22 and Counting

May 14, 2011 at 1:25 pm

No, not me. (I wish). Wild Cards.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve just signed contracts with Tor Books for another volume in our long-running Wild Cards series of shared world anthologies and mosaic novels.

This will be the twenty-second volume in the overall series, which debuted in 1987. Wild Cards has outlasted all of the other shared world series of the 80s and 90s, and given rise to games, comics, television and film options, and other spinoffs. Over the years, our contributors have included such stars of SF, fantasy, comics, and television as Roger Zelazny, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Walter Jon Williams, Howard Waldrop, Chris Claremont, Paul Cornell, Cherie Priest, Carrie Vaughn, Daniel Abraham, Stephen Leigh, S.L. Farrell, and many many more.

Our working title for this one is LOWBALL. It will be a direct sequel to volume twenty-one, FORT FREAK (due out next month), chronicling the further adventures of the cops and criminals of New York City’s historic Jokertown precinct, Fort Freak.

If you’d like to know more about the Wild Cards series, check out these to excellent fan sites:

http://www.wildcardsonline.com/

http://captaincomics.ning.com/group/wildcards#

You can also begin at the beginning by picking up Tor’s trade paperback reprint of the very first volume in the series, WILD CARDS, available on Amazon or at your favorite local bookshop.

And remember — we can;t die yet, we haven’t seen THE JOLSON STORY.

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Tags: wild cards

Littlefinger and the Spider

May 14, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Judging by the comments I’m hearing, one of the favorite scenes in this week’s episode of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES was the throne room verbal sparring between Lord Varys and Lord Baelish. (For which all credit goes to David Benioff and Dan Weiss. The scene was not in the novel. Which is not to say it could not have happened, but neither Petyr nor Varys is a viewpoint character, so I had no pov from which to present such a scene).

So for all you miniature collectors out there who would like to recreate such a scene in your own throne room diorama… here are the two latest releases from Dark Sword Miniature.

VARYS THE SPIDER

LORD PETYR BAELISH

Both sculpts are by the talented Jeff Grace, who just keeps getting better.

(And no, they don’t look like the actors in the show. They are not meant to. Dark Sword is licensed to produce miniatures based on the novels, not the television series).

You can order these, and the rest of the amazing Ice & Fire line, from the Dark Sword website at http://darkswordminiatures.com/ There’s a gorgeous painted version of Varys up there as I write, and a painted Littlefinger will not be far behind.

((Just a reminder. I’ve mentioned the show here, but that does not mean I am opening up the Not a Blog to discussion of the series. Oh, a passing mention is okay, but serious debates and discussions should be taken to Westeros, Tower of the Hand, Television Without Pity, or Winter Is Coming. Comments are open here… for comments about the miniatures.))

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Tags: dark sword, miniatures

GOT Titles

May 13, 2011 at 6:25 pm

Some wonderfully cool stuff about the creation of the GAME OF THRONES title sequence can be found here:

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Go and enjoy. I know I did.

The title sequence kicks ass.

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Tags: game of thrones, hbo

The Wolf and the Lion…

May 13, 2011 at 4:21 pm

… is the title of this week’s episode of GAME OF THRONES on HBO.

Here’s a little taste of it, an exchange between Ned Stark and Ser Barristan the Bold at the Hand’s Tourney in King’s Landing.

<lj-embed id=”181″/>

Ser Barristan fans might be interested to know that he has a big part in A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. In fact (drum roll, please), he becomes a viewpoint character.

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Lament for Lady

May 13, 2011 at 12:34 am

… well, sort of.

It has come to my attention that a number of television viewers (mostly those who had not read my books and did not know what was coming) were shocked and upset by what befell Sansa’s direwolf Lady at the end of the second episode of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES.

Good. I mean, that was kind of the point.

But some people were reportedly so shocked and upset that they wrote angry blogs about it, and even declared that they would not continue watching the show.

Not so good. Obviously, I’m sorry to hear that.

I don’t know if any of those people are reading my Not A Blog. But in case they are, perhaps it will make you feel a little better to know that Zunni, the Northern Inuit who played Lady, is alive and well, and has been adopted by Sophie Turner, the lovely young actress who plays Sansa in the show. We didn’t really kill her.

(Rhodri Hosking, the young actor who played the butcher’s boy Mycah, was not actually killed either, though oddly, no one seems quite so upset about him).

