NEWS | Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois gets a release date

News broke about George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois' next big anthology quite sometime ago, but a release date hadn't been set until just now. Dangerous Women will be released December of 2013, which should be just in time for Christmas. And what's better than original stories by Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, and Brandon Sanderson to close out the the year? Well, only if we got a new Martin A Song of Ice and Fire story, which we do. It will cover the Targaryen civil war which has been mentioned a lot in the novels and Dunk & Egg stories, but little detail has been revealed. But don't confuse this with the Dunk & Egg stories as it takes place well before Egg was born. Here's part of Martin's announcement from a few months back that goes into more detail on some of the stories:

The Abercrombie is set against his RED COUNTRY backdrop, the Holland gives us Eleanor of Aquitaine, Jim Butcher returns us to Harry Dresden’s world, Lev Grossman contributes a tale of life at Brakebills, Steve Stirling revisits his Emberverse, Diana Gabaldon’s story features Jamie Fraser of OUTLANDER fame, the Spector is a Wild Cards story featuring Hoodoo Mama and the Amazing Bubbles, and mine own contribution… well, it’s some of that fake history I have been writing lo these many months, the true (mostly) story of the origins of the Dance of the Dragons. The stand-alone stories, not part of any series, feature some amazing work as well. For those who like to lose themselves in long stories, the Brandon Sanderson story, the Diana Gabaldon story, the Caroline Spector story, and my “Princess and Queen” are novellas. Huge mothers.

Here’s the table of contents…

• “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie
• “My Heart Is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott
• “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland
• “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass
• “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher
• “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn
• “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale
• “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm
• “I Know How To Pick ‘em” by Lawrence Block
• “Shadows For Silence In The Forests Of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson
• “A Queen In Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman
• “The Girl In The Mirror” by Lev Grossman
• “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
• “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland
• “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon
• “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon
• “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling
• “Name The Beast” by Sam Sykes
• “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan
• “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector
• “The Princess And The Queen” by George R.R. Martin

December can't get here soon enough.

You Might Also Like:
Joe Abercrombie Interviews George R.R. Martin
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
GUEST POST | Ekaterina Sedia on Anthology Editing
REVIEW | The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
AUTHOR INTERVIEW | Lev Grossman author of The Magicians
REVIEW | Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

A Song of Ice & Fire Poll Results

So just who does everyone think George R.R. Martin has ruined the life of the most during the events of A Song of Ice and Fire? Apparently, Catelyn Stark as she finished out on top with 38% of voters while Arya Stark came in second place with 30%. It was neck and neck with them for nearly the whole week of voting with Arya in the lead until the last two days when the Catelyn fans came on strong.  Third place went to Ned. Oh, Ned you were much too loyal this world. And it was no surprise that Joffrey and Cersei came in last place with 1 vote each, which shows everyone thinks he is a little shit and she is Queen Bitch. Heck, Hodor scored 2 votes. Here are the full results.

Catelyn Stark  (38%)

Arya Stark  (34%)

Ned Stark  (18%)

Sansa Stark  (13%)

Tyrion Lannister (12%)

Bran Stark  (10%)

Jon Snow   (6%)

Daenerys Targaryen  (4%)

Rickon Stark  (4%)

Jamie Lannister (4%)
Hodor  (2%)

Cersei Baratheon  (1%)

Joffrey Baratheon  (1%)

Note the percentages don't add up as I allowed people to vote for multiple characters. Also, keep in mind this poll was just about done when A Dance With Dragons was released so those events weren't factored into many people's votes. I doubt it would have changed much, if at all, though.


