It’s the birthday of George R. R. Martin (b. 1948), best known as the author of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (1996- ), which books have sold more than 90 million copies and been adapted into the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, where growing up he was a huge reader and wrote his first fantasy, Turtle Castle, about how his pet turtles were competing to be king; these were el cheapo turtles from the dime store and died easily, so Martin figured they must be killing each other off. (Let’s pause to imagine how different Game of Thrones would have been if Martin had stuck to turtles.)

Martin got a B.A. (1970) and an M.A. (1971) in journalism from Northwestern University. He was a conscientious objector, so rather than serving in Vietnam, Martin volunteered for a legal assistance program in Chicago and ran chess tournaments for a living. He also started publishing science fiction/fantasy stories and in 1975 won a Hugo Aware for his first novella, “A Song for Lya,” a story about two telepaths and some aliens and absolutely no turtles. Martin went on to publish a bunch more stories, novellas, and novels, and in 1996 published A Game of Thrones, the first in the Ice and Fire series. In 2011, after the start of the HBO adaptation, the fifth book of the series, A Dance with Dragons, became an international bestseller.

Martin is a fairly slow and measured writer, logging about three or four pages a day, and eventually the HBO series got ahead of him. The final three seasons of the show proceeded without new material from Martin, though he still consulted on the storyline. Martin is currently finishing the final two books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, and has expressed relief that the show is over and he can resume his own pace.

I mean, poor guy. So much stress. About 65 million dollars’ worth of stress.

Martin lives with his second wife in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Do whatever the heck you need to to stay awake this fine Friday—or maybe just cave in and nap—and stay scrupulously honest to the data.