Audiobook Fix: Dreamsongs Vol. 1 by George R.R. Martin

Audiobook Selections from Dreamsongs: Volume 1: Fan Fiction and Sci-Fi from Martin’s Early Years by George R.R. Martin, read by Claudia Black, Mark Bramhall, Scott Brick, Roy Dotrice, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, and Adrian Paul, is the first of three George R.R. Martin short story collections, each of which contain unabridged selections from books with the same titles. At 15 hours in length, this audiobook contains most of the stories from the print edition of Volume 1, read by an all-star group of narrators that includes Roy Dotrice, who narrated the first three A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks, and Scott Brick, who has become something of a voice of choice for classic science fiction on audio.

The stories in this volume are arranged in three sections, each preceded by a lengthy biographical essay read by Martin himself. From these introductions, we learn that Martin used to sell horror stories to neighbor kids for a penny each. We learn that his first sale was not so smooth, and that he was at home sleeping when he won his first Hugo. These introductions invite comparison with Stephen King’s On Writing in the way that both authors talk about their careers in such a detailed and personal way. King’s story is interesting, and so is Martin’s.

Though none of those stories that he sold for a penny are included here, three of his earliest fanzine-published pieces of short fiction are. The first is “Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark,” a piece of fan-fiction about a hero named Dr. Weird and his encounter with a Demon Prince. I realize that it doesn’t hurt that Adrian Paul is narrating (the guy could read Classified Ads and keep your interest), but the story is engaging, down to the villain’s lengthy requisite monologue.

“You never forget the first time you do it for money,” says Martin in his introduction to Part 2, which contains his first professional sales. A story called “The Hero” was his first, and it went to Frederick Pohl at Galaxy in 1970. “The Hero” is fiction right out of the Vietnam era, about a future soldier who stands up at the end of his tour of duty, demanding to see Earth, as was promised when he signed on. Unfortunately for this guy, promises made by the military to its troops are not always kept. It’s with this story that you can really start to see what George R.R. Martin is about. He’s a romantic, as Gardner Dozois points out in the Introduction, and he creates memorable characters, no matter which genre he’s writing in. Those genres—science fiction, horror, and fantasy—are all represented in this initial collection. Martin has since mastered them all, and these early stories are all the more interesting in that light, because all of the elements of his storytelling success are here.

For my taste, the most remarkable story is the novella “A Song of Lya,” which won Martin his first Hugo. A pair of romantically linked scientists are dispatched to a planet where some humans have been joining the disturbing indigenous alien religion. One of those scientists (the Lya of the title) is a telepath, and as she explores, she becomes caught up in a fascinating culture and the religion that has sprouted from it, much to her lover’s dismay. He simply doesn’t understand, much the same way a nonreligious person in today’s world may not understand a religious person. Nobody writes science fiction with horror elements as well as Martin does, and this is a prime early example. As Lya moves from observer to participant, horror sharpens the contrast between her and her confused lover, and says something important about ourselves in the way that only science fiction can.

Backstory:
George R.R. Martin is no stranger to audio, as his A Song of Ice and Fire books have all been released as unabridged audiobooks, averaging better than 30 hours per book. Before those, though, several pieces of short fiction were produced. It’s unclear right now if these stories will be included in the next two releases of Dreamsongs, because I can’t find tables of contents anywhere. As a matter of fact, there is no table of contents included on the audiobook itself—they really ought to put that on the outside of the packaging where a person can see it before purchase. But, I digress.

One of my all-time favorite audio stories is Frank Muller’s recording of Martin’s The Hedge Knight. It was included in Legends: Short Novels from the Masters of Modern Fantasy, Volume 4, which was edited by Robert Silverberg. The Hedge Knight is set in the Ice and Fire universe, decades before A Game of Thrones, the first novel in the series. It tells the story of Dunk and Egg, a maybe knight and his maybe squire as they attend a tournament. This hedge knight ends up showing the “real” knights what chivalry really is in a wonderful story, perfectly performed. Audible has it.

A few other pieces of Martin’s audio short fiction include “Skin Trade” (Audible), “The Sworn Sword” (Random House, included in Legends II: New Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy: Volume 1), “Sandkings” (dhAudio, included in the Reel Stuff collection), “The Ice Dragon” (Audio Renaissance), and “Under Siege” (Infinivox).

Publisher: Random House Audio (October 2007)
Price: $23.07
Length: 15 hours, Unabridged Selections
ISBN: 0739357123