You Might Also Like:
POLL | Who has gotten the worst of it in A Song of Ice and Fire?
NOT A REVIEW | A Song of Ice and Fire Re-read done!!! And Feast thoughts
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Genesis Game Trailer
Joe Abercrombie Interviews George R.R. Martin
REVIEW | The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

NOT A REVIEW | A Song of Ice and Fire Re-read done!!! And Feast thoughts

It was a long, long road, but I finished with my re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire this past Sunday night just a couple days before A Dance With Dragons hits the shelves, which is today!. I could say I planned this, but until last week I wasn't sure I'd be caught up. As most of you know A Storm of Swords is quite the wrist breaking giant, but when I finished it late Thursday I immediately started A Feast for Crows and powered through it. I won't claim to have re-read Feast as closely as the other volumes, but I'm done and happy about it. NOTE: Some readers may want to not read below because of possible spoilers. I did try to take care not to put any in, but some readers of Martin might take the mention of a character still being alive as a spoiler.

I have some brief thoughts on A Feast for Crows, which is still the weakest volume in the series although it does have a couple highs and many lows. I haven't found anyone yet who thinks Feast is one of the best in the series or even near the top and I can't say my opinion changed much upon a second reading.

One of the biggest problems are that the first two chapters - not counting the prologue - are from new points of view. Martin immediately threw readers off doing this. A Jamie, Arya, or Sansa chapter could have easily fit in earlier just by juggling them a bit or even Cersei with her new perspective since she is a beast we're immensely familiar with. So after years of long waiting we aren't even returned to the characters we've grown to know and love or hate as the case may be. The tone was set from the beginning to be off-putting and unfamiliar.

Brienne's chapters move at a snails pace just like I remembered. The only thing interesting about these sections is what comes at the end of them. Otherwise it is just her wandering around getting insulted left and right. How many times can you call a women ugly? Apparently hundreds. These were the chapters I found myself more skimming, which I don't normally do with any of my reading, but every chapter felt the same with little or no movement forward for her or the story.

Seeing things from Cersei's perspective was certainly an eye opener. The sections don't make you care for her any more, in fact they probably make her even more unlikable, but she provides the impetuous behind so much of what has happen and will happen that it was the right time time to delve into her chaotic mind. Then we have the Samwell chapters that show a lot of growth for the character, especially towards the end. These parts also give us a lot more back story on Aemon, which we all have been waiting for. The Dunk and Egg fans have a lot to grab onto here. Still these sections dragged quite a bit, but Sam is being setup for a more pivotal role, I feel.

The Iron islands portion of the story, while seemingly important to the whole story gives us poor perspectives as it often switches POV multiple times mostly from characters barely mentioned in previous volumes. It makes me long for more smarmy Theon. The other major problem with A Feast for Crows is there aren't many "Oh, wow!" moments as there have been in the previous volumes.  There is one good one, but the cliffhangers for other characters are a disappointment.

Even amongst all this negativity the writing is still superb and nearly unparalleled in most Fantasy today. And if/when I re-read Feast again I'll probably skip entire perspectives (Iron Islands/Brienne). Now I just have a certain Dragon to slay over the next week or so. I need my Tyrion, Bran, and Jon fix. And some Dany wouldn't be bad either.

I'm also hoping to attend the George R.R. Martin signing this Thursday in NYC. If any you will be there say hullo. I'll be the burly guy in the swank hat.

You Might Also Like:
POLL | Who has gotten the worst of it in A Song of Ice and Fire?
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Genesis Game Trailer
Joe Abercrombie Interviews George R.R. Martin
REVIEW | The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

POLL | Who has gotten the worst of it in A Song of Ice and Fire?

Please note: some spoilers may be likely in the comments so if you aren't caught up to at least A Feast for Crows you may want to avoid them.

Images via Game of Thrones of Muppets

I've been re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire in anticipation of next week's release of A Dance With Dragons, as have legions of other fans. While reading the infamous Red Wedding scene in A Storm of Swords late the other night I got to thinking who has been through the worst of it? Who has George R.R. Martin really screwed over? Who has had the toughest life since the story began? There are a lot of different ways to go. Firstly, there are the children, but Daenerys is basically still a child when A Game of Thrones opens, although she quickly matures. I've personally always had a soft spot for Bran. But Catelyn sees and goes through a lot and is one of the few who understands all of the implications of the events. Still my vote goes to another which, I'll go into in the comments.

