Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective
UK edition hardback
AuthorGeorge R.R. Martin
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel, Short stories, novellas
PublisherSubterranean Press (US)
Victor Gollancz Ltd (UK)
Publication date
August/September 2003 (US)
21 September 2006 (UK)
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages1286 pp
ISBN0-575-07905-3 (UK first edition, hardback)
OCLC67374681

Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective is a career-spanning collection of George R. R. Martin's short fiction. It was first published in 2003 as a single volume hardcover from Subterranean Press under the title GRRM: A RRetrospective and debuted in Toronto at Torcon 3, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, where Martin was the Writer Guest Of Honor. The collection features 34 pieces of fiction (including two TV scripts), an introduction by Gardner Dozois, commentary by Martin on each stage of his career, a Martin bibliography, and original art for each story. Subterranean published the book in three formats: a trade hardcover, a signed, numbered, and slipcased deluxe hardcover, and a very limited, deluxe leather-bound, lettered hardcover. The Washington Post called Subterranean's single-author collection "the most ambitious volume ever to come from an American specialty press".

A UK first hardcover edition (right), running to more than 1,200 pages, was published three years later, in September 2006, by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Bantam then reprinted the collection in the United States in 2007 as a two-volume trade hardcover set. Both the 2006 UK reprint and 2007 USA reprint carry the new title Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective.

Contents

The collection is divided into nine thematic sections, with all the stories arranged in rough chronological order. The sections, and the stories they contain, are as follows:

A Four-Color Fanboy

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
1"Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark"1967Previously uncollected
2"The Fortress"2003Written in the 1960sPreviously uncollected
3"And Death His Legacy"2003Written in the 1960sPreviously uncollected

The Filthy Pro

#TitleYearPreviously published
4"The Hero"1971A Song for Lya (1976)
5"The Exit to San Breta"1972A Song for Lya (1976)
6"The Second Kind of Loneliness"1972A Song for Lya (1976) / Portraits of His Children (1987)
7"With Morning Comes Mistfall"1973A Song for Lya (1976) / Portraits of His Children (1987)

The Light of Distant Stars

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
8"A Song for Lya"1974NovellaA Song for Lya (1976) / Nightflyers (1985)
9"This Tower of Ashes"1976Analog Annual (1976) / Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977) / Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
10"And Seven Times Never Kill Man"1975NoveletteSongs of Stars and Shadows (1977) / Nightflyers (1985)
11"The Stone City"1977NoveletteSandkings (1981)
12"Bitterblooms"1977NoveletteSandkings (1981)
13"The Way of Cross and Dragon"1979NoveletteSandkings (1981)

The Heirs of Turtle Castle

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
14"The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr"1976Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977) / Portraits of His Children (1987)
15"The Ice Dragon"1980NovelettePortraits of His Children (1987)
16"In the Lost Lands"1982Portraits of His Children (1987)

Hybrids and Horrors

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
17"Meathouse Man"1976NoveletteSongs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
18"Remembering Melody"1981Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
19"Sandkings"1979NoveletteSandkings (1981) / Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
20"Nightflyers"1980NovellaSongs the Dead Men Sing (1983) / Nightflyers (1985)
21"The Monkey Treatment"1983NoveletteSongs the Dead Men Sing (1983)
22"The Pear-Shaped Man"1987NovelettePreviously uncollected

A Taste of Tuf

This section features two stories in the Haviland Tuf series, about an overweight space trader encountering various civilizations.

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
23"A Beast for Norn"1976NoveletteTuf Voyaging (1986)
24"Guardians"1981NoveletteTuf Voyaging" (1986)

The Siren Song of Hollywood

This section features two television screenplays by George R. R. Martin. The former is a script for an episode of The Twilight Zone, and the latter is a pilot for a never-made science fiction series similar to Sliders.

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
25"The Road Less Traveled"1986ScreenplayPreviously uncollected
26"Doorways"1993ScreenplayPreviously uncollected

Doing the Wild Card Shuffle

This section features two of George R. R. Martin's contributions to the Wild Cards shared universe.

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
27"Shell Games"1987NovelettePreviously uncollected
28"From the Journal of Xavier Desmond"1988NovellaPreviously uncollected

The Heart in Conflict

#TitleYearNotePreviously published
29"Under Siege"1985NovelettePortraits of His Children (1987)
30"The Skin Trade"1988NovellaQuartet (2001)
31"Unsound Variations"1982NovellaPortraits of His Children (1987)
32"The Glass Flower"1986NovelettePortraits of His Children (1987)
33"The Hedge Knight"1998Novella. Series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms #1Legends
34"Portraits of His Children"1985NovelettePortraits of His Children (1987)
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