Westeros

George R.R. Martin has provided new information on an anthology slated for October, Book of Swords, which will contain a never-before-published piece of “fake history” that was originally created for The World of ICe and Fire. We reported on it last week, but waited on reporting more as we knew GRRM was going to provide more information at his “Not a Blog”. Of particular interest to ASoIaF fans are the following:

George R.R. Martin’s friend and regular editorial collaborator, Gardner Dozois, has been working away at an anthology titled Book of Swords since 2015, inviting a host of authors to contribute. One of the invited authors, Matthew Hughes, posted a list of some of the authors that were then on board. The list included Ken Liu (whose contribution, “The Hidden Girl”, was optioned for film last year), Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, Daniel Abraham, K.J. Parker, Garth Nix, C.J Cherryh, Elizabeth Bear, and Cecelia Holland.

Hughes suggested there’d probably be some other significant authors, and as fans have now discovered, one of those names is George R.R. Martin himself. We don’t have a table of contents to share as of yet, but we’ll say that there’s a great deal of speculation among fans related to The World of Ice and Fire and Dunk & Egg.

We’ll see if we can’t shake that table of contents loose.

Sky Atlantic, home of Game of Thrones in the UK, and chef director Dan Doherty of the Duck and Waffle have teamed up with UK delivery service Deliveroo to present “The Drama Kitchen”, a pop-up takeaway which will be open from this evening to Sunday evening. The idea behind the concept? The 12 different meals available to order are all inspired by some of Sky Atlantic’s shows… including, of course, Game of Thrones.

See the Game of Thrones menu created for The Drama Kitchen:

That photo makes it all look quite delicious, although here’s hoping Bowl o’ Brown excludes human flesh! For those interested in ordering, note that availability is restricted geographically:

“The Drama Kitchen” will be open from January 26 to January 29.

Over at Not a Blog, George R.R. Martin has given a short and sweet update on the highly-anticipated The Winds of Winter, despite his general policy (forged from past experience) to not remark on it. It’s a brief comment, which we’ll share here:

And that’s it. As he notes, he thinks it could be finished this year… or maybe it won’t be, as he’s noted he has been wrong before. But for those who’ve irrationally feared he’s given up on the series, this should hopefully settle some nerves.

The New Year has begun, and Random House has informed us that this Friday—January 6—will be the last day they will be taking orders on the GRRM Box with its collection of collectibles and goodies for fans of both A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Thanks to Random House, we’re glad to say that fans can order any of the available boxes at 15% off with the code LASTCHANCE if they order here.

For more about the GRRM Box, you can read our announcement post sharing the full details.

During the airing of the 6th season of Game of Thrones, the Royal Mail and Tourism NI collaborated to release ten limited edition stamps dedicated to the TV series. Each week, a new stamp was released, featuring images that resonated with the series. Now, Westeros.org is pleased to have a contest to win a limited edition stamp sheet—one of only 100 sheets produced!—featuring all ten stamps.

There are three ways to enter the contest, and get a chance to win the stamp sheet:

1) Follow our Facebook page and post on the initial post from us with this title.
2) Follow our Twitter account and RT our initial post from us with this title.
3) Join our forum and post to the thread in the Game of Thrones News section indicating your interest in entering the contest.

At the end of the week we’ll collate all the entries and choose one winner. This competition is open world-wide.

Good luck!

Apple and Random House, continuing the enhanced edition series announced back in September, have now released the A Storm of Swords digital enhanced edition. Just as with the prior two books, this enhanced edition includes a bevy of art, journey maps for POV characters, an extensive glossary, and numerous annotations providing insights and trivia into the text. There’s a brief video featuring George R.R. Martin featuring some nifty animations:

To learn more about the series, you can visit here. The A Storm of Swords enhanced edition, as with all enhanced editions, is exclusive to iTunes.

The Hollywood Reporter, covering HBO CEO Richard Plepler’s presence in Spain for the launch of HBO Spain, reports that Plepler remarked to their reporter that there are “embryonic conversations” going on in HBO headquarters about possible spin-offs between himself, President of Programming Casey Bloys, and the producers of the hit show. To quote Plepler more directly:

This continues the pattern of various executives and producers acknowledging their interest in following the series up with some sort of spin-off after its initial run is complete. Suggestions that have come from various parties to those conversations include a feature film, a continuation of the Game of Thrones story beyond its end (presumably following a mixture of old characters—some of those who survive the whole thing, no doubt—and new creations for the theoretical sequel), and even prequels drawing from the histories in The World of Ice and Fire or the Dunk & Egg novellas as found in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Although the ultra limited edition of the GRRM Box, with a run of just 200 priced at $600 each, sold out almost instantly (the limited and deluxe limited sets are still available), publisher Random House has announced that they are donating the rarest of them all—Ultra Limited Edition Box #001—in an auction to benefit the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary.

Here’s the press release with the full details regarding the auction, which will be hosted on EBay and will begin tomorrow, December 2nd:

An official website for the Wild Cards superhero shared-world novels, whose origins lay way back in 1983 with a roleplaying game campaign that George R.R. Martin devised, has now been launched.

Of note are a number of initial blog posts from Martin and other members of the Wild Cards Consortium discussing various aspects of the shared world, from its inception and on down to recent days. It’s a good looking site, featuring a cover gallery, interviews, videos (including a 1988 recording of a Worldcon Wild Cards panel!), sample stories, and more.

The latest entry in the series is High Stakes, which was published this August.

UPDATE: Editor Anne Groell has gotten back to us to confirm that Ben Avery has adapted the script, and that the page count is 148 pages, not 240 pages as previously reported. We have corrected the report below.

