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Nominations, Nominations

January 20, 2012 at 12:19 am
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If it’s an honor just to be nominated — and it is, it is — the cast and crew of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES is being honored all over the world.

CONGRATULATIONS to our wonderful costume designer, Michele Clapton, nominated by the Costume Designer’s Guild for outstanding achievement in the category of Period/ Fantasy Television.

CONGRATULATIONS to Aiden Gillen, Michele Fairley, Brian Kirk, Mark Huffam, and Ronan Hill and his sound post production team, who earned nominations in this year’s Irish Film & Television Awards as (respectively) best supporting actor (TV), best lead actress (TV), best director (TV), television drama, and sound (film/ tv drama).

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0110/ifta.html

And CONGRATULATIONS to our crack visual effects team, nominated by the Visual Effects Society for awards in three categories.

All our nominees face formidable competition, but win or lose, it is great to get this kind of recognition from peers in the industry. And it’s proof positive of what a great team Dan and David and HBO have assembled to bring GAME OF THRONES to you.

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0110/ifta.html

Break a leg, guys and gals. Hell, break a whole bunch o’ legs.

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Another Nomination

January 19, 2012 at 8:07 pm
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The Directors Guild has announced this year’s nominations for its annual award, and I’m delighted to report that Tim Van Patten has been nominated for his direction of our first episode, “Winter Is Coming.”

http://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx#drama

Van Patten faces some tough competition, sharing the ballot with Michael Cuesta (HOMELAND), Vince Gilligan (BREAKING BAD), Patty Jenkins (THE KILLING), and Michael Waxman (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), but I’ll be pulling for him… to win the award, and to come back and direct some more episodes for us in future (though BOARDWALK EMPIRE is keeping him plenty busy).

With this DGA nomination, and the SAG and WGA nominations previously reported here, it means that GAME OF THRONES has been recognized by all three of the major Hollywood guilds.

Pretty damn cool.

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Speaking of the Show…

January 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm
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… HBO has scheduled the second season debut for APRIL 1 (no foolin’).

Promotions are already underway. While I was travelling, two new “Making Of” videos were released by HBO. I think you’ll like ’em.

CROATIA
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ART DIRECTION
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Sad to say, I was not able to visit any of the sets this season while the shoot was going on (I wanted to, but after spending so much of the summer and fall on the road promoting A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, I needed to stay home and get some writing done), so most of this is as new to me as it is to you. I’m thrilled. Season two looks as though it will be a feast for the eyes.

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Win One, Lose One

January 19, 2012 at 4:47 pm
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So I’m back from LA, once more catching up and digging out.

If you watched the Golden Globe telecast on Sunday, you already know that GAME OF THRONES lost out to HOMELAND in the Best TV Drama category. Ah, well. It IS an honor just to be nominated, of course, and HOMELAND is an excellent series and a very worthy winner. My congrats to their cast and crew… especially to my old friends (scary to realize just how old) Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, the showrunners. Back in the dawn of time, when Vincent ruled the underworld and dinosaurs roamed the earth, Alex and Howard and I all worked together on the writing staff of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. If we had to lose, I’m glad it was to “the Lads” and their show.

And GOT had its taste of victory too: Peter Dinklage won for Best Supporting Actor, for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister. A well deserved win over a stellar group of actors.

So… one win, one loss, but a great day, even for those of us who were “differently victorious” (to steal a line from Michael Cassutt). I got to walk the red carpet with my lady Parris, meet Paul Giamatti and Steve Buscemi, visit with Amy Poehler, party with David and Dan and Peter and Emilia and Bryan, not to mention lovely Lisa Bonet and sensational Stana Katic. And Jason Momoa almost twisted my head off. ((I really need to find some way to bring Khal Drogo back from the dead, I do, I do)) That doesn’t happen every day.

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Hugo Nominations

January 18, 2012 at 12:50 pm
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Chicon 8, this year’s World Science Fiction Convention, has opened nominations for 2011.

