At “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin indicates that the “Meereenese Knot” may be “fraying”, suggesting he’s made some forward progress in finally resolving one of the central structural problems that have delayed A Dance with Dragons. He’s rather cautious about it, however, which implies that he doesn’t yet know for sure that this will move things forward once he continues pursuing this.
Over at HBO‘s Facebook fan page, a thread has been started where commenters can show their support for seeing Game of Thrones greenlit. All it takes is an FB account and a minute, so do drop a note to let the powers that be get another sense at how motivated and supportive the fans of the series are.
One of the major events going on in the literary world is the matter of just how Google Books will function with respect to the copyright of authors. A settlement agreement was put forward as a solution, but has sparked more controversy. The Guardian reports that a major settlement with the Authors Guild of America has now been amended to exclude some 6,500 authors and publishers from it, as they have opted out of being a part of it. This means that Google Books will not be able to simply digitize and offer their works as part of the settlement agreement. Exactly how Google Books will approach these individual authors in the future is a question, but then the fate of the settlement is in itself questionable and may well be rejected by the court as it stands.
Many significant names in literature are among them: Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Chabon, Graham Swift, Brent Easton Ellis, and Thomas Pychon to name just a few. And, to bring this into the realm of “All Sorts of Weird Stuff”, George R. R. Martin is also on the list of those who’ve opted out of the settlement, as seen on page 54 of the settlement amendment..
The Hopeless Gamer blog, which has provided some excellent scoops on Fantasy Flight Games‘s new “Battles of Westeros” board game, is holding a contest to win an FFG print signed by George R.R. Martin if the blog reaches the 100 follower mark by Sunday, February 28th.
All that’s needed to be entered is to follow the blog and send an e-mail indicating the username you’re following with. They promise to have some other prize available if they do not hit the 100 follower mark by the 28th.
Fantasy Flight Games has launched their official page regarding their new Battles of Westeros tactical board game. As part of the festivities, they’ve set a firm date on the “Days of Ice and Fire” event we’ve previously mentioned: November 12-14, with GRRM promising a Q&A session and several signings, with the possibility of a reading and an interview as well.
Also in time for the site, an interview with Christian Petersen, CEO of Fantasy Flight Games, where he reveals that in fact they’re using a brand new rules system for this game, and that the use of “BattleLore” is purely for branding purposes. This is, to say the least, somewhat controversial for BattleLore fans.
It seems that Fantasy Flight Games‘s new Battles of Westeros board game is a greater departure from the BattleLore system then some suspected, according to this report on the Heroscapers forum.
Over at the Hopeless Gamer, they’ve released some more package images, including depictions of the hero figures for the Lannister and Stark sides.
In honor of George Washington’s birthday, George R.R. Martin is holding a special sale on 24 copies of first edition hardcovers of Inside Straight. These have been signed by Martin, Carrie Vaughn, Melinda M. Snodgrass, John Jos. Miller, Caroline Spector, Daniel Abraham, and Ian Tregillis. Usually sold at $27 a copy, GRRM will sell these books for $22 (book-rate shipping included in the U.S.) while supplies last.
At his Not a Blog, George R.R. Martin announced that he had signed contracts to have the first three Wild Cards volumes translated and published in Italy for the first time. RCS Libri will be the publisher.
Fantasy Flight Games has unveiled a brand new A Song of Ice and Fire board game yesterday at the opening of the grand opening of their new event center. The game, titled Battles of Westeros, is a BattleLore-system based tactical war game using hexagonal grids, plastic miniature army units (these would be unpainted, as far as I know; besides generic units, it will likely have ‘hero’ units representing the likes of Eddard, Catelyn, Edmure, and more), and a card system for orders and special tactics.
The BattleLore system and its publishing history is summarized at Wikipedia. At BoardGameGeek’s entry, my eye was caught by the fact that there are two different ways of playing the game on-line using either Vassal (as seen here) or ZunTzu, which should be a significant boon once players virtualize any new rules, cards, and units for these systems.