Real wolves and wolf-hybrids are being killed every day in the real world, however. If you love wolves, and were upset at Lady’s death, why not try to help some real wolves?

There’s some great folks right in Candy Kitchen, New Mexico who do just that (yes, New Mexico has a Candy Kitchen. We also have a Pietown and a Truth Or Consequences. Three reasons I love this state).

They’re called the Wild Spirit Wolf Sancturary, and they rescue wolves and wolf-hybrids. You can learn all about them from their website, here:

http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/

Years ago, for Christmas, the fans of the Brotherhood Without Banners sponsored a wolf in Parris’s name, and made her a “wolf mother.”

So shed no tears for Lady… but if you have a spare buck or two, send it to Wild Spirit in her name, and you might help save a real wolf or three.

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Tags: good causes, wolves

New Cover for the UK

May 12, 2011 at 6:16 pm

The good folks at Harper Collins Voyager, my publishers in the United Kingdom and Australia, have informed me that they’ve changed the cover for the forthcoming DANCE WITH DRAGONS hardcover.

They’ve decided to go with the same cover art as on the American edition, though the design and background colors will vary.

Here’s the old UK cover:

And here’s the new one:

I know the long delay with DANCE has frustrated many of you… but hey, it’s certainly provided a lot of gainful employment for book designers and cover artists. I wonder if I deserve a line in the Guinness Book of World Records: the unpublished book with the most covers.

This one should stick, though.

July 12. Coming soon.

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Talking with Joe

May 8, 2011 at 11:26 am

My interview with Joe Abercrombie — filmed in LA when I flew out last month for a screening — has been posted on YouTube, in two parts.

If you’re not able to watch THE BOOK SHOW on your TV, here ’tis:

part one
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part two
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It was great fun talking with Joe. Almost as much fun as reading his books.

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For My Fans in Portugal…

May 7, 2011 at 9:46 pm

… and maybe some of you in Brazil as well.

There’s a new interview with me that’s just been published, all in Portugese.

You can find it at:

http://www.calameo.com/read/0003519067583d3259125

Enjoy.

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Taking the DANCE On the Road

May 7, 2011 at 3:21 pm

Yes, I will be doing a book tour for A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

It will, alas, be a shorter tour than the ones I did for A STORM OF SWORDS and A FEAST FOR CROWS. (Although we all expect that the crowds will be bigger). As much as I love meeting my readers and signing their books, I still have a lot on my plate just now, and I can’t afford to take off a month for travel. So we’ll likely be limiting the US book tour to no more than eight to ten cities.

The first three of those have already been set. We’ll be launching the tour in BOSTON, followed by appearances in NEW YORK CITY, and then INDIANAPOLIS.

Herewith the details:

Tuesday, July 12
7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
98 Middlesex Turnpike
Burlington, MA 01803

Thursday, July 14
7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Union Square
33 East 17th Street
New York, NY 10003

Saturday, July 16
2:00pm
Barnes & Noble
14709 US Hwy 31 North
Carmel, IN 46032

After Indy I will return home for a few days, and then it will be on to…

… yes, the SAN DIEGO COMICON.

I’ll be there for the entire comicon. The 2012 Ice & Fire calendar will be making its debut there, and of course we’ll have DANCE WITH DRAGONS out, and some advance stuff for the comic book adaptation. I will also be appearing on the HBO panel for the TV show, turning up at the Tor booth to promote the new Wild Cards book, FORT FREAK… and likely also appearing for IDW (the DOORWAYS comic) and Avatar (the FEVRE DREAM graphic novel). Work, work, work.

If my hand hasn’t fallen off by the end of comicon, I will be resuming the book tour afterwards with a west coat swing. Details on that when they are nailed down.

But if you’re in Boston, NYC, Indy, or San Diego… hey, be seeing you soon.

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A Scene from Episode 4

May 6, 2011 at 12:13 pm

The latest goodie from HBO: a scene from episode four, upcoming this Sunday:

<lj-embed id=”175″/>

This week’s episode is called “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things.” The script is by Bryan Cogman, our fearless story editor.

Be sure to watch. Our ratings went UP last week, and we want that trend to continue! Word of mouth, can’t beat it…

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Not a Blog

22 and Counting

Littlefinger and the Spider

GOT Titles

The Wolf and the Lion…

Lament for Lady

New Cover for the UK

Talking with Joe

For My Fans in Portugal…

Taking the DANCE On the Road

A Scene from Episode 4

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