The nominating ballot can be found here:

https://chicon.org/hugo/nominate.php

You do need to be a member to nominate. A member (attending or supporting) of Chicon, the 2012 worldcon, OR Renovation, the 2011 worldcon in Reno, OR LoneStarCon, the 2013 worldcon in San Antonio. Any one of the three will do. If you’re not a member, and want to nominate, you can join. Even if you cannot attend. Supporting memberships are cheap, and get you all the publications as well as the right to nominate and vote.

All works first published or broadcast in 2011 are eligible.

The Hugo is the oldest award in our genre, the most prestigious, and the most important. It is a fan award. No juries. The readers choose the finalists, and the readers pick the winners. There will be five (sometimes six, in the event of a tie) nominees in each category.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again here: nominations are the most important part of the Hugo process. Hundreds of people cast Hugo ballots, but far fewer ever bother to nominate. You cannot win unless you are on the ballot, and sometimes the difference between being a finalist and an also-ran is a single nomination. Yes, even in the big categories, like Best Novel and Best Dramatic Presentation. And in the less popular categories, hell, people have been known to make the Hugo ballot with twenty votes.

So NOMINATE.

As to what you should nominate… well, that’s your choice, of course. Right now, all over Ye Olde InterWeb, people are making their recommendations and writers are reminding the world about their own eligible works. I’ll do the same, as I have in past years. But not in this post. Watch this space for my own favorites.

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A Conversation With Cornwell

January 17, 2012 at 4:09 pm
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Bernard Cornwell has a new book coming out, which is great news if you’re one of his fans, as I am. Or if you love great historical fiction. Or kickass stories, period. (And if you’re a fantasy fan who has never read historical fiction… well, you need to broaden your horizons, and Cornwell is a terrific place to start. Especially if you like action. There’s no one who writes better action scenes, in any genre).

In honor of the occasion, our British publisher (HarperCollins) and Amazon arranged an email conversation/ interview between the two of us. Turns out Bernard has read my books as well, which pleased me no end).

A short excerpt from our talk can be found on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Kings-Novel-Saxon-Tales/dp/0061969656/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326120891&sr=1-1

Amazon only had room for a few questions, however. Actually, our talk went on considerably longer. The full interview will be going up soon on the HarperCollins website. I will be posting it on my own website as well. Will post a link here as soon as it’s up.

(Tuesday)

OKAY! The complete conversation with Bernard Cornwell can now be found on my website, on the News page. Enjoy.

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Golden Globes

January 15, 2012 at 1:01 pm
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It’s awards season in Hollywood, and I’m out in Los Angeles in the thick of it.

On Friday I attended the American Film Institute luncheon with David (Benioff), Dan (Weiss), Emilia (Clarke), Jason (Momoa) and other stalwarts from HBO, where GAME OF THRONES was honored as one of the ten outstanding television shows of 2011.

This afternoon it’s the Golden Globes, given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The AFI luncheon was a relaxed affair, since we already knew that we were getting the award before turning up. The Globes are an altogether different proposition; like the Emmys (and the Hugos), they’re nail biters, where all the nominees sweat it out until the envelope is torn open. (And the bigger celebrities also need to worry about what host Ricky Gervais might say about them). GAME OF THRONES is up for best drama against some pretty tough competition. BOARDWALK EMPIRE and HOMELAND are the two favorites going in… but GOT is very popular overseas, so maybe we have a shot at an upset. Peter Dinklage is also nominated, for supporting actor… he’s a strong contender, I think.

So… tune in tonight, and keep your fingers (and toes) crossed.

((And yeah, the Giants are playing the Packers at the same time. Very annoying of them to schedule it like that. Go G-Men!! Go Eli! Cruz, Cruz, Cruuuuz!))

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Alpha Young Writers Workshop

January 13, 2012 at 12:23 pm
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George asked me to let you guys know about this while he parties with movie stars at the Golden Globes.