“The Mystery Knight”, the third in the Dunk & Egg series of novellas set in the past of the Seven Kingdoms, is finally getting the comic book adaptation fans of the first two adaptions have beeing waiting for, according to Amazon. The adaption was first announced in 2013.

With a July 4 release date—matching the date on Random House’s own site—it looks like it’ll be released directly in collected format.

The Hedge Knight, the well-regarded first adaptation from Dabel Bros Productions, had art by veteran artist Mike S. Miller (who is listed as illustrating The Mystery Knight) and script by Ben Avrey (also returning). Eventually rights for the collected series shifted to Jet City Comics, Amazon’s own imprint, who followed up by then eventually publishing the The Sworn Sword collection which for a time was published by Marvel Comics.

HBO’s just passed along word that they’ve entered into a collaboration with Vintage Wine Estates to create a selection of Game of Thrones wines including a Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a red blend. (Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time there’s been wines produced with a A Song of Ice and Fire bent—the Brotherhood without Banners fans produced a very limited run of Arbor Gold” and a “Dornish Red” wines—with custom labels and all—for the 2006 Worldcon, L.A. Con IV!)

Here’s the press release below:

In conjunction with the release of the sixth season on Blu-ray and DVD, HBO will be bringing the box set’s exclusive bonus features to life in three groundbreaking events with interactive experiences including photo, video and virtual reality that take fans behind the scenes and immerse them into the world of Game of Thrones.

Game Of Thrones Season 6 - Behind the Scenes will give visitors an exclusive look into the making of HBO’s most popular series via interactive audiovisual displays alongside exciting tech-based experiences. Fans will both learn what it takes to put the epic production together and get to step inside scenes themselves.  Set up as five different experiences themed to individual bonus features available on the Season 6 Blu-rayTM and DVD set, Game of Thrones: Season 6 â`“ Behind the Scenes is designed to look like set pieces and production elements from the show. The event will give fans a chance to go behind the scenes and experience bonus content from Season 6 come to life while taking shareable photos and videos inside the burning Temple of the Dosh Khaleen, holding the door to save Bran, fighting in the Battle of the Bastards and sitting on the Iron Throne. Additionally, fans will have access to a brand new Virtual Reality experience created exclusively for this fan event that lets them train for battle in the wars to come in Westeros and beyond.

Following the November 15 release of Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season on Blu-rayâ„¢ and DVD, the Game of Thrones: Season 6 â`“ Behind the Scenes event will make its first stop at Astor Place in New York City on Friday, November 18 and Saturday, November 19, followed by stops at Grant Park in Chicago on Saturday, November 26 and Sunday, November 27, and at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles on Friday, December 9 and Saturday, December 10. The operating hours for all events and dates are 12:30pm-8pm.

When they are finished previewing never-before-seen content and interacting with the experiences, fans will be able to check out all of the exclusive bonus features that inspired these events in its entirety by purchasing Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season on Blu-rayâ„¢ or DVD. The first 20 fans who buy Season 6 on Blu-ray or DVD before the event and bring their box set with them will be granted early access to the experience.

Interactive event experiences include:

• Vaes Dothrak: Watch footage from the exclusive Blu-rayTM/DVD bonus feature “Recreating the Dothraki World,” a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the city of Vaes Dothrak and its importance to Daenerys’s evolution, and stand in for Daenerys as the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen burns around you in a shareable video utilizing green screen technology.
• North of the Wall: “Bran’s Journey” delves into Bran Stark’s shocking and revelatory journey during Season 6. In this interactive experience, fans will see a recreation of the mystical Weirwood tree, learn about the Children of the Forest, and “hold the door” to save Bran from the White Walker army in a shareable video.
• Winterfell: “The Battle of the Bastards: An In-Depth Look,” available exclusively on the Season 6 Blu-ray/DVD set, goes behind the scenes to examine the production challenges of creating this epic event, including explorations of Visual Effects, stunts, and interviews with key cast and crew. In this experiences, modeled after Jon Snow’s command tent, fans can move stone pieces around the battle table and insert themselves into a photo opp of Jon’s position in the incredible aerial mob shot at the height of battle.
• Castle Black: In the Defend the Wall Virtual Reality Experience, modeled after the Castle Black courtyard and created exclusively for the Game of Thrones: Season 6 â`“ Behind the Scenes fan event, fans will wear a VR headset and pick up a virtual crossbow, arrows and shield to hone their battle skills for the wars to come. But beware! You never know what danger lurks around the corner.
• The Workshop: The “18 Hours at the Paint Hall” Blu-rayTM/DVD feature follows all three Game of Thrones shooting units as they converge for the first time at Titanic Studios, better known as the Paint Hall, the series’ Belfast-based production hub. Housed in an aluminum structure modeled after the actual Paint Hall, this workshop will house props and costumes from the show, plus give fans the chance to sit on the Iron Throne and begin their reign as the true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

Fans can pre-register for the event now by visiting GoTBehindTheScenes.com for expedited entry. Fast Passes to the above experiences will be available through this site while supplies last.

The Game of Thrones season 6 Blu-Ray and DVD set just came out today, and courtesy of HBO we’ve an exclusive clip from the Histories and Lore extras that have always been so popular. Each year’s production values seem to be going up and up, and from what we’ve seen so far it looks like it holds true this season. Last season’s Histories and Lore earned some attention from the Clio Awards, and we can only imagine this season will follow suit.

Here’s the exclusive, as Brother Ray (Ian McShane) narrates the War of the Ninepenny Kings:

Random House has kindly taken some of illustrations fromthe A Game of Thrones: The Illustrated Edition (which is the central item in the limited edition GRRM Box) and has turned them into wallpapers. The artwork comes from Magali Villeneuve and Marc Simonetti, and while some are previously published some of the pieces are exclusive to the illustrated edition. Grab them while you can!