Call me schizophrenic – I’m a guy of several different foci, usually in focus simultaneously.  While mostly covering the gaming industry for several different sites (Gamasutra, IGN, Nintendojo, TotalPlayStation), I also write about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort for Orlando Informer and found-footage films for Corona’s Coming Attractions and, but of course, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire for Tower of the Hand.

With season two of HBO’s Game of Thrones quickly approaching (in two weeks!), it’s been mostly the last that has consumed my every waking thought.  In between re-watching season one episodes, rereading chapters of A Clash of Kings, and publishing ebooks on the subject, I thought it might be fun – and, just possibly, instructive – to gather a chorus of experts to chat away on a slightly different perspective on Martin’s multimedia creation.  The subject?  Why, that one fundamental element absolutely crucial to each and every type of imagined world, whether it be physical or literary or, yes, digital:  verisimilitude.

Via our friends at MTV Geek, we’re pleased to be able to provide the first in a series of articles that take a close look at George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series from the perspective of a Ph.D. in Medieval history and literature.  Each book in the series will be analyzed against actual historical events in the Dark and Middle Ages along with literature, factual or fictional, from that time.  This is the first time the author is reading the novels, so keep in mind that she’s unaware of major spoilers but that spoilers will be revealed as she progresses through the material.