In the upper left corner I've added a poll for you to make your selection. I tried to stick to the main players, but really everyone in Westeros is effected by the events from the highest echelon families right down to the beggars in the streets of Kings Landing. Anyway here is the selection:

Catelyn Stark
Ned Stark
Arya Stark
Sansa Stark
Tyrion Lannister
Jamie Lannister
Cersei Baratheon
Joffrey Baratheon
Daenerys Targaryen
Jon Snow
Bran Stark
Rickon Stark
Hodor (You can't leave him out)


You Might Also Like:
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Genesis Game Trailer
Reading Habits Poll Results

VIDEO | Game of Thrones Genesis Game Trailer

Hmmmm...  Looks okay so far, but I'm far from sold...

You Might Also Like:
GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire Video Game
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
Joe Abercrombie Interviews George R.R. Martin

ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire

I'm always surprised at the level of fan art out there for Fantasy works, but rarely am I disappointed with the outcome. That is the case with Matt Roeser's fabulous take on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Most of these books have already had half a dozen covers in English already let alone the further dozens for the translated editions. But what is new that can be done? Well feast your eyes below.

A Game of Thrones

Roeser on his blog mentioned his inspiration for the look on the series:

For my covers, I wanted to showcase the idea of these feuding medieval families that are constantly vying for power, but didn’t want to have knights on horses, epic battle scenes and the other visuals that are usually on these types of fantasy novels. So instead, I depicted the idea of house crests and the importance the author puts in each of the families and gave each of the 5 books a distinct color.

A Clash of Kings

A Storm of Swords

A Feast for Crows

A Dance With Dragons

Roeser certainly brought his "A" game and I hope his work on reimagining other master works leads to more professional cover design work. I'd certainly welcome editions with his versions of A Song of Ice and Fire on my permanent shelf.

You Might Also Like:
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
Cover Unveiled for The Magician King by Lev Grossman (UK version)
Cover Unveiled for 10th Anniversary Edition of American Gods by Neil Gaiman
COVER EVOLUTION The Martian Chronicles (1950-2009)

The Dance is done!

Between George R.R. Martin's somewhat confirmatory blog post about a dead Kong and his editor Anne Groell just released statement A Dance With Dragons is done, done, and done. Here is Groell's statement for the non-believers:

It is true. Kong is dead.

There were a few moments of George in a spare office yesterday, cleaning up the last bits and inserting a few new bits in longhand, while I typed the changes into the electronic files, but we are honestly and officially done.

I guess I know what hundreds of thousands of us Ice and Fire fans will be doing come the middle of July. I'll be starting my re-read of A Clash With Kings in the next few weeks and than June is set for A Storm of Swords, but I'm on the fence about a re-read of A Feast for Crows. Maybe I'll read it skipping the Brienne chapters.

You Might Also Like:
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Teaser and Behind the Scenes Look
George R.R. Martin Breaks His Silence on A Dance With Dragons
REVIEW | The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
INTERVIEW | Ian Tregillis author of Bitter Seeds

BIG NEWS | A Dance With Dragons has a pub date!

According to Entertainment Weekly George R.R. Martin's long awaited A Dance With Dragons will be released July 12th in both the US by Bantam and Voyager in the UK.  The final hardcover will be over 900 pages, putting it up there with A Storm of Swords the longest in the series to date. Here is a bit from EW's interview with GRRM:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What took so long?

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: I’m not sure I have a good answer. If I did, I would have taken less time. It’s enormous. It’s as long as A Storm of Swords. It’s very complicated. I have a lot of characters and points of view. And I’ve been doing a ton of rewriting, trying to get it where I wanted it to be. Some of these chapters I’ve rewritten more times than I can count before I’m satisfied with them.

Apparently the date is very firm.  And George R. R. Martin has confirmed the date as we on his site:

Meanwhile... there is news. Big news. The end is in sight, at long long last, and we're close enough so that my editors and publishers at Bantam Spectra have set an actual publication date.

This date is different. This date is real.

The dragons are coming. Prepare to dance.

