Last night I finished reading Dreamsongs Book One. It’s a collection of short stories written by George R.R. Martin, the author of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Dreamsongs book and it goes to show that Martin is not only a master at writing fantasy, but he also write some excellent science fiction and horror stories; ‘weird stuff’ as he calls it in the book.
Dreamsongs Book One is divided into five sections. It starts with A Four-Color Fanboy which contains three of his earliest short stories, followed by The Filthy Pro, a collection of stories that he first wrote for money. After reading these two sections, you really get an idea of how Martin has evolved as a writer. The book doesn’t start with the best of Martin’s work, beginning with Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark, a relatively basic tale of good versus evil, but by the end of the second section, readers have already been treated to thought provoking material such as With Morning Comes Mistfall.
The rest of the book is divided into three sections for each of the genres Martin is famous for: science fiction, fantasy, and horror respectively. Whilst Martin is an excellent writer of all three genres, I’m personally the least fond of his science fiction, and having never read any of his horror stories before this book I was surprised by how good he is at writing it.
Although I didn’t enjoy the science fiction section, The Light of Distant Stars, quite as much as the others, my favourite story in the book does belong to this section. A Song for Lya is set in a future where humanity has travelled to the stars. A pair of psychics are hired to investigate the local alien race’s bizarre religion that has recently been adopted by some humans; a belief that requires one hundred percent of the population to willingly commit suicide. As the characters are drawn further into this strange world, questions are raised, and preconceptions are made uncertain. The theme of the story begs the question: how well do we really know one another? It’s a deep story.
The fantasy section, The Heirs of Turtle Castle, contains three stories. My favourite is The Ice Dragon, a children’s tale about a girl born of the winter who encounters a dragon made of ice. The story was written many years before A Song of Ice and Fire, but there are many similarities between the two stories: the medieval setting, the emphasis on the differences of winter and summer, and of course, the dragon. The story could quite easily have been set in Westeros.
George R.R. Martin is an excellent horror writer. The final section, Hybrids and Horrors, contains some of the best stories in the book. They’re both equally creative as they are… disturbing. You can tell that Martin was going through a bad patch when he wrote the distasteful Meathouse Man, perhaps the darkest story he’s ever written, but the collection wouldn’t be complete without it. I especially liked the two stories, Sandkings and Nightflyers, which merge the science fiction and horror genres. In fact, many of the stories in this book borrow pieces from other genres, and in most cases it works in their favour.
If you like Martin’s literacy style, this book is for you. It’s also a great way to be introduced to his writing if you haven’t read any of his other works, but I’d recommend skipping to the third section if you want to experience his better writing. I will most definitely be picking up the second volume once I’ve worked my way through the plethora of unread books sitting on my bedside table.