Subterranean’s deluxe leatherbound limited edition of my historical horror novel FEVRE DREAM is now at the printers, Bill Schafer informs me. He expects to ship in January.

This edition is gorgeously illustrated by Justin Sweet — cover, three color plates, lots of wonderful pen & ink interiors. Collectors and fans of great art should check it out.

For more details, take a look at the story on my news page.

To place an order, go to Subterranean’s website.

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Another Sunday, and two more football games. Sometimes it’s good to have two teams. The Giants are really on a roll, looking better with each game. I’m especially pleased by the way their defense is playing. Like any old-time Giants fan, I love defense, and the swarming four-headed sack monster the G-men are fielding with Osi, Kiwi, Strahan, and Tuck is splendid to watch. So far I like what I’ve seen of our rookie CB Aaron Ross too. The offense is looking pretty formidable as well.

As for the Jets… oy… what can I say? Chad is getting all the blame, but truth be told, it’s not all his fault. In fact, I’d lay most of the Jet problems on the defense. The run defense can’t even stop backups from having 100 yard games, the pass rush is nonexistent, and the cornerbacks commit penalties at the worst possible times. Whether Mangini stays with Chad or switches to Kellen Clemens, I expect we’ll be drafting very high next spring. Let’s see, any superstar defensive players coming out of college?

And on other fronts, for all of you who hate American football…

The first volume of DREAMSONGS should be in U.S. bookstores by now, in hardcover. Volume two will follow in a month. Yes, this is the same collection originally published by Subterranean in 2003 as GRRM: A RRETROSPECTIVE. Same contents, but if you missed that one, here’s the chance to make up for that oversight. The new edition has some nice interior artwork by Mike Kaluta as well.

The American edition of HUNTER’S RUN and the first volume of the new Wild Cards triad, INSIDE STRAIGHT, are both due for release in January. Amazing covers on both, I think. Stephen Martiniere did the HUNTER’S RUN cover, Michael Komarck INSIDE STRAIGHT. Oh, and if you’re a fan of fantasy art, check out the news page on my website to a glimpse of the artwork on the new Italian edition of THE ICE DRAGON.

Meanwhile, Gardner Dozois (my friend and co-editor) and I have gotten the first stories in on the two big original anthologies we’re editing — WARRIORS and SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH (the Jack Vance tribute anthology). The books won’t be out until 2009, of course, but Gardner and I are excited about them both, and it would seem our writers are as well.

And yes, I am trying to finish up the third Dunk & Egg story as my own contribution to WARRIORS. Right now I’m calling it “The Mystery Knight.” That’s the fourth or fifth title I’ve slapped on this one. We’ll see if it sticks.

DANCE WITH DRAGONS? Yes, working on that too. Lately it’s been Tyrion and more Tyrion. When I finish these three chapters, I will need to double back and pick up some of the other POVs lest my devious dwarf get too far ahead.

An email asked why I disabled comments on my last Not-A-Blog post, about the Dark Sword Miniatures. My intent was not to discourage comments, but to redirect them to more appropriate places. Dark Sword has its own message board. So does Tom Meier, on his Thunderbolt Mountain website. Jim and Tom have much more “hands on” (literally) involvement with the figures than I do, and I know both of them would be pleased to hear your thoughts and field your questions. So take your comments to those forums, please. I provided the appropriate links in my last post.

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I had a nice long talk with Jim of Dark Sword Miniatures this evening, and I’m pleased to report the first batch of Ice & Fire miniatures are finished, and should go on sale next month. The first release will feature ten figures — six characters (Jon Snow, Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Melisandre of Asshai, Ser Loras Tyrell, and Sandor Clegane) and four (unnamed) brothers of the Night’s Watch, including an archer and a raven keeper. All the minis have been sculpted by the incomparable Tom Meier. They will be sold individually, and will retail for $9.99 apiece.

For more details and pictures, visit Dark Sword’s website at http://darkswordminiatures.com/ and Tom Meier’s site at Thunderbolt Mountain http://www.thunderboltmountain.com/ And while you’re there, take a look at some of Tom’s stunning Thunderbolt Mountain Arthurian figures and his great line of elves, and check out Dark Sword’s other lines, based on the fantasy artwork of Larry Elmore and the late, great Keith Parkinson.

Dark Sword has some exciting plans for the Ice & Fire range, including painting contests, a raffle, and other special promotions. Watch the Dark Sword website for details.

