How Neil Gaiman helped with the Fire & Blood audiobook – Winter is Coming

Simon Vance is a giant of the audiobook world hes read books likeDune,Dracula,Great Expectations,Alan MooresJerusalem, and many,manymore. Of particular interest toGame of ThronesandA Song of Ice and Firefans, Vance narratedFire & Blood, George R.R. Martins history of the Targaryen dynasty that HBO is even adapting asHouse of the Dragon.

We talked to Vance along with other audiobook champion Scott Brick about how he landed this gig, and about a possible return to Westeros.

As you can tell by looking at his catalog, Vance has an abiding love for fantasy, and got proper intoGame of Throneswhile it was on. But it would take more than love of the genre to get the audiobook gig, so Vance enlisted the help of another major name in fantasy:

I heard that he was producing this history of the Targaryens, so I used a connection that I had through someone I might thought bump into George Martin at conferences it was actually Neil Gaiman and I sent him an email, saying, Hey, Neil, if you happen to see George at any of these things could you mention Im interested? And he actually said, Oh, Ill forward an email from you. So I actually sent an email to George through Neil saying, Hi, George, love your work.

Hey, if you can get Neil Gaiman to help you out with anything, more power to you. Soon enough, Vancecall from someone atMacmillan Publishers saying that Martin wanted him to narrateFire & Blood. So whatever it was it workedIt was such a thrill.

You can hear Vances work on Fire & Bloodright now. However, that book is just the first part of a two-part story, with the back half still to come. Naturally, Vance is looking out for it. The book that must be forthcoming at some point, having done Volume I of the history of the Targaryens, I may get to do Volume 2, he said. However, given George Martins rate of output, it may be a decade or two before we get there.

I think most fans would agree that they want to see Martin finish upThe Winds of Winter, the long-in-coming sixth volume in theSong of Ice and Fireseries, before he writesFire & Blood Part 2. But whenWindsis finished (hopefully very soon), might Vance be first in line to do the audiobook? Actor Roy Dotrice did the audiobooks for the first five entries, but he unfortunately passed away a few years ago. Does that mean Vance is first in line for the job?

Its not impossible, Vance told us. I couldnt possibly comment; nobody has reached out to me. Ill have a word with Neil wholl have a word with George who might have a word with

Im quite open to the fact that they will get a name actor who has experience doing audiobooks to do it. Cause you know, George Martin could pick anybody to do the nextGame of Thronesbook, so you cannot bet the house on something like that.

Martin tends to work with people hes comfortable with, and obviously he trusted Vance enough to let him narrateFire & Blood. I wouldnt be shocked if he was on a shortlist forThe Winds of Wintersomewhere. Ill cross my fingers for it, Vance said. Us too.

We talk with Vance and Brick about a lot more than justFire & Blood, including Brick witnessing firsthand just how tight security is before the release of a hotly anticipated new book. There was this one pallet and it had four armed guards, one at each cornerso the employees cant go in and lift one and bring it home, he said of the release of one of the Song of Ice and Fire books. Its crazy. Theyre a license to print money so I can understand.

Feel free to check out more of the interview above!

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How Neil Gaiman helped with the Fire & Blood audiobook - Winter is Coming