Names and faces
George R.R. Martin, the famed author of the Game of Thrones fantasy series, has joined a group to buy the historic Santa Fe Southern Railroad. Violet Crown cinema owner Bill Banowsky, National Dance Institute of New Mexico co-founder Catherine Oppenheimer and Martin recently bought the decades-old railway and trains along the 18-mile spur line from Santa Fe to the community of Lamy, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Passenger excursion trains to Lamy ended in 2012 and some residents have been seeking ways to get them started again. No one involved with the purchase was willing to say how much the three investors paid, but Oppenheimer said it would cost “in the millions” to repair the track and bridges between Santa Fe and Lamy and restore some of the roughly 20 train cars, which date to the 1920s, to provide “a super-fun train experience that builds in the history and culture and natural beauty of New Mexico.” The Bayonne, N.J.-born Martin now lives in Santa Fe and has helped with projects around New Mexico. Oppenheimer said the trio did not want to see the financially challenged railway fall into further disrepair or fade away.
J.K. Rowling is publishing a new story called “The Ickabog,” which will be free to read online to help entertain children and families stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. The Harry Potter author said Tuesday she wrote the fairy tale for her children as a bedtime story over a decade ago. Set in an imaginary land, it is a stand-alone story “about truth and the abuse of power” for children from 7 to 9 years old and is unrelated to Rowling’s other books. Rowling said the draft of the story had stayed in her attic while she focused on writing books for adults. She said her children, now teenagers, were “touchingly enthusiastic” when she recently suggested retrieving the story and publishing it for free. “For the last few weeks I’ve been immersed in a fictional world I thought I’d never enter again. As I worked to finish the book, I started reading chapters nightly to the family again,” she said. “‘The Ickabog’s’ first two readers told me what they remember from when they were tiny, and demanded the reinstatement of bits they’d particularly liked (I obeyed).” The first two chapters were posted online Tuesday, with daily instalments to follow until July 10. The book will be published in print later this year, and Rowling said she will pledge royalties from its sales to projects helping those particularly affected by the pandemic.