George R.R. Martin Makes TIME 100

George R.R. Martin

The 2011 TIME 100 is a list of “the most influential people in the world.” While I’d have expected a full slate of politicians, generals, religious figures, tech geniuses and leaders of protest movements, it’s a more wide-ranging list and George R.R. Martin is on it.

The TIME 100 runs the length of Pennsylvania Avenue (Barack Obama and John Boehner), features real and imitation royalty (Prince William and Kate Middleton, actor Colin Firth of The King’s Speech), and has room left over for Dharma Master Cheng Yen, Buddhist leader of an international relief organization. There is a cricket player, a couple of rap stars and a comedienne.

J.K. Rowling was on the list several times in the past decade, though Martin’s appearance may be the first for an author of epic fantasy.

Time assigned a humorist to write Martin’s brief bio, a decision at odds with such a portentous list but resonant with George’s own droll attitude towards professional writing:

Martin, 62, is as fine a researcher as he is a storyteller, and he packs in enough miserable fact about the meanness of medieval life that it occasionally echoes Baltimore in its harshness.

Besides, won’t the humorous approach help us all feel better about seeing George on a list with one of Qaddafi’s sons and the head of Pakistani military intelligence?

The complete TIME 100 is here.

[Thanks to Moshe Feder and Michael Walsh for the story.]

One thought on “George R.R. Martin Makes TIME 100

  1. The humorist in question is John Hodgman. At the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C. he referred to Obama as the Kwisatz Haderach … which oddly (scarily?) enough received quite a few laughs.

    He also played “PC” in the Mac tv advertisements.

    And he had a brief role on Battlestar Galactica.

    While he may not be a Tru Fan, he’s certainly a geek.

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