A literary king conquers fantasy
A LITTLE MORE THAN THREE YEARS AGO, Marlon James made a comment he now insists was a joke. The acclaimed Jamaican author, fresh from winning the Man Booker Prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, told a reporter that his next project would be an “African Game of Thrones.” James underestimated the buzz the comparison would stir up, and soon enough, multiple outlets published breathless stories about the diverse epic fantasy he had promised. Now, on the eve of that novel’s release, James laughs when he considers just how far his offhand comment traveled: an email arrived in his inbox from George R.R. Martin, the man behind the massively popular fantasy series. Sitting at his office desk in Brooklyn, dressed in a black one-piece tracksuit, James sets down his yogurt and pulls up the message: “ʻI was flattered by the mention,’” James reads aloud, his deep voice rasping into a chuckle. “ʻI think it’s a project