George has donated a number of autographed copies of his books to this charity for their auction. If you want to get a signed book and contribute to a worthy cause at the same time, check them out. Their official information is below:

The Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers [http://alpha.spellcaster.org ] (ages 14-19) will be held July 18-27, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA. At Alpha, students can meet others who share their interest in writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They can learn about writing and publishing from guest authors, including Tamora Pierce and Kij Johnson. Also, they will write and revise a short story during the workshop. Applications are due March 1, 2012.

Go help support a new generation of genre writers.

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Life is STILL Magical…

January 8, 2012 at 10:48 pm
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… this week, at least.

A great weekend of playoff football. The Saturday games… well, there was certainly a lot of scoring. A little frustrating for those old school guys like me who like a bit of defense from time to time, but I can’t deny it was exciting. The Saints look especially scary. They killed the G-Men when we went down and played them in Nawlins during the season, and I have a feeling they will kill anyone who has to play them in the Superdome. But the rest of their games are likely to be on the road, so you never know.

Good win for the Texans too. I have no particular rooting interest in either Houston or Cincinnati, so I didn’t much care how that game came out… but it occurs to me that somewhere in Dallas, Jerry Jones is probably making the pissy face at the thought of another Texas team being in the playoffs while his Cowboys are home. So that’s good.

The Steeler/ Bronco game was pretty wild. Really thought that Denver had blown it there, but that overtime was a dagger in the heart. Tebow… what can I possibly say about Tebow that half a million talking heads on ESPN haven’t said already? Three hundred yards passing on ten completions… it beggars understanding… but there you are. Somehow I suspect that Evil Little Bill had a role in this… I’m sure he’d much rather face Tebow than the Steelers D, as wounded as Pittsburgh was.

Of course, my favorite game was the big Giants win over Atlanta. They are weeping in the Vale, but rejoicing on the Wall. And hey, those were the REAL Giants, the ones who have been missing all season. Great swarming D and a smashmouth two-headed running game, that’s what I’ve been waiting for. A shaky beginning, right up to the Atlanta safety, but after that it was complete NYG domination. Another great game by Eli. The Falcons clamped down on my man Victor Cruz pretty hard, but that was okay, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham stepped up to take his place. Had to love that last play of the game too, when Osi sacked not only Matt Ryan but also the Atlanta left tackle, driving him back into his QB and tackling both of them.

Which means another trip to the Frozen Tundra next week. Shades of 2007. I hope it’s forty below zero again, just like it was back then. Should be epic.

((Far be from me to complain, but the officiating sucked all weekend. The Broncos got robbed on that lateral. The Giants were the victim of at least three terrible calls. And the Lions were also screwed by the zebras. I suspect the results of all three games would have been the same in either case, but really, the refs should watch those premature whistles)).

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Westeros and the NFL

January 3, 2012 at 1:48 pm
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Everyone in the Seven Kingdoms is excited about the NFL playoffs.

The wildlings and the men of the Night’s Watch and even some northmen are all pulling for the Giants, of course. But in the Vale of Arryn and the Mountains of the Moon, they’re Falcons fans.

The Lannisters are cheering on Detroit, even if the lion is the wrong color, but some of the smallfolk of Lannisport on its western bay are fond of those 49ers. The High Septon and all the septa and septons and devout of the realm are for the Saints.

The butchers and tanners of King’s Landing and Oldtown are behind the Packers, the smiths and armorers are with the Steelers. At the Citadel of Oldtown, the archmaesters and the Conclave are all about the Ravens, but across the narrow sea the khals and Dothraki horselords are screaming and whistling for the Broncos. In Volantis, the tigers are Bengals backers; the elephants are rooting for whoever plays the Bengals.

Nobody anywhere knows what a ‘Texan’ is, but a few Dornishmen might support them anyway, just to be perverse.

One commonality unites all the Seven Kingdoms, and the lands beyond. Everyone everywhere hates the Patriots, and Evil Little Bill.

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