 Having read H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Robert A. Heinlein, Eric Frank Russell, Andre Norton, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, and Mervyn Peake in his youth, Martin never categorized these authors' literature into science fiction, fantasy, or horror and will write from any genre as a result.Martin classified "A Song of Ice and Fire" as "epic fantasy", and specifically named Tad Williams' high fantasy epic "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" as very influential for the writing of the series.One of his favorite authors is Jack Vance, although Martin considered the series not particularly Vancean.