> As an aside, George RR Martin 40+ years ago wrote a book called Dying of the Light. I really enjoyed it just for the concept. In this book there are so-called Festival worlds. These are worlds that wander between systems. When they approach stars they get sufficiently warm and thaw out and may have oceans and atmospheres in that time. People would build cities in that time knowing it was all temporary.
Wow so this could be the explanation for erratic seasons of unpredictable duration in ASOIAF?
There is no explanation for the erratic seasons. GRRM (just like any storyteller) creates mystery and interest in his world and fills in the details that are required, and not so many of those that are not.
This is something he is very aware of. He will tell you that like any intriguing medieval world map, his world map also has tall tales, mysteries and stories about foreign countries, big monsters and weird men, lining the edge of the map.
Which long career as a military science fiction writer?
I admit aside ASOIAF I haven't read much GRRM -- his awesome Sandkings short story, and his collaboration with Lisa Tuttle, Windhaven, and I'm aware of some of his horror/fantasy fiction.
Checking on Wikipedia I don't see a lot of military scifi in the list...
Wow so this could be the explanation for erratic seasons of unpredictable duration in ASOIAF?