The initial news flash came by way of The Hopeless Gamer, who also provided a photo of the contents list on the back of the box. One notable detail that gamers have pointed out: the explicit reference to this being the “Core Set” on the front cover, showing FFG has long-term expansion plans for this game system. In fact, posts at BoardGameGeek note that this appears to focus on House Stark versus House Lannister, certainly leaving room for expansions which introduce the rest of the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms.
Finally, an additional note: it seems that some time in November, FFG will host a “Days of Ice and Fire” event at their Event Center in Roseville, Minessota, in which George R.R. Martin will be a guest. More details when we have them.
Would you like to pay a visit to Westeros and take part in a pivotal historical event?
This weekend (Saturday 20th at 11 Central Time & Sunday 21st at 10 Central Time) the climax of king Daeron’s Conquest of Dorne will play out on Blood of Dragons MUSH. If you would like to join in, there is still time, as we have a selection of ready-made characters to get new players started almost instantly.
According to this interview with Jason Momoa, Momoa expects that he’ll be returning to Morocco as well as Northern Ireland to shoot the Game of Thrones series in late June. Despite the way it’s written—as if it’s a foregone conclusion—we suspect that in fact Momoa was speaking speculatively. The actors have been informed of the prospective schedule if the show goes forward, so that they can plan their professional engagements accordingly with that possibility in mind.
(Thanks to Maxlongstreet at the A Song of Ice and Fire Forum for pointing this one out.)
Over at the SFF Chronicles Network forum, a user by the name of the Imp shares an e-mail his nephew sent to GRRM regaling him with the sad, sad (and improbable) tale of his many illnesses and mishaps before asking for the manuscript for A Dance with Dragons due to his circumstances. A funny e-mail in and of itself, but the response it inspires in GRRM is of the same order.
Green Ronin has announced a pre-order special for their A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay Campaign Guide, the table of contents of which have been previewed recently. Those who pre-order the hardcover guide via the Green Ronin store will automatically get a free PDF document of the guide. The PDF seems to be available for direct order as well, for $20.
According to reports on Green Ronin’s own forums, the Campaign Guide does not seem to contain any notable new information on the setting, but it does contain significant amounts of statted characters from the novels.
George R.R. Martin provides a brief update at “Not a Blog”, sharing this views on the new The Wolfman film (he gives it a C) and then mentions that a new producer has come on board Mike the Pike Production’s Skin Trade adaption as reported in this press release.
As to A Dance with Dragons, Meereen still presents problems despite the progress GRRM has been making: “Can I just drop a hydrogen bomb on the damn place?” It seems the Meereenese Knot remains a concern.
We’ve been covering HBO’s series of trademark applications for Game of Thrones pretty closely, and decided to follow-up on two points.
First, as we noted in our earlier articles, initially HBO applied for trademarks using the title A Game of Thrones. Last week, however, the A Game of Thrones mark applications have been officially amended to just Game of Thrones, without the article.
Second, the question has come up on occasion regarding just how HBO exercises these marks, as they’re not a manufacturer. The answer is that these trademarks are licensed to those who do produce such content. Case in point, the smash-hit True Blood, which has led the licensing charge at HBO. At Toy Fair 2010, DC Direct exhibited character busts and a neon bar sign for the show. Of course, DC Direct and HBO are both under the Time Warner umbrella, so it’s no great surprise DC Direct would land these particular licenses.
If Game of Thrones goes forward and proves to be a success for HBO, fans can expect the same sort of licensing treatment.
It’s been around for awhile, but we just had to share these hilarious webpage mockups for various houses, organizations, and individuals in the A Song of Ice and Fire series:
Thanks to Daena the Defiant at the forum for pointing out guad’s clever, amusing creations.
George R.R. Martin’s recent series of small updates concerning progress on A Dance with Dragons has caught the eye of the Guardian’s book blog, discussing the level of anticipation there is for the fifth novel in the bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series. The lead image is a spoof political advertisment created by regular forum contributor and moderator, Adam Whitehead of The Wertzone.
