Valyrian Steel has reported that they have received 25 copies of Dark Horse‘s Iron Throne replica, part of a set of 125 that were artist proof’s, due to an error. However, it seems HBO has decided to allow Valyrian Steel to keep them and sell them on to fans who might be interested. It’s a rare opportunity to get a hold of a very rare (and high quality) replica item, and you can place an order here at Valyrian Steel’s storefront.
The regular limited edition of the throne can be found at Amazon.com, while a miniature and more widely available (and therefore more affordable) version can be found at Things From Another World, which ships globally.
We’ve posted a newly-available video to the So Spake Martin collection from TIFF. Although released in December, it was recorded at a private “Master Class” talk in March. It’s lengthy, and quite excellent, and contains hints of things to come later in the series.
Make sure to also watch the “In Conversation” public event that was hosted the following (or possibly the prior) day, if you’ve not seen it before.
Via Flicks and the City (which is a great source for interviews of film and television actors, particularly those based in the UK), there’s an excellent interview with Julian Glover, who plays Grand Maester Pycelle. He discusses details of the third season (including giving a taste of a scene he shares with Charles Dance), and also the way that his character was somewhat adjusted from what’s in the novels. Initially, the writers wanted Pycelle to simply be a dottering old man, but Glover indicates he grew tired of this and asked for more to do… and so they came up with the notion that his aged demeanor is a put on, a way to disarm suspicion and attention from himself. Of course, in the novels, Pycelle is rather less decrepit until events in A Clash of Kings than he has been played in the show.
You can see the interview below (and beware, there are spoilers for future season!):
It looks like SciFi Now managed a brief interview with editor and writer Bryan Cogman about the third season while it was still filming. He notes he had just watched the filming of one of the “iconic sword fights” in the series, and comments that he knows a few things about the overall story, and suspects David Benioff and Dan Weiss know a bit more.
We had a hint that there’d be something new to tease the upcoming season of Game of Thrones, though it’d be in the vein of the very earliest teases, just whetting the appetite. Turns out that was about right, as there’s this nicely atmospheric teaser featuring a three-eyed crow
raven flying through a modern city, letting us know that Game of Thrones is returning this March to the tune of The National’s rendition of “The Rains of Castamere” (available on the official soundtrack for season 2):
Seems very likely that the first big teaser for season 3 will have to wait until later this month (or, perhaps more likely, next month—perhaps in time with the premiere of the BBC/HBO co-production Parade’s End, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch?)
Via George R.R. Martin and his “Not a Blog”, we learn that episode 7 of season 3 has been retitled. As we noted earlier in the week, it was called “Autumn Storms”, but it will now be titled “Chains”. It’s a title Martin says he likes rather more, noting it has literal and metaphorical meanings:
It was formerly “Autumn Storms,” which I never much liked… but the episode did have a lot of rain in it.
The rain went away. So did the title.
The episode is now “Chains.” I like that better. And it works on both a literal and metaphorical level.
According to the National Post, Wilko Johnson—a living legend of rhythm and blues and member of UK band Doctor Feelgood, as well as Ser Ilyn Payne, the King’s Justice on Game of Thrones—has been diagnosed with untreatable cancer of the pancreas. His website states that Wilko is planning to focus on finishing a CD and preparing a farewell tour, having opted not to receive chemotherapy.
Tragic news to hear, but it sounds like he means to do the things he loves best, with those who matter most to him. We wish Johnson the best.
A belated holiday gift from a very busy George R.R. Martin: a new chapter from The Winds of Winter. In this case, it’s the first Arianne Martell chapter from the novel, picking up from where A Dance with Dragons left off. Some interesting details, but spoilery (of course). You can read it at Martin’s official site, via the Ice and Fire Sample page.
Have it, and then join the discussion on forum, where we have a section devoted to the chapters previously released and those he’s read at conventions and signings. The
[EDIT: Ah, in fact this is a brand new chapter that precedes the one GRRM has read], but lets just say a lot of details either missed being supplied in the reports, or have been added as he’s worked on the chapter.
