Game of Thrones
As someone who had read George R.R. Martin when he was a young guy publishing novelettes and novellas in Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, I am bemused and amazed by his grand eminence as the powerhouse of The Song of Ice & Fire. Herewith are many different ways to enter that spectacular, Renaissance Italy-like world. I also include two big anthologies of Martin's earlier work so you can find out why he was so great from the early days.