Ooh, I'm going to look for this! I knew GRRM had written a bunch of other books, but I was disillusioned with GOT and gave up on it after 3 books (and ended up hate-watching the show for the last season).
Thanks for linking to the story, while reading your post I was wondering in the back of my mind how I might get hold of a copy! That was a really effective story, wonderfully tense. Perhaps partly due to the 'ick' factor of insects (they're not insects!) but even though Simon Kress is the absolute worst, I found I was still anxious to see if he'd get away from them. Great storytelling. Also, a lovely use of suggestion, with many incredibly horrifying things happening, just out of sight... Really enjoyed that, thanks!
Thanks Kev! I completely agree, it’s a perfect example of leaving the worst unseen. The idea of the devouring maws buried underground is so wonderfully horrible.
I've never read Sandkings, though I have read Dying of the Light, which is set in the same universe. My favorite GRRM is The Armageddon Rag: occult zombie prog rockers channeling demonic Tolkien - could have been written for me! It... wasn't a success. I met him many years ago and got him to sign my copy. He grinned, and said "Wow - now I know there are two people in the world who like that book!"
I'd also recommend Fevre Dream, which is a really good vampire novel, described by critics and GRRM himself as "Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain".
Sounds ideal! It's always fascinating when someone who has gone mainstream for one thing turns out to have all these stranger, often more interesting pieces in their history.
I think it's fair to say I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've read of his except GoT. Windhaven is another good one, and the first few Wild Cards books are great.
I read it after seeing the TV adaptation. It is a good story. Oddly, despite being a science fiction fan all my life, it's the only George R.R. Martin that I've read. (GoT never appealed to me on several levels.)
Definitely not my cup of tea. In SF, I lean more towards hard SF and, with a few exceptions, never got that into fantasy or magic. And as you say, bleak. I prefer stories about what we can rise to rather than stories about how far we can sink. I want protagonists I can admire.
The carvings of their god's face reminded me of the Godfellas episode of Futurama where Bender ends up drifting in space and debris collecting on him creates a miniature civilization that worships him as their god
This explains my confusion - the story synopsis was so familiar but I was certain I'd never read it. I now remember watching the Outer Limits episode when it aired! Thanks for sorting that one out.
I liked it. I haven't seen it since the first airing, so some of the details have slipped my memory. I remember they changed some elements to fit the tv movie constraints. It was close enough to be very enjoyable and recall some of the interesting bits of the original.
I am feeling so old now. I just realized it's been 30 years since the TV adaption and 46 years since the first release of the story in Omni Magazine.
I've read most of GRRM's fantasy, but none of his science fiction. I'll have to check this one out. Thank you!
Ooh, I'm going to look for this! I knew GRRM had written a bunch of other books, but I was disillusioned with GOT and gave up on it after 3 books (and ended up hate-watching the show for the last season).
Fantastic article!
I love this (longish) short story, and the Outer Limits adaptation is pretty good, too.
So many people have recommended it that I’ve added a note to the end of the article!
Thanks for linking to the story, while reading your post I was wondering in the back of my mind how I might get hold of a copy! That was a really effective story, wonderfully tense. Perhaps partly due to the 'ick' factor of insects (they're not insects!) but even though Simon Kress is the absolute worst, I found I was still anxious to see if he'd get away from them. Great storytelling. Also, a lovely use of suggestion, with many incredibly horrifying things happening, just out of sight... Really enjoyed that, thanks!
Thanks Kev! I completely agree, it’s a perfect example of leaving the worst unseen. The idea of the devouring maws buried underground is so wonderfully horrible.
I've never read Sandkings, though I have read Dying of the Light, which is set in the same universe. My favorite GRRM is The Armageddon Rag: occult zombie prog rockers channeling demonic Tolkien - could have been written for me! It... wasn't a success. I met him many years ago and got him to sign my copy. He grinned, and said "Wow - now I know there are two people in the world who like that book!"
I'd also recommend Fevre Dream, which is a really good vampire novel, described by critics and GRRM himself as "Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain".
Sounds ideal! It's always fascinating when someone who has gone mainstream for one thing turns out to have all these stranger, often more interesting pieces in their history.
I think it's fair to say I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've read of his except GoT. Windhaven is another good one, and the first few Wild Cards books are great.
Nice! I’ll add them to the list :)
there is also a video adaptation of this as an episode of The New Outer Limits, starring Beau Bridges...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667945/
I’ve resisted watching this because I thought it looked a bit ropey but everyone has told me to so I’ll have to give it a go.
I read it after seeing the TV adaptation. It is a good story. Oddly, despite being a science fiction fan all my life, it's the only George R.R. Martin that I've read. (GoT never appealed to me on several levels.)
Game of Thrones is hard-going as a book series because it’s so relentlessly bleak, I think I flagged halfway through the second one.
Definitely not my cup of tea. In SF, I lean more towards hard SF and, with a few exceptions, never got that into fantasy or magic. And as you say, bleak. I prefer stories about what we can rise to rather than stories about how far we can sink. I want protagonists I can admire.
Understandable - and in GRRM the few admirable protagonists don’t last long!
Excellent. I will read it and watch the episode. Thanks everyone.
The carvings of their god's face reminded me of the Godfellas episode of Futurama where Bender ends up drifting in space and debris collecting on him creates a miniature civilization that worships him as their god
YES!
I'm guessing you never saw the TV episode. Pilot episode of the Outer Limits reboot in 1995.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIi1WKQ684g&t=7s
Enjoy.
I think I might have the issue of Omni Magazine it first appeared in. Aug 1979.
Here's link to the Internet Archive Copy :
https://archive.org/details/omni-archive/OMNI_1979_08/page/n57/mode/2up
This explains my confusion - the story synopsis was so familiar but I was certain I'd never read it. I now remember watching the Outer Limits episode when it aired! Thanks for sorting that one out.
Thanks David! I knew about this version but was wary of watching this because the stills didn’t look great - do you think it’s a decent adaptation?
I liked it. I haven't seen it since the first airing, so some of the details have slipped my memory. I remember they changed some elements to fit the tv movie constraints. It was close enough to be very enjoyable and recall some of the interesting bits of the original.
I am feeling so old now. I just realized it's been 30 years since the TV adaption and 46 years since the first release of the story in Omni Magazine.
People forget what an incredible career Martin has had! Okay good, I’ll have to watch it. I’m intrigued by the idea of Gore Verbinski having a go…
I haven't read this one yet - but I will now.
Do let me know what you think!