Next time you’re on the subway, look around. Chances are someone near you is engrossed in a George R. R. Martin paperback. “I hate these books, and I cannot stop reading them,” says New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake. “They’re basically popcorn covered with hot nasty blood instead of fake butter.”
Martin’s visceral, fast-paced fantasy series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” is flying off the shelves in the wake of this summer’s HBO show based on the first book of five, “A Game of Thrones.”
The stories are set in a mythical land called Westeros, home to several factions warring for power, and bordered by a wild northern territory menaced by zombie-like creatures. It has been described by its author as, partially, an allegory of the Wars of the Roses in medieval England (only with dragons and the undead). The show, which featured “Lord of the Rings” actor Sean Bean and breakout star Peter Dinklage, was a hit out of the gate: 4.2 million people tuned in. And many of them turned to the books not long after.
No series has so taken hold of the city since Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series — better known as the “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” books — which ruled the subways last year.
“The day after seeing the first episode, I ordered the first four books,” says 36-year-old lawyer Edward McKenna.
“It hooked me with direwolves [giant wolves] and incest, and it ended with a kid getting thrown out a window. ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘this is fantastic!’ ”
The books are a natural fit for people who liked J.R.R. Tolkien’s series, says McKenna, but this one’s “less twee and more adult, with more blood, battles and boobs. And the banquets, so many banquets!”
Twenty-six-year-old Dominick Mach, who works in communications at a nonprofit, says he’s not a huge fantasy reader, but one look at the series inspired him to check out the books. And then, “As soon as I started the book I was hooked,” he says. Mostly by the shocking fates that befall major players. “Martin just starts killing off characters,” says Mach. “Nobody’s safe!”
Judging from the frequency with which Martin’s novels can be sighted around the city, lots of jaded New York readers are in agreement. Four out of five books can be purchased in small, portable paperback format (The latest, “A Dance With Dragons,” is still only available in hardcover).
The series is “our best-selling science fiction/fantasy series, currently,” says Patricia Bostelman, vice president of marketing at Barnes & Noble. And on the Kindle — all the better to read those geeky books you might otherwise be embarrassed to tote around — “A Dance with Dragons” was the top seller in New York in July, when it came out.
Hard-core Martin devotees have watched with surprise as the world embraces a series they’ve been evangelizing about for years. “I started reading the series in 2005,” says Matt Walters, business representative for United Scenic Artists Local 829.
“I read all four existing books in three months and desperately searched for a friend I could convince to read the series, so I could discuss it,” Walters says.
Martha Harbison, a senior editor at Popular Science magazine who belongs to the Martin fan group Brotherhood Without Banners, says she’s become acquainted with the author and that he’s as stunned as anyone about the runaway success of the books. “It’s all a bit overwhelming — all of a sudden it’s not 20 people showing up at a convention or even a couple hundred,” Harbison says. “They had 1,800 show up for the ‘Dance With Dragons’ signing in New York [in July].”
Is there a “We liked him before he was cool” feeling among the Martin early adopters?
Harbison says no. “I think it’s great. Though myself and some other longtime fans can get protective — you don’t want people all up in George’s grill [about writing another book], because it takes a long time for the books to get written. It’s like, come on, there are thousands of books out there you could read!”
sstewart@nypost.com