The Evening Standard magazine has a “diary” piece by none other than Charles Dance, who plays the Lannister patriarch Lord Tywin in Game of Thrones. He mentions the series at a couple of points, but mostly it’s a fine look at his daily life as an actor from his own perspective.
Particularly love the anecdote about Sir John Gielgud at the end.
Patrick St. Denis of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has a special contest for fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. As Pat explains, he had a series of wagers with GRRM that he finally won (if I’m not mistaken, George won the first couple of bets). What did he win? The chance to have a character named after him that would die a gruesome death in a novel of the series. As it happens, Ser Patrek of King’s Mountain (a reference to Montreal) is now in A Dance with Dragons, and he does indeed die a gruesome death.
But just how does he die? That’s the question Anne Groell, the book’s editor, poses to fans who want a chance to win an autographed copy of A Dance with Dragons. Pat provides a list of manners of deaths that he suggests actually happen in the novel (and therefore could be considered spoilers—you’ve been warned), and asks those who want to enter the contest to take a guess as to how brave Ser Patrek meets his end.
Good luck to those taking a stab at it!
Usually, HBO releases two of these… but it looks like there’s just one, at least for now. It’s a nice peek, though, as it features a bit of Tyrion and Bronn interaction. And, you know, Bronn’s actual name for the first name! I do wonder, however, at the lack of horses…
David J. Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language for HBO’s Game of Thrones, answered a few questions for Linda and I concerning his work on the project—including information on one of the languages he created for the show that not so many fans are aware about!
You can find the interview over at Suvudu, Random House’s portal for SF/F and more!
Our ongoing series of podcasts with MTV Geek‘s Tom and Daniel now has caught up to episode 7! You can find it over at our episode guide. Beware, some spoilers for the second season inherent to the discussion.
Award-winning artist John Picacio—recently nominated for three Chesley Awards—continues his sneak peeks for the 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar after having previously given a look at Bran Stark.
Fans were asked to vote, and it looks the Hound trumped Arya Stark and Melisandre of Asshai as the subject of his next sneak peek.
The calendar is due to be released July 12, and Picacio and GRRM will be on hand for autographs when it’s sold at San Diego Comic Con.
Our latest A Song of Ice and Fire-related article is up at Tor.com: “The Brothers Baratheon”. It’s a consideration on the dynamics between the three Baratheon brothers, their separate histories, and their differing attitudes and capacities. For us, the three brothers are nearly as central to the story as the “big three” of Stark, Lannister, and Targaryen, with their roles in the narrative having long-range impact that affects everyone in the narrative.
For more of our articles, you can look here to find them all.
Our latest article from essayist Pearson Moore is online, with a focus on seven diffrent arguments regarding kingship and rule in the Seven Kingdoms. Thoughtful work as always!
After last weeks very small drop in the ratings—which was strange, coming off of episode 5—the ratings for this Memorial Day weekend looked unlikely to sustain growth. And that, we suppose, is true enough: as reported by James Hibberd for EW, the show held steady at 2.4 million viewers, with 3.2 million in total after the repeat that evening. However, as Hibberd notes, this particular Sundy evening was down 21% overall in viewership, so holding steady isn’t bad at all.
Hibberd predicts a rise this Sunday, but we’re not so sure: game 3 of the NBA Finals are taking place at the same time, and that’s bound to draw a few eyeballs, especially if the Mavericks and Heat (Go, Heat! BTW) are 1-1 going into that game.
As we’ve previously reported, Game of Thrones is due to have an official music compilation released on June 28th (not June 14th as previously planned), which can already be pre-ordered.
Film Music Reporter has now gotten a hold of more details, including the full track listing. A sampling of the track titles is below, but for the full details (beware: some of the titles are spoilerish!), visit their site,
SF Bokhandeln—Sweden’s premiere SF/F bookstore chain, with locations in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö;—has announced on Facebook that their main store in Stockholm will open its doors at midnight to allow fans to buy A Dance with Dragons as soon as possible. Once everyone who’s queued has the book, the store will close and reopen at normal hours, but will have some special fantasy-themed events during the day. They also have a special pre-order page, in which all pre-orders will be eligible to win one of a handful of signed copies of the book.
If you’re in the vicinity, definitely drop by!
Know of any other stores, whether in North America, the U.K., Europe, or elsewhere, that will have midnight releases for the book? Feel free to post the details in comments!
The latest episode of Sky Atlantic’s Thronecast, their official post-episode webcast, is now available! Join Geoff Lloyd has he hosts the program, looking at the past episode, exploring some of its details, and more. As usual, Linda and I are there to answer a couple of questions, and there’s also an interview with Gethin Anthony, who plays Lord Renly Baratheon (you can also read our interview with the actor).
Dark Sword Miniatures, official producers of the George R.R. Martin Masterworks series, have some amazing new miniatures (as well as painted miniatures) to show off. George shares some of the images here on “Not a Blog”, but you can see them in more detail at Dark Sword’s site. We’re especially keen on the “greens” for Lord Tywin (looking very Caesar-like) and King Robert, which also gives us a sneak peek at Tom Meier‘s Renly and Stannis.
As usual, after You Win or You Die, HBO has released an inside look at the episode—quite a lengthy one, clocking in at 5 minutes—as well as a preview for next week’s episode, “The Pointy End”, written by one George R.R. Martin.
See the videos below.
Pearson Moore has provided another incisive essay on the latest Game of Thrones episode, “A Golden Crown”. If we’re not mistaken, it’s his longest yet, and as usual spins out some interesting thoughts drawing from history and popular culture (in this case, an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing).
In the course of the article, he also compares the novel to the TV show… and in the case of one very particular scene, he thinks the writers have outdone GRRM. Can’t say I disagree with his reasoning on that very specific point (regarding Theon Greyjoy and his interactions with Robb).