Westeros

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:

(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.