Who, me?
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-12-29/george-r-r-martin-is-author-of-the-year-2011/52256412/1
Hot damn.
What fine intelligent gentlefolk they are at USA TODAY.
Forgive me, whilst I blush prettily.
If I had a football to hand, I would gladly spike it.
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As a Christmas gift to all my loyal fans and readers, I’ve just replaced the (long published) sample chapters from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS on my website with an unpublished sample chapter from THE WINDS OF WINTER.
Go ye to “Ice & Fire Sample” on my website and enjoy.
(The chronology, as usual, is tricky. This chapter will be found eventually at the beginning of WINDS, but as you will be able to tell from context, it actually takes place before some of the chapters at the end of DANCE).
Love it or hate it, please do NOT discuss it here. Any such posts will be deleted. There are plenty of great places on the net for such discussions, so take your thoughts, comments, and analysis to Westeros or the Tower of the Hand or the Podcast of Ice and Fire, or your favorite foreign language site.
(FYI, there will be a different sample chapter from WINDS OF WINTER included at the end of the paperback edition of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS when that is published next July).
Happy holidays, all. Keep reading.
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It’s been a pretty amazing year for me and mine. I hope the same was true for all of you.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all my fans, friends, and readers.
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And here’s another taste of the video RPG, coming next year from Cyanide Studios and Atlus Entertainment.
<lj-embed id=”248″/>
And yes, that’s James Cosmo voicing the Old Bear. Cyanide has reached agreement with HBO allowing them to use elements from the television series in their game.
Looks pretty cool to me. That shot of the Wall, panning up from the courtyard, is pretty stunning.
If you would like to see more, check out the offical RPG website at http://gameofthrones-thegame.com/#/intro
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This has nothing to do with my own work (well, aside from kindling my love of fantasy in the first place), but as a huge Tolkien fanboy, I can’t help but sharing this for the six or seven of you who may not have stumbled on it yet.
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Bilbo! Gandalf! Dwarfs! (No dragons till next picture, though).
Hot damn! Can’t wait!
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The end of the year draws nigh, which means it is time for everyone and his sister to release their list of the year’s best this-and-that.
I’m thrilled to say that in almost all the lists of the best television shows of 2011, HBO’s GAME OF THRONES is turning up.
To wit:
ROLLING STONE !“ 1/5/12 issue
!œ2011 Season: Why We Watched!
Rob Sheffield
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92740
Rolling Stone lists Ned Stark’s execution on !œGame of Thrones! as one of the highlights of the 2011 television season.
PEOPLE WEEKLY !“ 12/26/11 issue
!œTop ten shows!
Tom Gliatto
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92925
!œGame of Thrones! ranks third in Gliatto’s list of 2011’s best TV.
TV GUIDE !“ 12/19/11 issue
!œMatt Roush’s Top 10!
Matt Roush
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92918
Roush awards !œGame of Thrones! fifth place in his list of the year’s best television
TIME !“ 12/19/11
!œThe Best of 2011: Television!
James Poniewozik
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92794
!œGame of Thrones! makes TIME’s list of the top ten shows of 2011.
HITFIX !“ 12/13/11
!œTV Top 10 of 2011: The Best 10 (or 11) Overall Shows!
Alan Sepinwall shares his top 11 TV shows of 2011, which includes Game of Thrones.
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/tv-top-10-of-2011-the-best-10-or-11-overall-shows
The Washington Post -12/11/11
!œBest of 2011: Television!
Hank Stuever
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92820
!œGame of Thrones! makes The Washington Post’s list of the year’s top television shows.
NEWSDAY !“ 12/11/11
!œPlaying it to the hilt!
Verne Gay
http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/7000XH/7000XH_92816
!œGame of Thrones! makes it onto Newsday’s roundup of the year’s top five TV shows.
AFI TV Top 10 !“ 12/11/11
!œGame of Thrones, Homeland Crack AFI’s TV Top 10!
The American Film Institute’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2011 lists Game of Thrones.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047333?refcatid=13
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/12/11/afi-top-10-tv-list-2011-game-of-thrones-louie/
http://www.hitfix.com/articles/game-of-thrones-homeland-crack-afis-tv-top-10
THE ATLANTIC WIRE !“ 12/12/11
!œThe Best Television of 2011!
