# New GRRM novella set in Westeros! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176 "2010-05-20T20:13:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/1 "2010-05-20T20:13:38Z")
No, George R.R. Martin still hasn’t finished _A Dance with Dragons_, dammit, but he’s bequeathed us a “Dunk and Egg” novella, set in the ancient past. It’s in the short story collection _Warriors_, edited by Martin and Gardner Dozois, and is called “The Mystery Knight.” Anyone else read it yet? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/2 "2010-05-20T20:48:18Z")
ARGH. Why is he doing this shit instead of writing his goddamn book? I’m about to go all Misery on his ass. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/3 "2010-05-21T00:12:26Z")
Amen, sister! But it’s nice to have _something_… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/4 "2010-07-13T04:14:43Z")
Just finished it. It’s pretty good! Dunk and Egg attend a tourney to mark the wedding of a relatively minor Westeros lord and his young bride. Dunk learns, however, that there’s more going on than meets the eye. The unsuccessful Blackfyre Rebellion from a few years before is an important background detail. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/5 "2010-07-13T14:15:30Z")
I recently read all three of the Dunk & Egg novellas. I thought they were okay, but not as good as I was expecting. This third one was the best, though. I thought they were set only about 100 years before _Game of Thrones_? Did you like the rest of the \*Warriors \*collection? I was a little disappointed in it. I’ve got to stop buying these collections, because I find that I don’t usually like standalone short stories. There’s too much investment in characters and setting for too little payoff. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-grrm-novella-set-in-westeros/540176/6 "2010-07-13T15:16:22Z")
Wiki says you’re right - the Dunk and Egg stories begin 89 years before the _A Song of Ice and Fire_ books. In the _Warriors_ collection, other than “The Mystery Knight,” I especially liked “Soldierin’” by Joe R. Lansdale, about Buffalo Soldiers fighting the Apache in post-Civil War Texas - funny and sardonic, with great atmosphere. Although I’m a big Joe Haldeman fan, his “Forever Bound” wasn’t all that good. I skimmed some of the other stories but they didn’t hook me - I got the book from the library only for the GRRM story, really. I rarely buy a book this big, or this expensive, nowadays.