrey

  “Told with a true storyteller’s voice: clear, singing, persuasive, and wonderfully moving. They have made a mythic land and peopled it with unforgettable characters. It is a book for adults and children who have dreamed of flying with their own wings, and for story listeners of all ages for whom dreams are as potent as realities. A truly wonderful book.” —Jane Yolen

  “It’s a romance. It’s science fantasy. It’s b
eautiful.”—A. E. van Vogt

  “A beautiful and moving book. It carries the reader through a fascinating society and through the life of a courageous, memorable woman. . . . I’m sure this will be a big awards contender; it certainly deserves to be.” —Joan D. Vinge

  And for A Song of Ice and Fire

  A GAME OF THRONES

  “Reminiscent of T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, this novel is an absorbing combination of the mythic, the sweepingly historical, and the intensely personal.” —Chicago Sun-Times

  “I always expect the best from George R. R. Martin, and he always delivers. A Game of Thrones grabs hold and won’t let go. It’s brilliant.”

  —Robert Jordan

  “Such a splendid tale and such a fantistorical! I read my eyes out.”

  —Anne McCaffrey

  “Martin makes a triumphant return to high fantasy. . . . [His] trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He’s probably going to have to add another shelf, at least.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “A vast, rich saga, with splendid characters and an intricate plot flawlessly articulated against a backdrop of real depth and texture.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “The keen and complex human characters and the convincing force of their surroundings operate as magic . . . setting George R. R. Martin’s first fantasy epic well above the norms of the genre.” —Locus

  “It is perhaps the best of the epic fantasies—readable and realistic.”

  —Marion Zimmer Bradley

  “The major fantasy of the decade . . . compulsively readable.”

  —Denver Post

  “George R. R. Martin is one of our very best science fiction writers, and this is one of his very best books.” —Raymond E. Feist

  “We have been invited to a grand feast and pageant: George R. R. Martin has unveiled for us an intensely realized, romantic but realistic world. . . . If the next two volumes are as good as this one, it will be a wonderful feast indeed.” —Chicago Sun-Times

  “I would be very surprised if this is not the major fantasy publishing event of 1996, and I’m already impatient for the next installment.”

  —Science Fiction Chronicle

  “A colorful, majestic tapestry of characters, action and plot that deserves a spot on any reader’s wall . . . The pages seem to pass in a blur as you read.” —Albuquerque Journal

  “George Martin is assuredly a new master craftsman in the guildof heroic fantasy.” —Katharine Kerr

  “A Game of Thrones offers the rich tapestry that the very best fantasy demands: iron and steel within the silk, grandeur within the wonder, and characters torn between deep love and loyalty. Few created worlds are as imaginative and diverse. George R. R. Martin is to be applauded.”

  —Janny Wurts

  “A dazzling fantasy adventure . . . with a great cast of characters that weave a tapestry of court intrigue, skullduggery, vicious betrayal and greathearted sacrifice.” —Julian May

  “Terrific, incredibly powerful, with phenomenal characterizations and exquisite writing.” —Teresa Medeiros

  “The characterization was superb, the story vivid and heartbreaking. . . . When is the next one coming out?” —Linda Howard

  A CLASH OF KINGS

  “A truly epic fantasy set in a world bedecked with 8,000 years of history, beset by an imminent winter that will last ten years and bedazzled by swords and spells wielded to devastating effect . . . Here he provides a banquet for fantasy lovers with large appetites.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Martin amply fulfills the first volume’s promise and continues what seems destined to be one of the best fantasy series ever written.”

  —Denver Post

  “High fantasy with a vengeance.” —San Diego Union-Tribune

  “Rivals T. H. White’s The Once and Future King.”

  —Des Moines Register

  “So complex, fascinating and well-rendered, readers will almost certainly be hooked by the whole series.” —Oregonian

  “The richness of this invented world and its cultures lends Mr. Martin’s novels the feeling of medieval history rather than fiction—except, of course, that he knows how to entertain.” —Dallas Morning News

  A STORM OF SWORDS

  “One of the more rewarding examples of gigantism in contemporary fantasy . . . richly imagined.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “George R. R. Martin continues to take epic fantasy to new levels of insight and sophistication, resonant with the turmoils and stress of the world we call our own.” —Locus

  “Martin creates a gorgeously and intricately textured world, peopled with absolutely believable and fascinating characters.”

