Turtles Have Always Been My Sigil, I

George R. R. Martin

Turtles have always been my sigil, i suppose. when i was a kid, growing up in bayonne, nj, i lived in a federal housing project, and we were not allowed to have a dog or cats. the only pets i could have were turtles. so, i had an entire toy castle filled with dime-store turtles. i gave them all names, and since they were living in a toy castle, i decided they were all knights and kingsand i made up stories about how they killed each other and betrayed each other and fought for the kingdom. so, game of thrones, actually began with turtles. i decided later to recast it with actual human beings.