Since the article doesn't mention it: Ian Tregillis (the first author of the paper and staff scientist at Los Alamos) also moonlights as a sci-fi/fantasy author. Personally I found The Milkweed Triptych a more compelling read than A Song of Ice and Fire, and it also has the benefit of being finished! (Here's a one sentence hook: WWII, except with English wizards fighting Nazi X-Men.)
Well, then don't read it! While that's the most campy distillation of the premise, the writing is anything but. George R.R. Martin himself declared Tregillis "a major new talent".