Is it super geeky that I just put the date in my calendar?  Let the re-reads begin!

You Might Also Like:
NEWS | A Song of Ice & Fire to be Made Into Graphic Novels
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Teaser and Behind the Scenes Look
George R.R. Martin Breaks His Silence on A Dance With Dragons
REVIEW | The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
INTERVIEW | Ian Tregillis author of Bitter Seeds

NEWS | A Dance With Dragons is Getting Closer

A lot of news has been trickling out the past few days from New York Comic Con, but I think this is the news that all Fantasy fans will care about.  Anne Groell who is George R. R. Martin's editor at Spectra/Del Rey, says A Dance With Dragons is getting very close to completion. Groell was quoted by i09 as saying:

We're hoping to have a finished manuscript by Christmas. He's told me he has five chapters left and bits of each chapter are done. He really wants it done by the end of the year. We really—I mean really—want to announce the pub date in January.

So we are most likely only 5 chapters away from hearing a firm publication date, which is just about the best news we could hope for.  There is always a chance Martin may change plans slightly and add another chapter or two, but it is clear the end is in sight.  If this all comes together a publication of A Dance with Dragons is likely to happen by October of 2011 if not sooner by 2 or 3 months.  It all depends how quickly Spectra will want to get it out.

I was still too wiped out to put together a post of my pictures from NYCC so look for that soon.

You Might Also Like:
VIDEO | Game of Thrones Teaser and Behind the Scenes Look
GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire Video Game
George R.R. Martin Breaks His Silence on A Dance With Dragons

VIDEO | Game of Thrones Teaser and Behind the Scenes Look

Last night before the season finale of True Blood HBO aired the longest look to date of A Game of Thrones.

They also aired a behind the scences look interviewing the producers as well as George R.R. Martin who seems quite happy with what he is seeing.

Are we ready for Winter already?  I know I am.

You Might Also Like:
GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire Video Game
NEWS | George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones Greenlit for HBO
George R.R. Martin Breaks His Silence on A Dance With Dragons

NEWS | George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones Greenlit for HBO

According to The Hollywood Reporter A Game of Thrones has been greenlit by HBO.  Here is a bit for the post:

The premium network has picked up the project for a first season debut next spring (below is the first released photo from the series). Nine episodes plus the pilot have been ordered. Production will begin in Belfast this June.

The sprawling tale set in the mythical land of Westeros tells the story of the noble Stark family who become caught up in high court intrigue when patriarch Eddard (played by Sean Bean) becomes the king's new right-hand man. The four-and-counting books in the series would each be used as one season of the series.

Unlike many fantasy novels, the "Thrones" series largely avoids relying on magical elements and instead goes for brutal realism -- think "Sopranos" with swords. Martin, a former TV writer ("Beauty and the Beast"), writes each chapter as a cliffhanger, which should lend itself well to series translation.

So we'll have at least 10 episodes of one of the best Fantasy series ever finally make it to our televisions. and hopefully what could become of the best Fantasy TV series ever as well.  Fingers crossed.  It is also interesting to note they are calling it A GAME OF THRONES instead of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, but that could all change as production ramps up.  The cast is certainly looking very, very good.


You Might Also Like:
MISHMASH | Scott Lynch, Tad Williams, Jim Butcher, & updatery
GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire Video Game
LOOKING FORWARD | Big Anthologies Coming in 2010

GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire Video Game

French video game developer Cyanide Studios has reached a deal with George R.R. Martin to make a video game based on A Song of Ice and Fire. The press release can be read here. Depending on how they decide to treat it this could be a huge game. It probably won't be out for a couple years though as they just signed contracts and even if they went fairly basic with the design it would take a lot of time. Martin is also pretty picky about what he associates the series with so I'm sure he'll want to keep the quality high after the whole Dabel Brother calendar debacle. I've played the card game based on the series and that turned out quite fun.

You Might Also Like:
NEWS | George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones Greenlit for HBO
Mishmash | GRRM's Warriors
Cover Unveiled for Warriors Edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois