Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective
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
| # | Title | Year | Note |
| 1 | "Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark" | 1967 | |
| 2 | "The Fortress" | 2003 | Written in the 1960s |
| 3 | "And Death His Legacy" | 2003 | Written in the 1960s |
The Filthy Pro
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 4 | "The Hero" | 1971 | "A Song for Lya" (1976) |
| 5 | "The Exit to San Breta" | 1972 | "A Song for Lya" (1976) |
| 6 | "The Second Kind of Loneliness" | 1972 | "A Song for Lya" (1976) / "Portraits of His Children (1987) |
| 7 | "With Morning Comes Mistfall" | 1973 | "A Song for Lya" (1976) / "Portraits of His Children (1987) |
The Light of Distant Stars
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 8 | "A Song for Lya" | 1974 | "A Song for Lya" (1976) / "Nightflyers" (1985) |
| 9 | "This Tower of Ashes" | 1976 | "Analog Annual" (1976) / "Songs of Stars and Shadows" (1977) / "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) |
| 10 | "And Seven Times Never Kill Man" | 1975 | "Songs of Stars and Shadows" (1977) / "Nightflyers" (1985) |
| 11 | "The Stone City" | 1977 | "Sandkings" (1981) |
| 12 | "Bitterblooms" | 1977 | "Sandkings" (1981) |
| 13 | "The Way of Cross and Dragon" | 1979 | "Sandkings" (1981) |
The Heirs of Turtle Castle
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 14 | "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr" | 1976 | "Songs of Stars and Shadows" (1977) / "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
| 15 | "The Ice Dragon" | 1980 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
| 16 | "In the Lost Lands" | 1982 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
Hybrids and Horrors
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 17 | "Meathouse Man" | 1976 | "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) |
| 18 | "Remembering Melody" | 1981 | "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) |
| 19 | "Sandkings" | 1979 | "Sandkings" (1981) / "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) |
| 20 | "Nightflyers" | 1980 | "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) / "Nightflyers" (1985) |
| 21 | "The Monkey Treatment" | 1983 | "Songs the Dead Men Sing" (1983) |
| 22 | "The Pear-Shaped Man" | 1987 | Previously uncollected |
A Taste of Tuf
This section features two stories in the Haviland Tuf series, about an overweight space trader encountering various civilizations.
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 23 | "A Beast for Norn" | 1976 | "Tuf Voyaging" (1986) |
| 24 | "Guardians" | 1981 | "Tuf 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.
| # | Title | Year |
| 25 | "The Road Less Travelled" | 1986 |
| 26 | "Doorways" | 1993 |
Doing the Wild Card Shuffle
This section features two of George R. R. Martin's contributions to the Wild Cards shared universe.
| # | Title | Year |
| 27 | "Shell Games" | 1987 |
| 28 | "From the Journal of Xavier Desmond" | 1988 |
The Heart in Conflict
| # | Title | Year | Previously published |
| 29 | "Under Siege" | 1985 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
| 30 | "The Skin Trade" | 1988 | "Quartet" (2001) |
| 31 | "Unsound Variations" | 1982 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
| 32 | "The Glass Flower" | 1986 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
| 33 | "The Hedge Knight" | 1998 | Previously uncollected |
| 34 | "Portraits of His Children" | 1985 | "Portraits of His Children" (1987) |
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