In 2001 at the "Millennium PhilCon" - the World Science Fiction Convention for that year, I made a point of attending a small meet-and-greet for fans of grrm's "A Song Of Ice And Fire." All I intended was to ask George if his characters had unionized, and he killed them off just to discourage the unionizers. In the conference room were a couple of dozen members of "the board" which I had at that time, never participated in. But the people there were so friendly and welcoming, I fell in with them immediately. We all went out for dinner in Chinatown with Himself, had a big ol' party the next night, and by the end of the weekend, I'd convinced most of them to go down to Passyunk Ave and get "knighted" by George at about 3AM in front of Pat's King of Steaks.

This was, for the time, mad and slightly shameful. I'd tell friends about these books, and they were largely unimpressed. It took years and years for most of them read them, if at all. This weird club I was in - the source of so many ribald adventures and camaraderie, was obscure in the extreme. I'm proud to say I've gotten grrm lost in several cities, usually in a fairly advanced state of insobriety, and earned from him the title "The Wanderer." But it was obscure in the extreme, a real fringe-of-a-fringe.

Today, at work, I cited as a reason for not wanting to be in for an 8 AM meeting on Monday the season's premiere of Season 2 of "Game of Thrones." (Shouldn't it be "Clash of Kings"?) Anyway, I may as well have dropped a grenade on the meeting table - absolutely everyone immediately starting talking about the series. They've ALL seen it, and they're all excited.

What a difference eleven years make! I only wish, that fateful day in 2006, the spec script I submitted had actually gotten me an interview with Beniofff and Weiss, what a dream that would have been! But even so, it's a delight to see my obscure interests become a real sensation, and just as much a pleasure to see grrm and parrismcb doing so very well. I miss those small, fairly intimate nerdy parties back in the day - but am very excited to share my enthusiasm with more mainstream friends this weekend.