As many of you know, George R.R. Martin held an online fundraiser last month on behalf of a Wolf Sanctuary. The grand prize in that fundraiser was the opportunity to go on a helicopter ride and look at some wolves. However, if you donated $20,000, you also got to be killed in Martin’s next novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Winds of Winter. Of course, not everyone has $20,000, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to die a grisly death in one of Martin’s novels. Just ask this 13-year-old boy.
In this letter obtained by Mashable, a 13-year-old fan named Jack, who lives in the United Kingdom and wants to grow up and be a wolf conservationist, offered all of his pocket money for the opportunity to die a nasty, prolonged and gruesome death in Martin’s Wind of Winter.
And, of course, George R.R. Martin answered him (because doing so gave him an opportunity to avoid writing his book).
Dear Jack,
Thank you so much for your heartfelt, touching note.
I’ve heard that you donated all your £153 pocket money savings to my Prizeo fundraiser on behalf of the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. I cannot tell you how much that moved me. It pleases me no end to know that my novels, and the TV series based on them, have inspired readers as young as yourself to rally to the support of these majestic and too often stigmatized animals
Alas, I cannot promise you a grisly death in THE WIND OF WINTER. Those spots have already been filled by some very generous donors, and there’s a limit to how many people even I can kill.
However, inspired by your example, my friends at Prizeo and I would love to follow your lead with a $10,000 in your name to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust. That’s a wonderful organization that I’ve heard much about, and they are lucky to count people like you as supporters.
I wish you the best of luck in your future career as a wolf conservationist, and hope that you inspire many others to follow your lead.
Yours,
GRRM
Alright, that’s a good enough reason to respond, I guess, and though the $10,000 contribution in the kid’s name was very generous, I guess I am a little bummed that Martin didn’t add another dead character to a book series with hundreds. On the other hand, I guess if he did, every 13-year-old boy with a little pocket change would be crawling out of the woodwork hoping to die a grisly death in a Game of Thrones book.
Source: Mashable