Game of Thrones lands on The Atlantic’s list of Top TV shows of 2011.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/12/best-television-2011/46048/
TIME – 12/7/11
!œThe Top 10 TV Episodes of 2011: The Best and the Rest!
TIME compiles a list of the top 10 TV episodes of the year, which includes Game of Thrones’ !˜Baelor’. Honorable mention goes to !˜The Wolf and the Lion.’
http://entertainment.time.com/2011/12/07/the-top-10-tv-episodes-of-2011-the-best-and-the-rest/
!œThe Top 10 TV Series of 2011: The Best and the Rest!
Game of Thrones makes TIME’s list of 2011’s best TV series.
http://entertainment.time.com/2011/12/07/the-top-10-tv-series-of-2011-the-best-and-the-rest/
TVology – 12/6/11
!œOlogy Presents: The 10 Best Shows Ever 2011!!
Ology ranks Game of Thrones as one of the best shows in 2011.
http://www.ology.com/tv/ology-presents-10-best-tv-shows-ever-2011
My hat is off to David Benioff, Dan Weiss, our amazing cast and crew, and all the great folks at HBO who helped make the first season of GAME OF THRONES such a success.
And the best is yet to come…
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Cyanide Studios and Atlus Entertainment have just unveiled a trailer for their forth-coming GAME OF THRONES videogame RPG. If you missed the official premiere and presentation in Paris,
here’s a look.
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I’ll be the first to admit that I have not played a lot of videogames myself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them; rather, I enjoy them too damned much. Parris often says that Sid Meier owes her, seeing as how I lost a novel to RAILROAD TYCOON and another one to PIRATES. But looking at this, I can’t help be impressed by how far game graphics have come.
I haven’t played the game myself yet, but the Cyanide gang has visited me a couple of times in Santa Fe to give us presentations, and discuss details of game play and background. They are presenting original stories here, with characters of their own creation, but it was important to them (and to me) that they get the look and feel of Westeros right, and I think they have. Their enthusiasm and passion for this project is palpable.
This preview has me very excited. It’s another way to visit Westeros, for those of you who can’t get enough, and maybe the game will even help fill some of those long years between books.
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Tor’s trade paperback reissue of ACES HIGH, with its kickass Michael Komarck cover, was released yesterday. Look for it today at a bookshop near you.
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FWIW, I have been having some annoying internet problems ever since I returned from New York. While I was away, my webmaster switched me to a new server, one that would supposedly provide better service than the one I’d been using, which had broken down several times during the last year. But the change created more problems than it solved. The new server could not handle my site’s traffic, it seems, so it kept shutting us down every time our bandwidth was exceeded, which appeared to happen every other day. Whenever that happened, a notice would go up that my site had been “suspended,” and my email would cut out as well.
Anyway, we fixed that, not once but several times, but not without difficulties, and when it finally became apparent that the problem would keep recurring, we junked the new host and went back to the old one. And even that is not without problems. We lost the site again, got it back up, lost email, recovered it… but only partially. At the moment, I can receive email, but for the past two days I have not been able to send any out. So if you’ve sent me email and are awaiting a response… well, you’ll need to wait longer, until we get this all fixed. My webmaster and my assistant are working on it.
Meanwhile, in hopes of a more permanent solution, I have taken the first steps to moving the site to the big servers at Random House, which should be able to handle ANY amount of web traffic. The RH tech wizards are now getting involved. There may be more disruption during the changeover, but my hope is that once the move is done, all these problems will be behind us.
Right now the site will be moving in its present form, but we’re also in the midst of a complete redesign. A whole new look. I hope you’ll like it.
Anyway… thanks for all your patience, and if you notice that my site is down again today or tomorrow or whenever, that’s why. No need to email me about it. I know. Believe me, I know. And while I might be able to read your email, I would not be able to answer it in any case.
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Life is meaningless and full of pain.
Ever since I got home from New York City, I have been meaning to post about the great games the Jets and Giants played last weekend. But there was so much else to catch up on, and only so many hours in the day, and I never got around to it.
And after the two games I saw today, it would seem kind of pointless. Neither of the New York teams bothered to show up today. Sad, depressing, gutless performances. I can’t believe are really the same teams I watched last week, and the week before.
Next week they play each other. One will win and one will lose, but at this point I hardly think it matters. I don’t think either the Giants or the Jets are going to the playoffs. And if next week’s winner does sneak in, I fear it will be one and done.
Ah, football. It will break your heart.
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