Mental Floss

TBT







George R. R. Martin at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards.

When the 704-page 'A Game of Thrones' hit shelves on August 1, 1996, it received positive notices and respectable sales, but there was little hint of the hysteria that would follow.

Jake Rossen




Background: iStock, L-R: Keystone Colour/Getty Images, Tony Duffy /Allsport, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

There was only one way you were ever going to see a shirtless David Letterman in a kayak: ABC's 'Battle of the Network Stars.'

Jake Rossen