George RR Martin was in Edmonton today, doing a book signing for A Feast for Crows. Luckily he didn't do a reading since I am a few hundred pages short of finishing A Storm of Swords, which comes after A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I kind of expected the signing to be A Herd of Nerds but there was a good cross-section of society there. Martin himself is the epitome of what you would expect a fantasy writer to look like- kind of hobbity and a little wizardy too. He spoke for a bit and then answered questions. He was engaging, funny and generous with his time. His main writerly advice was that you must write, and you must finish what you write. Also he recommended you hone your craft with short stories. Oddly, he never said anything about the importance of writing many poetic odes to bears, but I know he would've had he remembered to- his own bear poem turns up repeatedly, though in fragments, in Swords:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair

A bear there was, a bear, a BEAR!
All black and brown and covered with hair

It goes on from there. It's very good. I forget what the rest of the book is about.

Sort of related, the trailer for Beowulf and Grendel is online now.