He already owns a cinema in Santa Fe, and now writer George RR Martin has opened a bookshop next door called Beastly Books.
Martin, full name George Raymond Richard, is best known for his epic fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the HBO series, Game of Thrones. He acquired the Jean Cocteau Cinema in New Mexico in 2013, and originally hosted author talks and signings there. He decided to open the bookshop adjacent to the cinema and named it after Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast.
"Dozens of terrific, award-winning, bestselling writers have appeared at the JCC to speak, read and sign their books," he wrote on his official blog. "SF (science fiction) writers, mystery writers, historical novelists, romance writers, thriller writers, mainstream literary writers, YA (young adult) authors, non-fiction writers and journalists - the list goes on and on. And all of them have signed stock for us. The only problem was the Jean Cocteau lobby was far too small for us to display all of these wonderful autographed books."
According to Martin, the new store carries a huge stock of signed copies of his own books, including, of course, Games of Thrones. It also has a lot of other "fantastic books" by other authors too. "We also offer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and soft drinks, and plan to be adding pastries soon," he added.
The store also does mail-order autographed books, and a list of its current stock can be found at the website here and Facebook page here.
