Martin went on to work as a television scriptwriter in the 1980s, before – discouraged by the limitations of the medium – he returned to writing fiction, beginning work on the epic fantasy series for which he is best known, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, inspired by medieval England’s Wars of the Roses. He began publishing short stories in science-fiction and fantasy magazines in the early 1970s, and his first novel, Dying of the Light, was published in 1977. Martin is a celebrated author of fantasy, horror and science-fiction stories and novels.