  —Cleveland Plain Dealer

  “High fantasy doesn’t get any better than this.” —Oregonian

  “A riveting continuation of a series whose brilliance continues to dazzle.” —Patriot News

  “Enough grit and action to please even the most macho . . . a page-turner.” —Dallas Morning News

  “The latest and the best in a powerful . . . cycle that delivers real people and a page-turning plot.” —Contra Costa Times

  “Like a cross between a complicated game of chess, a quirky Stephen King tale and Braveheart, Martin’s epic advances his series with gritty characterizations, bold plot moves and plenty of action.”

  —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  “The third volume of what is shaping up to be one of the major fantasy works of all time . . . even the minor characters are realistic and engaging. . . . This is one of the major fantasy events of the year, and the series as a whole is likely to achieve the same status as the works of Caball, Tolkien and Eddison. If you are a fantasy fan and you’re not reading Martin, you’re cheating yourself of some of the best the field has to offer.”

  —Science Fiction Chronicle

  “Martin’s magnum opus is a powerful and stunning achievement.

  Don’t miss it.” —SciFi.com

  Be sure not to miss the other recent

  George R. R. Martin classic reissues

  DYING OF THE LIGHT

  Currently available from Bantam Spectra

  “The kind of imagination that makes science fiction

  worth reading . . . an effective, affecting story.”

  —Galaxy Magazine

  “The galactic background is excellent. . . . Martin

  knows how to hold the readers and will probably be one

  of our finest novelists of the next decade.”

  —Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

  “Wonderful rich-tapestried. The excitement and

  strangeness are still there after the last sentence.”

  —A. E. van Vogt

  DYING OF THE LIGHT

  Available now

  Beyond the window, water slapped against the pilings of the wooden sidewalk along the canal. Dirk t’Larien looked up and saw a low black barge drift slowly past in the moonlight. A solitary figure stood at the stern, leaning on a thin dark pole. Everything was etched quite clearly, for Braque’s moon was riding overhead, big as a fist and very bright.

  Behind it was a stillness and a smoky darkness, an unmoving curtain that hid the farther stars. A cloud of dust and gas, he thought. The Tempter’s Veil.

  The beginning came long after the end: a whisperjewel.

  It was wrapped in layers of silver foil and soft dark velvet, just as he had given it to her years before. He undid its package that night, sitting by the window of his room that overlooked the wide scummy canal where merchants poled fruit barges endlessly up and down. The gem was just as Dirk recalled it: a deep red, laced with thin black lines, shaped like a tear. He remembered the day the esper had cut it for them, back on Avalon.

  After a long time he touched it.

  It was smooth and very cold against the tip of his finger, and deep within his brain it whisp
ered. Memories and promises that he had not forgotten.

  He was here on Braque for no particular reason, and he never knew how they found him. But they did, and Dirk t’Larien got his jewel back.

  “Gwen,” he said quietly, all to himself, just to shape the word again and feel the familiar warmth on his tongue. His Jenny, his Guinevere, mistress of abandoned dreams.

  It had been seven standard years, he thought, while his finger stroked the cold, cold jewel. But it felt like seven lifetimes. And everything was over. What could she want of him now? The man who had loved her, that other Dirk t’Larien, that maker-of-promises and giver-of-jewels, was a dead man.

  Dirk lifted his hand to brush a spray of gray-brown hair back out of his eyes. And suddenly, not meaning to, he remembered how Gwen would brush his hair away whenever she meant to kiss him.

  He felt very tired then, and very lost. His carefully nurtured cynicism trembled, and a weight fell upon his shoulders, a ghost weight, the heaviness of the person he had been once and no longer was. He had indeed changed over the years, and he had called it growing wise, but now all that wisdom abruptly seemed to sour. His wandering thoughts lingered on all the promises he had broken, the dreams he had postponed and then mislaid, the ideals compromised, the shining future lost to tedium and rot.

  Why did she make him remember? Too much time had passed, too much had happened to him—probably to both of them. Besides, he had never really meant for her to use the whisperjewel. It had been a stupid gesture, the adolescent posturing of a young romantic. No reasonable adult would hold him to such an absurd pledge. He could not go, of course. He had hardly had time to see Braque yet, he had his own life, he had important things to do. After all this time, Gwen could not possibly expect him to ship off to the outworlds.

  Resentful, he reached out and took the jewel in his palm, and his fist closed hard around the smallness of it. He would toss it through the window, he decided, out into the dark waters of the canal, out and away with everything that it meant. But once within his fist, the gem was an ice inferno, and the memories were knives.