The Brotherhood without Banners, an unofficial (or maybe semi-official) fan club for George R.R. Martin, is running a survey regarding a t-shirt they’re proposing to produce to raise funds for the BwB’s general fund. The survey detailing the shirt idea can be found
at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum. Registration is required to post.
George R.R. Martin has made an enlightening A Dance with Dragons update while stating he now has left behind the Isle of Cedars (in Slaver’s Bay near Meereen) and that the manuscript is at 1261 pages.
That alone is notable: that’s up 56 MS from last week, leading one to assume that at least some of the chapters he completed he already had in rough or partial form. However, GRRM goes on to discuss the matter of timelines and how difficult it would be to fit A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons in a single book. Besides that, he reveals that he caught up to the timeline of A Feast for Crows at 800 MS in Dance, and everything since then has been post-Feast which is allowing him to wrap some of the cliffhangers from the previous book and continue the story further. He admits its a rather awkward structure, and that Dance directly paralleling Feast would be more elegant, but so far it’s the direction he’s taking the novel.
George R.R. Martin shares the news that he’s finished another chapter in a productive day of work. The only downside? It’ll require writing some minor parts of a chapter he finished last week, but he supposes he can get that done today.
HBO is keeping the U.S. trademark office busy, as we’ve previously reported. Now four new trademark classes have been applied for and entered into the USPTO database for February 9th, which theoretically cover things such as non-alcoholic beverages, jewelery, replica weapons, toys, and games.
Speaking of replica weapons, note that on January 16, GRRM noted in a response to questions that the production’s weapons would be designed specifically for the show, and that Valyrian Steel’s designs would not be used as previously proposed. However, as GRRM has previously noted, part of the negotiations with HBO involved negotiating which rights could not be used by them because of other licensing; only Valyrian Steel can create steel replicas, so HBO’s license extends only to cheaper, plastic toy replicas at this time.
Many thanks for Ninepenny at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum for keeping on top of the trademarking activities.
At the Guardian, Danny Leigh opines that Thomas McCarthy—whose work on the Game of Thrones pilot will help set the visual style for the series to follow if HBO greenlights it—is a “Hollywood Renaissance Man” whose “triple threat” of skillful direction, acting, and scriptwriting makes him a rare talent in this day and age. It’s a well-written opinion piece, and discusses some of the thematic touchstones of McCarthy’s previous directorial efforts.
This clip from an award-winning short independent film features Jack Gleeson, cast in the role of Joffrey in HBO’s Game of Thrones pilot. We’ve seen very little in the way of recent film or publicity stills for Gleeson, so this is a particularly useful video for those wanting a better idea of what the young actor:
We Are Munster from Lee Cronin on Vimeo.
(Thanks to The Rabbit and @WiC_Blog for pointing this one out!)
At least, the return of the first Tyrion chapter in the official A Dance with Dragons samples. Read only if you want to be spoiled, as it’s the complete first chapter and answers the question of just where Tyrion goes after the end of A Storm of Swords.
George R.R. Martin shares links to several excerpts from the forthcoming Warriors anthology. The three excerpts come from Diana Gabaldon‘s Outlander-set story, Cecelia Holland‘s “The King of Norway”, and GRRM’s own “The Mystery Knight”, the third in the Dunk & Egg sequence of “A Song of Ice and Fire” prequel novellas.
According to author Jacqueline Carey, author of the Kushiel series, the Songs of Love and Death: Tales of Star-crossed Love (an expansion of the previous title, and a recapitulation of the original title, Star-Crossed Lovers) anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois has received a publication date: November 16, 2010.
The anthology was turned in to the publisher last month (full table of contents at the link). Carey’s story, “You and Only You”, is set in her Kushiel setting, and concerns the character of Anafiel Delaunay.
Green Ronin has posted a PDF preview for their upcoming A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Campaign Guide, a resource for gamers that provides them a sourcebook of setting information and character writeups all in one place. Featuring fine production values, it looks like it’ll be a nice addition to gaming bookshelves.
GRRM has now shared that he’s been spending time in the rainwood (that’s a region of the Stormlands), and that the manuscript count is 1205 pages, making it the second longest novel in the series, 300 pages shy of A Storm of Swords.
