The upcoming Warriors cross-genre anthology (US, UK), co-edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, is slated for a March 16th release according to the publisher’s site . Unlike the recently delivered Songs of Love and Death, among the bestselling authors contibuting a story is GRRM himself, the third in his series of “Dunk & Egg” prequels.
“The Mystery Knight” is described as a long novella, and GRRM’s read an excerpt from it a conventions revealing that the story is one full of intrigue with a wedding tourney serving as background. Larry of the Read and Find Out forum has recently had a chance to read it, and shares some remarks here and indicating that he quite enjoyed it.
According to ICV2, three GRRM-related roleplaying game titles will be published by Green Ronin in the first three months of the year: the A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide in February, the A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Pocket Edition in March, and the Wild Cards: Aces & Jokers sourcebook in March.
GRRM has posted on “Not a Blog” that he and co-editor Gardner Dozois have delivered the manuscript for Songs of Love and Death Delivered, a cross-genre themed anthology focused on doomed romances, to their publisher. No publication date yet set. He provides a list of contributors—among them Jim Butcher, Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Carey, Tanith Lee, Peter S. Beagle, and Diana Gabaldon—and the titles of their stories. The full list is below:
It looks like Wild Cards: Hard Call, the original Wild Cards comic book written by Daniel Abraham but left with its last issue in limbo following issues with the publisher, is back on track according to Daniel. At the A Song of Ice and Fire fan forum, he remarks that he’s seen the first four pages of pencilled art from Eric Battle (whom he praises) just this last week thanks to Dynamite Press paying him so that he could complete the work.
It’s too early to know when the comic will be completed and available for publication, but Daniel says that Dynamite seems committed to publishing it and eventually collecting all six issues in graphic novel form.
According to reports, Avatar’s long-awaited adaption of George R.R. Martin’s excellent vampire horror novel, Fevre Dream (US, UK), has finally be solicited in the January edition of previews. This means the first issue will be published in March, but those interested can go to their local comic book shops to request the book be ordered. Over at the Forbidden Planet website, they have a small image of what appears to be the wraparound variant cover and the regular cover which seems to be by artist Rafa Lopez. They also have a description of the book, and provide the order codes: JAN100753 and JAN100754.
The novel has been adapted by author Daniel Abraham, who has previously written the Wild Cards: Hard Call miniseries, and it looks like artist Felipe Massafera is handling the art chores. Massafera’s previous works includes Warren Ellis’s Supergod and Ignition City and Alan Moore’s Light of Thy Countenance.
The young actress Sophie Turner, cast in the role of Sansa Stark in HBO’s pilot of Game of Thrones, has picked up a catchphrase current among the “Brotherhoods without Banners” fan group and the Song of Ice and Fire forum: “Blame Pod”.
The story of how Pod (also known as the Devilbunny) became the source of all mishaps is too long to relate here, but it seems that Ms. Turner (who recently joined Twitter) believes the phrase is applicable to the production and intends to spread it among the other actors. She cites Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark) as two of her fellow cast members she’s passing it on to. We look forward to hearing the phrase from the rest of the cast and crew in due time, as there’s always an appropriate moment in which to blame Pod.
This Is London’s lifestyle section has an interview with Harry Lloyd, which mentions his role as Viserys Targaryen in HBO’s pilot for Game of Thrones. In the course of the article, which also covers his theatrical work and his role as Will Scarlett in the BBC’s new Robin Hood series, he mentions that the HBO production has heightened his profile and he has begun fielding calls from American agents.
Random House (the parent of Bantam) has a trade publication (note: large PDF file) on-line, looking forward to their plans for this year. Down at page page 107 is an entry for the 2011 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar, illustrated by John Picacio. It’s given a $16 price point ($19 in Canada), which is the first time we’ve had a recommended retailer price.
It’s projected that this will only be the first such calendar via Bantam, as they cite the popularity of the Tolkien calendars. Notably, they matter-of-factly state that if the HBO production goes forward, this will have a positive impact on the sales of the series as well as on related merchandise.Finally, they have adjusted their sales figures upwards for the series. Previously, the books were said to have had 2.2 million copies in print, and now it’s pegged at over 3.5 million.
Many thanks to Adam Whitehead of The Wertzone for pointing this document (which has other interesting things to say about out.
At his “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin recommends two workshops for aspiring or neophyte genre authors: Clarion and Taos Toolbox. Clarion is a particularly famous, venerable workshop, with many, many professional authors of note having passed through their doors as noted at the Wikipedia article.
In the course of discussing the latest news out of HBO, that David Milch and Michael Mann were filming a pilot about the world of horse racing called Luck, James Poneiwozik provides some thoughts on HBO’s development strategies. He notes the fact that many of the upcoming or proposed series at HBO are connected to creators who’ve worked with them before: Milch created Deadwood and John from Cincinnati, Terence Winter was on The Sopranos before producing Boardwalk Empire, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg of Band of Brothers are back for The Pacific, Alan Ball was known for Six Feet Under before True Blood came along, and so on.
Poniewozik, at least, hopes to see more new creators, not just HBO veterans, creating shows in the future at the cable network. He wraps up by remarking that Game of Thrones, with showrunning newcomers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, certainly fits the bill if HBO picks it up, while remarking that the show will have more in common with a gritty show like Deadwood than True Blood despite both having genre fantasy elements.
While digging around the amazing DeviantArt site, we stumbled across the fact that a group of fan artists decided to create a 2010 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar, to share with fans of George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy series, and with GRRM himself. After sending a copy of the calendar to GRRM, they’ve provided a glimpse at all the art for fans to take a look at.
You can find the original news post at DA from last month, with links to the included images and the artists who created them, here (particularly useful for seeing Mathia Arkoniel’s full images used in her compilation for August). A gallery with the full calendar design incorporated can be found here at guad’s gallery. A lot of love and talent poured into this, and it reminds us of just how much amazing fan art the series has and continues to generate.
BSC review has now posted their contest for a copy of the limited edition print from the Meisha Merlin edition of A Game of Thrones, painted by renowned artist Jeffrey Jones. Just one of 375 such limited editions prints, it’s a rare chance to get such a work of art for free.
Contest requirements are below:
Over at “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin posts an update that touches on the fates of his beloved New York NFL teams, but also includes this tidbit regarding his work on the much-anticipated A Dance with Dragons:
“I meant to post yesterday on the weekend’s games, but got busy writing instead, and finished a Tyrion chapter that I’ve been struggling with for six months. Nibbling away at that knot. We’ll see if the finished chapter holds up to reread and polish today.”
The Game of Thrones card game, published by Fantasy Flight Games, is having its price lowered by almost half, while the card count per expansion is increased. This is part of a move that will cover all of FFG’s card games using the Living Card Game format. The article linked above provides in-depth details on these changes. An excerpt below explains the basics of the change:
DriveThruRPG, online retailer of e-text editions of a wide range of roleplaying game products, has a special $10 dollar sale on a number of titles. Among them? The A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game, an award-winning adaption of the setting by Green Ronin. It’s an excellent way to get to look at the game, which has a custom system specifically for the setting, some new pieces of art for the setting, and some basic write ups concerning the setting’s geography, history, and politics.