''Quartet: Four Tales from the Crossroads'' is the seventh collection by author

George R.R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

, first published in February 2001 by

NESFA Press NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books: * Books honoring the guest(s) of honor at their annual convention, Boskone, and at some Worldcons and ...

. It contains three novellas and a

teleplay A teleplay is a screenplay or script used in the production of a scripted television program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a television film, a television play, or an ...

''The Skin Trade''

The Skin Trade ''Dark Visions'' is a horror fiction compilation, with three short stories by Stephen King, three by Dan Simmons and a novella by George R. R. Martin. It was published by Orion on August 10, 1989. The collection was first published, with the ...

'', a horror novella about

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

, was originally published in 1988 in the ''Night Visions 5'' collection, later retitled as '' Dark Visions''. It won the

World Fantasy Award for Best Novella In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

in 1989, and was nominated for a

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since 1 ...

. It was later included in '' Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective'' (2003). In September 2013,

Avatar Press Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing Bad girl art, bad girl comics, such as ''Faust (Avatar Press), Fau ...

began publishing a four-issue ''Skin Trade''

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series, written by Martin and Daniel Abraham, with illustrated color covers and interiors by

Mike Wolfer Mike Wolfer was a comic book writer and artist. He attended The Kubert School for two years. He started his career in 1987 by forming his own publishing company, Ground Zero Comics, and self-published "Daikazu" (8 issues) and "Daikazu Vs. Gugo ...

; it was completed in December of that year, followed by a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

collected hardcover volume. In October 2013,

WSFA Press The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is the oldest science fiction club in the Washington, D.C. area. It is also one of the oldest science fiction clubs, founded in 1947 by seven fans who met at that year's Worldcon in Philadelphia, the ...

published ''The Skin Trade'' in both a standard hardcover and a 500-copy signed and numbered limited edition. ''The Skin Trade'' has been optioned for film by Ryan Colucci's Spoke Lane Entertainment and Mike the Pike Productions.

''Blood of the Dragon''

The fantasy novella ''Blood of the Dragon'', comprising the

Daenerys Targaryen Daenerys Targaryen ( ) is a fictional character in the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. She is a prominent Narrative mode#Third-person view, point of view character, and is one of ...

chapters from Martin's 1996 novel ''

A Game of Thrones ''A Game of Thrones'' is the first novel in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both ...

'', was originally published in the July 1996 issue of ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', and won the 1997

Hugo Award for Best Novella The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between ...

. It was also nominated for the

Nebula Award for Best Novella The Nebula Award for Best Novella is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novellas. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 40 ...

and

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

, and came in second in the

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

Poll.

''Black and White and Red All Over''

A historical novella, ''Black and White and Red All Over'' consists of a large fragment of an unfinished novel of the same name, set in the 1890s and based on

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

. In 2015, Martin said that he planned to eventually complete it.

''Starport''

An unproduced

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

teleplay, ''Starport'' was written for

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

in 1993.

# ''Black and White and Red All Over'' (2001) # ''

'' (1988) # ''Starport'' (2001) # ''Blood of the Dragon'' (1996) - excerpt from ''

References

{{George R. R. Martin American short story collections 2001 short story collections

''The Skin Trade''

''Blood of the Dragon''

''Black and White and Red All Over''

''Starport''

Contents

References