GRRM shares the news of a group signing event at Barnes & Noble in the Coronado Center of Albuquerque, New Mexico, scheduled for February 20th. Other Wild Cards authors at the event, besides himself, include Daniel Abraham, Melinda Snodgrass, John Jos. Miller, Caroline Specter, Ian Tregillis, Victor Milan, and Carrie Vaughn. More information can be found at Barnes & Noble’s events page.
Fantasy Flight Games has announced the imminent release A King in the North, the next chapter pack in their Defenders of the North cycle for the popular Game of Thrones Living Card Game. They promise new cards for Margaery Tyrell, Osha, Varamyr Sixskins, and many more.
GRRM shares a fresh update on his progress on A Dance with Dragons, which is slightly spoilerish. Suffice it to say, he’s writing about characters in warmer climes, and thinks that with the pace he’s working at one or even two chapters could be completed by the end of the week. In comments he adds that he’s within “spitting distance” of 1200 pages of manuscript (which means roughly 800 pages, using a rough rule-of-thumb 1.5:1 ratio) while stating that it’s not impossible some parts of the novel might move to the next book if, when it’s turned in to editors, it’s longer than A Storm of Swords.
Over at “Not a Blog, GRRM has started a poll for fans to have a say as to what characters the next wave of miniatures from Dark Sword Miniatures will depict. Presently, Daenerys Targaryen-as-queen has a commanding lead, with Benjen Stark and Bran with Hodor neck-and-neck for second place.
There’s a profile of Peter Dinklage due to his role in an upcoming comedic film. In it, he discusses his views on playing roles which focus too much on the character being a dwarf. He adds that there are certainly great roles written for dwarves, and it seems that Tyrion Lannister may have come up in that context:
‘It would entail me being lazy, and I’m not interested in that,” he says. “It just becomes uninteresting for me and I think it becomes uninteresting for an audience.” Having said that, he notes: “There are great roles that are written for dwarves.”
‘That would include his current project, a planned HBO series called Game of Thrones, based on the popular fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Dinklage plays the diminutive Tyrion Lannister in the pilot episode.’
Thanks to Ninepenny at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum for noting this item.
Tom McCarthy, director of HBO’s pilot for Game of Thrones, joins Robert Stromberg in the Oscars race. McCarthy was one of a number of individuals credited for the story of Pixar’s Up, which is a nominee for Best Original Screenplay.
The visual effects supervisor to the Game of Thrones pilot from HBO, Robert Stromberg, has been cleaning up of late in award seasons as previously reported. The streak continues, as he and Rick Carter have been nominated for an Academy Award in Art Direction thanks to their work on James Camerons’ blockbuster Avatar.
Twitter is presently awash with Brazilian fantasy fans excitedly reporting the news that A Game of Thrones will be published in Brazil in the native Brazilian Portuguse dialect. This is a major international sale, with Brazil being a rapidly growing book-buying market. From what I can make of this article, the book will be published by Brazillian publisher Leya, with A Game of Thrones due to be published in translation in the second half of 2010.
It’s not absolutely clear to me, but it’s possible that the Brazilian fantasy author, Raphael Draccon, may have been a key figure in bringing the publisher and GRRM’s representation to the table. Certainly, in the article linked above he is incredibly enthusiastic for the series and its prospects in Brazil.
Ian Tregillis gives us another look into the world of Wild Cards, this time with an account of how he was recruited at the last minute to write a key story in the span of two weeks for Inside Straight (US, UK).
GRRM’s official site has been updated with several new updates on “Not a Blog”. Among them, GRRM clarifies that he had in fact finished a Jon Snow chapter that he was happy with, and that he may be shifting back to the Meereenese point of views. Speaking of snow, he shares an image of a painted Sansa Stark miniature from Dark Sword Miniatures.
Finally, and sadly, he shares the news of the death of fellow writer, Kage Baker, due to cancer. Baker contributed a fine Cugel the Clever story toSongs of the Dying Earth, and wrote a number of award-nominated and otherwise notable short stories and novels besides. She will be missed.