At this year’s Worldcon, George R. R. Martin held a reading of a previously-unread chapter from A Dance with Dragons. Jughead, a member of the A Song of Ice and Fire forum, has written a thorough synopsis. Naturally, it contains spoilers from that book as well as spoilers related to earlier books in the series.
As part of an official site update, it is noted by George R.R. Martin in the “News” section that Warriors—a cross-genre anthology edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois—will be published by Tor on March, 2010. The update includes a full list of contributors and the titles of their contributions, including Martin’s own “The Mystery Knight”, the third Dunk and Egg novella.
George R.R. Martin has shared some optimistic news, stating that the last six weeks have been the most productive on A Dance with Dragons in a year. He has completed three chapters to his satisfaction, and is guardedly hopeful that the forward progress will continue. He also hints that the situation in Meereen is a central problem that he has had difficulty with since 2005.
According to George R.R. Martin at his news page, Cyanide first approached him five years ago for the rights to his bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series. While no initial agreement was made, GRRM is pleased to announce that an agreement has now been struck for RTS and RPG rights to be developed for next-generation consoles and computers. Cyanide will begin development immediately with an eye towards releasing the first game in the summer of 2011.
Subterranean Press reports that they have placed 5 signed, limited editions of the Thomas Canty-illustrated A Feast for Crows on auction at Ebay. All proceeds will be donated to the Haven Foundation, an organization created to help freelance writers and artists when in need.
George R.R. Martin has reported on his new page the delivery of Warriors, a massive anthology of stories concerning warriors of all guises and from numerous genres. Among the stories is his own third entry into the Dunk & Egg series of novellas, “The Mystery Knight.”
Tom Canty has posted all the commissioned art he’s done for the Subterranean Press limited edition of A Feast for Crows. Though some will doubtless quibble with his very free interpretations, we think the art is absurdly beautiful. Besides being a major fantasy artist, he’s also known as one of the top graphics designers in publishing, and you can see that coming through in the framing and balancing of images.
The limited edition will be a dandy.
George R. R. Martin’s official website has been updated with news of the delivery of Suicide Kings, the third and final entry in the latest Wild Cards trilogy. A number of new posts have gone up in "Not a Blog". Most notable among them are a series of posts suggesting Hugo award nominees. The Hugo Awards are the premiere science fiction and fantasy awards, voted by fans who are member of the current year’s Worldcon. Nominations are an area where even a few votes can make a great difference, and we encourage members to nominate in all areas they feel competent to nominate.
Other entries include an update to A Dance with Dragons, in which GRRM touches on the difficulty. He also gives a hopeful estimate for completion in June. That said, he emphasizes that he’s had difficulty estimating the release in the past, but he thinks he can manage it. If it’s done in June, it may be published in September or October.
George R. R. Martin’s official website has been updated with new cover art for a foreign edition of A Clash of Kings, as well as a pair of new entries to the "Not a Blog", in which GRRM puts copies of Windhaven on sale, discusses resolving issues with the Dabel Brothers calendar, and shares some of his views on the job of proof reading texts in relation to the upcoming Songs of Dying Earth.
Slightly at a tangent from our usual A Song of Ice and Fire-related news, but not really!
Westeros.org extends its felictations to Anne Groell, the editor of the series (and of the in-progress world book), and her husband David Keck, on the birth of their daughter Amy on December 3rd. Congratulations!
GRRM’s official site has been updated with “Not a Blog” posts pointing out that Subterranean Press has just thirty copies of the Tom Canty-illustrated limited edition of A Feast for Crows remaining. The post includes pictures of the two dust jackets to be used for the books. Subterranean also reports that they’ve uncovered a handful of Fevre Dream limited editions still remaining.
A previous post also highlighted a competition at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist for an advance reading copy of Busted Flush.
Dabel Brothers Productions have informed us that the A Song of Ice and Fire 2009 Calendar, featuring stunning artwork by Michael Komark that helps bring George R. R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy series to visual life, can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.com. The calendar is expected to be ready for shipping on December 12, just in time for the holidays.
Subterranean Press reports that Tom Canty has turned in the last of the art he was commissioned to provide for the A Feast for Crows limited edition. The art in question is depicted, in part, at the link above. Once Subterranean completes their review of everything, the book should be ready to be sent to the printers shortly afterwards. Subterranean also notes that only 30 copies of the Limited Edition remain to be ordered.
GRRM shares encouraging news on his “Not a Blog”, stating that HBO has exercised its option and has bought the full television rights for the proposed A Song of Ice and Fire TV series. HBO could have chosen to extend its option to buy the rights, so its committing itself to purchasing the rights is a very positive sign. GRRM cautions, however, that this is still not the greenlight for production that will bring the show to fruition. Anything can still happen, but it’s a good sign. In related news, he adds that Spain and the Czech Republic are leading contenders for the location shooting if it goes into production.
Via Board Game News, some official information concerning Fantasy Flight Games’s in-development board game, A Song of Ice and Fire: The Adventure Game notes that it’s being designed by Eric Lang, who also designed the popular A Game of Thrones Collectible Card Game.