Jim and Tom would both love to know what you think of the new Ice & Fire minis, I know, and to hear what characters you’d like to see as future releases. Both sites include message boards, so head over there and let them hear what you think.

The miniatures are unpainted pewter in the 28mm wargaming scale… but if you’d like to see what Melinsandre, at least, would look like in the hands of a skilled painter, you might also want to visit Jubilant Creations at http://www.jubilantcreations.com/melisandre.html

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Historically the Giants have usually sucked on Monday nights, so tonight’s victory over Atlanta came as a relief. The Falcons are a wounded, troubled team, mind you, but even so, the G-Men scored a convincing win. For the first time all season, their offense and defense both showed up at the same game.

And congratulations to Amani Toomer, who broke one Giants all-time record tonight (Tiki Barber’s record for receptions) and tied another one (Kyle Rote’s touchdown mark). A class guy, and he’s been a clutch receiver for a long time.

So the G-Men are 4-2… again. (They were 4-2 the last three seasons as well. They like to get our hopes up before they collapse and break our hearts in the second half of the season, but maybe this year will be different).

On other fronts, Parris is on the mend, even hobbling about the house without Father’s crutch from time to time. We head down to Albuquerque tomorrow so she can get her stitches removed.

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Parris had her torn meniscus repaired down in Albuquerque yesterday.

The surgery went well, or so we were told, although the tear was a pretty bad one. Parris was groggy and in some discomfort afterwards, but did well enough on the drive home, and got up the steps and into the house on her crutches without too much difficulty. As the night wore on, however, the various painkillers she’d been given for the surgery — a demerol drip, and a local — all wore off, and the pain in her knee got worse and worse. The prescription she’d been given for pain proved to be way inadequate, and barely took the edge off her pain. By one or two in the morning, she was in agony, despite the pills… and of course, she hurt far too much to be able to sleep, or even get up the steps to the bedroom. She spent the night in her recliner in our TV room, dozing fitfully, never for long, and weeping from the pain.

This morning she’s a little better, but still not well. We finally got hold of her surgeon, and he wrote her a new prescription for a stronger painkiller. My assistant’s on his way to Albuquerque to pick it up even as I type. I can only hope that it will do the trick.

This is so screwed up. The fact that you can’t get your doctor on the phone is bad enough, but these days you can’t even get his assistant. Just an endless string of phone trees and voice mail messages. And — largely thanks to the idiotic decades-long “War on Drugs” — even when you do get a doctor, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to write presciptions for painkillers that will actually alleviate your pain. “Well, try some tylenol” seems to have become a rote response. In England, France, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and most of the rest of the civilized world, someone in pain can walk into any chemist / drugstore and buy a painkiller over the counter that is stronger and more effective than what the typical American doctor will write you as prescription.

It is also insane that so many procedures have become out-patient surgery. Parris should have spent last night in a hospital bed, with nurses and other trained professionals to watch over her and take care of her. Instead she spent the night in a recliner crying in pain, with no one to take care of her but me. You can thank the insurance companies and HMOs for that. It’s all about saving money, not about patient care.

And people still claim the American medical system is the best in the world. That’s a joke. And a cruel joke at that.

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Well, at least my teams won one of them yesterday.

If you had asked me on Friday how this week’s games would go, I would have told you that I expected the Jets to defeat Buffalo pretty easily, but that I was worried about the Giants against Philadelphia. The Bills had the worst defense in the NFL, after all, and were giving a rookie quarterback his first start to boot, while the Eagles were coming off a huge win where they scored 50+ points and would be going against a Giants D that had played one good half in three prior games.

Well, as Chris Berman likes to say, “that’s why they play the games.”

The Jets made the Bills’ rookie QB Trent Edwards look like the second coming of Johnny Unitas, while my man Chad threw two ghastly interceptions.

Come the night game, however, the Giants D looked like what a Giants D is supposed to look like. A monster game by Osi, and the entire Giants defensive line… admittedly against a banged-up Eagles team that was missing their best running back. I’ve always been a fan of defensive football, and must admit that I enjoy games like this one much more than shootouts like the Giants/ Cowboys game that opened the season. The fact that we won this one and lost that one may be part of it too, but still…

This was a sweet one. It is always sweet to beat the Eagles, of course (almost, but not quite, as sweet as it is to beat the hated Cowboys), but it was especially sweet on a day when the Mets completed a truly epic collapse.

Next weekend the Giants play the Jets, so at least one of my teams will win. Going by the way the two teams played yesterday, you’d have the figure that the Giants will be prohibitive favorites. Which probably means that the Jets will win.

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