GRRM’s official site has been updated with a new entry at his Not a Blog. In it, he remarks about several HBO dramas, his inability to write a journal with any regularity, the fact that he has been working on A Dance with Dragons (the last week of work has been focused to Jon and the Wall, a storyline which he thinks is greatly benefiting from the split), and finally that he has settled on a new title for the seventh (and hopefully final) novel in the series.
This year’s Hugo nominees have been announced with the terrific news that A Feast for Crows has been nominated in the Best Novel category! The award will be handed out at this year’s Worldcon in Los Angeles, and suffice it to say the Brotherhood without Banners will be ready to party.
SF Site has just published its 2005 Readers’ Choice Top 10, and A Feast for Crows came out as #2 on the list! It was edged out by Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.
The contest gets even better, as Patrick announces that Voyager has pledged two signed, first-edition hardcovers of A Feast for Crows. These will be runner-up prizes. All it takes to have a chance to win these, or the grand prize of a full U.S. edition set of the series signed by GRRM is a simple e-mail to Pat (instructions at the first link above) with your name and mailing address.
Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has announced a contest in which the winner will win U.S. hardcover copies of all four novels in the A Song of Ice and Fire Series—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows—all signed by GRRM. It’s an excellent opportunity to get free stuff, so go ahead and enter.
Via this Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine’s forum, we see that noted author Jeff Vandermeer has provided a short excerpt from a review of A Song of Ice and Fire that he’s written for the New York Review of Science Fiction:
Martin needs no late-comers like me to sing his praises or guard his guild hall, but I’m going to do so anyway. These are the best heroic fantasies I’ve ever read—layered, complex, true to the characters, real as the bloodiest of real life is, and stunningly, fascinatingly page-turning, even as you’re cursing yourself for not reading more slowly. Why? Because Martin’s craft in these novels is absolutely remarkable. As are the little grace notes, doffs of the hat to other fantasy series. As is the subtle dark humor. As is the way he gets away with Clark Ashton Smith-type descriptions—which is to say, extremely strange and uncommercial—in the middle of these New York Times bestselling novels. Amazing stuff.
Subterranean Press, the publishers of the limited edition "A Song of Ice and Fire" and other works, has provided some new information regarding the status of A Storm of Swords and other GRRM-related projects. Besides learning that the Charles Vess-illustrated A Storm of Swords is nearly ready for release, it’s noted that Tom Canty is currently working on A Feast for Crows and Fevre Dream is beginning to roll along.
For a bit of fun, BioWare—one of the top computer RPG makers out there—is running a poll asking its visitors to vote for their favorite fantasy author. Tolkien has a commanding lead, but GRRM has inched his way into second place. If you’ve got a little time, feel free to give voting a stab. Who knows? The result might well influence BioWare’s next game.
A while ago, Amok asked GRRM for descriptions for some of the important Targaryens that never ruled, and as such weren’t included among the portraits in the artbook. GRRM recently replied that he was too busy to supply descriptions for them all at this time, but that he would try to send a some now and then. He did, however, send descriptions for two of them: Visenya and Rhaenys, Aegon the Conqueror’s sisters and wives.
You will find the descriptions on Amok’s forum and the portraits in his artbook gallery. Amok has also put up one other new painting in his main gallery, showing the three Targaryen siblings and their dragons on the Field of Fire.
It seems it’s that time of year for SF/F sites to host end-of-the-year awards, because SF Site has gotten into the game with its 2005 Readers’ Choice Awards. Instructions can be found here. In 1999, A Clash of Kings took the #1 place. In 2000, A Storm of Swords took first place as well. After five years, can A Feast for Crows
continue the sweep?
Amok has decided to try and fill out his Targaryen portraits by doing drawings of other, notable Targaryens. He’s calling for names of those Targaryens, and descriptions (if any can be found), so as to try and produce this work prior to Christmas. You can read about it here. While you’re at it, go and vote in the polls for which other characters Amok should try his skilled hand at in the future.
Via Emerald City, we learn that Fast Forward TV features an 18 minute interview with George discussing A Feast for Crows. An audio-only download is also available for those with slower connections.
A report from GRRM’s signing in Petaluma indicates that he has just gotten word that ... will enter the November 27th New York Times’ Bestseller list at #1. This has now been confirmed by Bantam Dell. The bestseller lists for the Wall Street Journal and Publisher’s Weekly also place the book at #1, while USA Today’s list places it at #2. Congratulations, George!
Amazon.co.uk is now taking orders for the limited edition of A Feast for Crows. As we posted before, only 1,000 of these slip-cased, signed books will be made available, so they’re likely to disappear pretty quickly.
Slightly late, but the webcomic “Least I Could Do”, created by Ryan Sohmer, made the release of A Feast for Crows a key player in one of their strips. Good fun.