In the House of the Worm

In the House of the Worm
Book Cover
Author	George R. R. Martin
Published on	1976
Publisher	The Ides of Tomorrow: Original Science Fiction Tales of Horror

In the House of the Worm is a science-fiction novella by George R. R. Martin, first published in The Ides of Tomorrow: Original Science Fiction Tales of Horror in 1976. It takes place in the "Thousand Worlds" universe, and is set on an unknown planet during the Interregnum period. It is about a young man who lives a life of privilege in a crumbling underground city. When he is humiliated at the hands of a crafty hunter, he and his high-born friends plot revenge.

Plot Summary

— WARNING: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS —

The people of the Yaga-la-hai dwell in the ruins of an underground city, deep beneath the uninhabitable surface of the planet. They worship the mythical White Worm and feast in its honour. One day, an arrogant youth named Annelyn and his friends, Varmyllar and Riess, are humiliated by a man known as the Meatbringer. The Meatbringer roams the lower levels of the planet to hunt monsters called grouns for the people to eat.

Annelyn leads his friends into the tunnels on a mission to slay the Meatbringer. Like many teenage quests, Annelyn's was conceived with more bluster than bravery, but, at the point when he was counting on his friends to draw him back from danger, he instead finds one of his people's greatest warriors coming to aid him in the slaying of the Meatbringer. What follows is a descent into the unknown, and, in no time at all, Annelyn is fleeing for his life in pitch black tunnels, hunted by grouns and worms and worse.

— END OF SPOILERS —

Themes

Artwork by Ivan Rodriguez, for the graphic novel edition of In the House of the Worm

Publication History

In the House of the Worm was first published in the anthology, The Ides of Tomorrow: Original Science Fiction Tales of Horror, edited by Terry Carr, in 1976.

It was included in Martin's short story collections Sandkings, published in 1981, and Songs the Dead Men Sing, published in 1983.

Adaptations

In 2015, In the House of the Worm was adapted into a graphic novel by John Jos. Miller and Ivan Rodriguez.

In 2016, an audiobook version of In the House of the Worm was released by YouTuber Preston Jacobs:

"In the House of the Worm" by George R. R. Martin (audiobook)

Connections to the "Thousand Worlds" Universe

The gold theta, the symbol of the Federal Empire's Ecological Warfare Corps, has been appropriated by the Yaga-la-hai culture and appears several times throughout the story. This implies that the hostile conditions of the planet's surface were caused by biological attacks carried out during the Double War, and that the gigantic worms and humanoid grouns are the result of biological mutations.

Allusions to Other GRRM Works

In the House of the Worm shares narrative elements with an earlier short story by Martin. Published in 1973, Dark, Dark were the Tunnels is set on earth after a nuclear war, and depicts extraterrestrial human scientists excavating the planet and discovering a mutated species of humans dwelling far beneath the planet's surface. This premise echoes the relationship between the human Yaga-la-hai, and the lower-dwelling, eyeless grouns, in In the House of the Worm. Both stories feature post-apocalyptic worlds and human beings mutated by biological warfare and subterranean evolution. Both stories also feature giant, carnivorous worms as a mutual enemy of the two groups, and a desire among characters to end their feud and ally against the worms. In the House of the Worm is a much longer story, and Martin seems to use it to develop the concepts he broached in Dark, Dark were the Tunnels.