Game of Thrones Author Writes Books on an Offline DOS Machine

[mister010]

George R.R. Martin kicks it old school
Ah, the days of DOS. It was a bit of a dark age compared to the enlightened Windows era, but if you think the days of DOS are dead, think again. Perhaps you've heard of a little HBO Original called Game of Thrones. The highly popular drama series is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of epic fantasy novels written by George R. R. Martin. He began writing the series in 1991 using an offline DOS machine, and remarkably, he still uses it today.

Martin referred to his DOS box as his "secret weapon" against malware attacks during an interview with late night TV host Conan O'Brien. It doesn't have an Internet connection, and Martin uses WordStar 4.0, a word processing program from the 1980s, to write his novels, which can be over 1,000 pages long. Talk about old school!

Another bonus outside of not having to worry about a malware infection destroying his work is the lack of spell check, especially when dealing with made up terms in the fantasy realm.

Martin also has a second, more modern computer that he uses to browse the web and fire off emails. However, his novels are all written on something much older.



George R. R. Martin Still Uses A DOS Word Processor