Author: George R. R. Martin
Genre: Fantasy
Books:
A Game of Thrones (1996)
A Clash of Kings (1998)
A Storm of Swords (2000)
A Feast for Crows (2005)
A Dance with Dragons (2008 - forthcoming)
The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)
A Dream of Spring (forthcoming)
There also exists a short story collection set in the same universe / mythos, set 100 years earlier than the events of A Song of Ice and Fire (though unrelated, story wise). There are rumored to be nine novellas in this series (two fo which have been adapted to graphic novels).
The Hedge Knight (1998)
The Sworn Sword (2003)
The Mystery Knight (forthcoming)
Best fiction that I have read to date.
It's a low fantasy setting that gradually increases it's fantasy levels throughout the series. For comparison's sake - It is lower fantasy than The Lord of the Rings, which is considered a low fantasy setting (due mostly to the limited quantity of magic casting entities).
A Song of Ice and Fire does not have elves, orcs, dwarves, goblins, etc. and focuses primarily on humans in a largely medieval fuedal society based off twelfth to fourteenth century medieval Europe. It is also heavily influenced by the War of the Roses.
The book is written in limited third person perspective that focuses on a different character's perspective in each chapter. It's interesting and well written in that from one character's perspective you start to make certain biases that are then taken down from another character's perspective. Another neat feature of this writing style is that the characters sometimes remember events differently, and state them as matter-of-fact.
Wikipedia entry (Beware, there are spoilers):
The series has inspired a role-playing game by guardians of order, which is now defunct.
The lisence has since been purchased by Green Ronin, who is making a new edition of the RPG.
It has also inspired a pretty good board game, called A Game of Thrones.
And a card game as well.
also, HBO has just recently acquired the rights to produce the books into a TV series, one seaon per book. This project has not been green-lit yet, so it is still in the tentative stage.
A pilot episode for A Game of Thrones television series on HBO has just been greenlit!