You may remember this from last year’s excellent season 1 Bluray set, when the Stark kids (Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Isaac Hempstead-Wright) provided an acapella rendition of the Game of Thrones theme.
Well… they’re back for more. It’s quite amusing (especially when Maisie breaks out into fits of giggles)! See below this excerpt from their commentary from the Season 2 Bluray (Preorder: Amazon US, Amazon UK) and DVD (Preorder: Amazon US, Amazon UK). The discs are set to be released on February 19th in the US, and we have more information about their full contents in this previous report.
As has started to become a tradition, HBO has sent out the list of the writers and directors for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. Many of these we’ve been able to piece together over the previous months, but I believe this is the first time some of these have been confirmed. You can find them below. As is also tradition, no titles have been given, though we do know Martin’s episode (#7) has been titled “Autumn Storms”.
Valyrian Steel is on quite the tear! In short order they’ve announced the first two releases in their line of licensed Game of Thrones replicas, and now they’ve followed it up with a third item that shall soon be available for pre-order: Robb Stark’s sword. In fact, when the license was first announced, Valyrian Steel noted that the sword was the first thing they were going to work on. Had we a guess, we’d think they probably already have some other weapons and armor replicas in the works.
You can find out more about the sword, which can be pre-ordered beginnign the 13th, at their store.
After a long wait since it was announced that Valyrian Steel had acquired the license to produce replicas based on HBO’s Game of Thrones—to go along with their license to produce weapons based on A Song of Ice and Fire—it looks like the first products have been unveiled and will start shipping in time for Spring 2013 (and the third season of HBO’s hit show). It seems all replicas will be produced in limited editions, make them even more interesting for fans and collectors.
We previously noted the “All-Century Poll” that Locus Magazine put together, which aimed to list the best SF/F of the 20th and 21st centuries respectively according to voters. In the novel categories, George R.R. Martin did quite well, with A Game of Thrones being voted the #2 fantasy novel of the 20th century (behind The Lords of the Rings, of course).
Now Locus has gone on to publish full results in the short fiction categories, and you’ll spot a few George R.R. Martin works along the way. Most notably, Martin’s famous science fiction/horror novellete, “Sandkings”, ends up at #5 on the 20th Century Novelette list. Just missing the top 10 on the Novella list, on the other hand, is Martin’s award-winning story “A Song for Lya”, at #12 in the 20th Century Novella list. A number of Martin’s other works appear in the extended list, and many of these can be found in the massive story collection Dreamsongs (Order: Volume 1, Volume 2, Kindle Bundle) which we always highly recommend to those who are fans of Martin’s writing. The second volume also contains “The Hedge Knight”, the first of the Dunk & Egg novellas set within the Seven Kingdoms about 90 years prior to the events of the novels—it’s well worth reading in its own right.
Last year, Game of Thrones was reported to be the #2 most pirated television show according to TorrentFreak.
And now this year? It has the ambiguous honor of now being the #1 most pirated show according to the same site, which claims its overall pirated viewership has gone from 3.4 million downloads to 4.28 million downloads. The New York Times’s Dave Itzkoff points out that, according to TorrentFreak, some 80% of all the piracy they’re tracking is outside of the US—basically in those regions where the show is unavailable or not available roughly concurrently with US air dates.
Awhile back, Locus Magazine—the venerable, award-winning SF/F publishing industries trade magazine —launched an “All-Centuries” poll regarding the best genre novels and writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The results are in, and they’re looking pretty good for the work of one George R.R. Martin:
Martin himself has remarked on the poll, adding his personal take on the 20th Century SF Novel list, which would have had Zelazny’s Lord of Light, Bester’s The Stars My Destination, and Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness in the top 3. Fantastic novels, all, well worth reading if you haven’t yet had the pleasure.