Although the headline is rather over the top, a lead designer at Relic was asked what he’d like to base a game on and he cited A Game of Thrones. This is no way means that Relic Entertainment is pursuing or planning to pursue the license, but it’s interesting to see what game creators think of the possibilities for a computer game series based on the book. This follows on the heels of the well-known fact that the creative team for Bioware’s Dragon Age have cited A Song of Ice and Fire as one among a number of inspirations for the tone and style of the story.
Given the new style of covers, perhaps not such an exciting announcement. Still, it is now out there and can for example be viewed at Amazon, where one can also preorder the book. For those who prefer the British editions, or want to bet on it being out first once again, Amazon.co.uk also accepts preorders.
It should be noted that the dates given by Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk are, as always, nothing more than speculation.
GRRM’s official site has been updated with news that Bantam’s special SpectraPulse sampler magazine will contain a special, slightly abridged chapter from A Dance with Dragons that has not been published previously. Read the News page for some information about the character it’ll feature, and how the story starts. The magazine will only be available as a free giveaway at the New York Comic-Con, the San Diego Comic-Con, the Worldcon in Denver, and the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary.
Bantam Dell has posted a new blurb for A Dance with Dragons. A publication date, October 2008, is also given, but as always until the book is actually completed and turn in all announced publication dates are tentative at best.
GRRM’s official site has been updated with a new sample chapter (Jon’s first chapter) and a new update on the progress of A Dance with Dragons. In brief: the book is not done, but currently GRRM has set the goal of attempting to get it done and delivered by the summer. Moreover, he reveals that he’s adding a point of view character who has never had a POV before, and that it is one of the characters released in the first batch of miniatures from Dark Sword Miniature, which are pictured on the News page.
According to Ted Nasmith, various pieces of castle art he has completed from the forthcoming The World of Ice and Fire will be on display at an exhibition at Redesdale Hall in the town of Moreton-in-Marsh in England. The exhibition is tentatively scheduled for April 4th through 8th, and Nasmith promises to have more details nearer to April.
Don’t know how we missed this one, but the “World of Westeros” skit from Vericon VI in 2006 has been posted.
As previously discussed here, among the artists working on The World of Ice and Fire is the famed Tolkien illustrator Ted Nasmith. Ted has now been kind enough to give a sneak peak of some of the thirteen paintings of great castles of the Seven Kingdoms that he’ll be contributing. You can find them here.
Ted also remarks that he’ll be working on one of the limited editions of the series for Subterranean Press.
As many are aware, the Writer’s Guild of America has begun a strike over various issues. What this means for the entertainment industry in the States is that the writers will not work on anything at all until the issues are resolved. Shows that have episodes filmed will likely have them shown, but their seasons will likely come to a close early in most cases. The question that has recently come up in several places is what the strike means for the option held by HBO for producing a show based on the series.
The webcomic CTRL+ALT+DEL, known for its references both to gaming and to genre film and literature, has a new strip that involves a joke about the new game, Assassin’s Creed, but with a punchline that’ll be very familiar indeed to “A Song of Ice and Fire fans. This is not the first time that the series has been mentioned
An article in MSN’s entertainment section discusses prospects for written works of fantasy to leap to television and motion pictures. In the course of this, they mention A Song of Ice and Fire and the fact that HBO holds the rights, and make an odd suggestion concerning casting.
GRRM’s official site has been updated with a report that the Fevre Dream limited edition by Subterranean Press is nearing publication. Therei s also a new “Not a Blog” entry discussing progress on several fronts, including A Dance with Dragons. In comments, George also responds to an individual concerned with his level of enthusiasm for the series as well as the state of his health, and in the course of it references the fact that a chapter featuring Tyrion and the mysterious Shrouded Lord is one that will likely not be one included in the final book. This illustrates that the writing process for GRRM is one where he may explore particular ideas and then decide they’re not right for the story.
A recent, massive science fiction and fantasy gathering in Chengdu, China, featured the Galaxy Awards for genre literature. It turns out that among the winners is George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, in the category of “Best Fantasy”. Congratulations to GRRM and his Chinese publisher, Chonqing Press!
In case nothing comes of the HBO series, perhaps ASoIaF could get on TV anyway ... in South Park style? If so, it might look something like this. ;)
Justin Sweet has confirmed while at San Diego Comic-Con that he is one of the artists who’ll be featured in The World of Ice and Fire. His work will include a painting of the Hound, Sandor Clegane. He noted that Ted Nasmith is also working on the book, providing a series of landscape paintings, something which Mr. Nasmith discussed as a possibility late last year.