Azmure

Howdie all I'm Sneaky Monkey's real life friend (also fellow Canberran, public servant and pimper of ASOIAF books). Nice to see you on the board, and bring on Aussiecon! :)

Not similar in the slightest.

Perhaps you are correct Artanaro, although in that case they would be "inspirations" rather than homages, IMO. Most of the direct homages that Martin throws into ASOIAF are quite peripheral and have little actual bearing on the storyline. But in any case, you have piqued my interest, and I shall try to track down the books you've mentioned. :)

I'm not so sure about the last couple of "homages" that people have pointed out. If you are right and Martin did mean to reference Jim Thompson and Eric Ambler, it is in a pretty oblique way. Strikes me these are more likely just coincidences. To the person who asked about Robert Jordan references, there is also a House Jordayne of the Tor in ASOIAF. Jordan's publisher is Tor Books. I believe that the sigil of the house is a quill.