It doesn't get much worse than that. Losing to the Niners and the Cowboys the past two weeks was bad, but at least they are good teams. Playoff contenders. Jacksonville… arrgh…
We lost two more offensive linemen as well. As Coughlin was already playing the third-stringers. No wonder Eli kept going down. If one more lineman had been injured, David Diehl would have needed to leave the broadcast booth to suit up.
Bad to worse to worst.
Current Mood: 
null
Turkey Day is here again. (Where did that year go?)
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fans, friends, and family.
A day for fond memories. Including this one:
<lj-embed id=”516″ />
Current Mood: null
Okay, last week's football proved beyond a doubt that life is miserable and full of pain.
The Jets snow-shifted game against Buffalo, in Detroit, was a disgrace. The whole team looked awful . No one more so than Michael Vick, whose once-famed elusiveness seems a thing of the past. Even worse than the drubbing was the fact that Vick was so wretched that Rex actually benched him for Geno Smith, and has announced that Geno will start again this week. Argh. A nightmare. Vick is done, and Geno is a bust. GIVE MATT SIMMS A START, I say. He cannot possibly be worse than Vick and Smith. It won't happen, I know, but it should. We need to find out if there is a NFL-calibre on the roster before next year's draft.
The Giants game was far more exciting, but in the end almost as painful, since Big Blue's wretched defense found a way to lose the game to the despised Cowboys after Eli had won it with a masterful fourth quarter drive. The Giants outplayed Dallas for most of the game, but still blew it at the end. Losing is always bad; losing to the Cowboys is worse than bad.
But there was one transcendent moment, one brief burst of joy to take from the weekend of despair. Ladies and gents, I give Odell Beckham Junior, and one of the greatest TD catches in NFL history.
<lj-embed id=”515″ />
Current Mood: null
;… or maybe Menlo Park?
As it happens, I was out in that neck of the woods yesterday, with a couple free hours before heading to the airport to return to Santa Fe, so I did some surprise drop-in stock signings at three local bookstores.
Those of you in northern California, if you are looking for autographed copies of LOWBALL or THE ICE DRAGON or THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE or ROGUES or any of my Ice & Fire novels, hardcover or paperback, check out:
KEPLER'S BOOKS, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park
BARNES & NOBLE , 3600 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose
HICKLEBEE's, 1378 Lincoln Avenue, San Jose
You'll find signed copies of my books at all of them… while the supplies last.
(Which won't be long. Especially at Hicklebee's).
Would have loved to drop by some of the other great bookstores in the Bay Area as well, but we ran out of time.
Current Mood: null
When Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman visited the Jean Cocteau Cinema in September, Amanda read a bit for us from her new book, THE ART OF ASKING. Sounded very cool…. unfortunately, we couldn't sell any copies, since the book had not yet been published. The only copy on site was the advance copy that Amanda was reading from.
But hey, the wait is over… the ART OF ASKING has now been published, as of 11/11, and should be available at your local bookstore, or from your favorite online bookseller (alas, we don't have any signed copies available at the Jean Cocteau, but we hope to remedy that the next time Amanda and Neil come to visit).
Amanda says:
" it's a book about….a lot of things. my marriage, my days as a weird street performer, my amazing band and label disaster,
my difficulties dealing with a best friend who's had cancer for the past three years; but that's all sort of a veil.
mostly it's an attempt to try to discover why all human beings (especially artists) has such a hard time asking for things.
i poured my heart into it. it's a really personal book.
it's also really FUNNY.
and sad.
it's a weird book.
but i'm really, really proud of it."
Everything you could want to know about ordering a copy can be found here: http://amandapalmer.net/
Happy reading. Happy asking.
Current Mood: null
The last few months have passed in such a blur that I forgot to shout out the new Wild Cards story on Tor.com.
This one is by Carrie Vaughn, entitled "Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza." The illustration is by the amazing John Picacio.
An untold tale of Earth Witch in the aftermath of the events of the first Committee triad, "Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza" is all new and original, published here for the first time.
You can check it out at http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/10/nuestra-senora-de-la-esperanza-carrie-vaughn
Check out Carrie's other books as well.
Current Mood: null
Here's a hoot and a half — a LEGO version of Wild Cards, put together by a fan.
<lj-embed id=”509″ />
Current Mood: null
There's a new GAME OF THRONES computer game on the way, this one from Telltale Games.
Unlike the earlier games from Cyanide, this is an HBO license, derived from the television series rather than the novels, so the characters will look like their TV incarnations, and in many cases will be voiced by the actors who play them on the show. The action is centered around House Forrester, bannermen to the Starks of Winterfell whose seat in the wolfswood. (Some Forresters are mentioned in the Stannis chapters, when he marches south from the Wall to attack Winterell, but very little is said about them, which made them ideal for game purposes).
The game will be sort of a side story to the show (and books), swirling and around major events. Ty Franck, my longtime assistant who went off to become half of James S.A. Corey and write the Expanse novels, acted as a consultant on story and continuity for Telltale.
The first teaser trailer has just been released. Have a look:
<lj-embed id=”514″ />
Current Mood: null
It's a wonder the score was so close. The Niners dominated much of the game, but to the credit of Big Blue's D, they bent but did not break, and denied San Francisco several times in the red zone. If only the offense had been able to take advantage…
But no. Every time it seemed as if points were in prospect, Bad Eli threw another one to the Niners. Even so, with time running out in the fourth quarter, the G-Men were down at the five with first and goal. Four runs with Rashad Jennings and maybe we steal the win. Instead we got three fades (all incomplete) and an INT. Game over.
The only good to salvage from the afternoon: it does appear New York has found a genuine star in Odell Beckhem Jr. He could very well turn into the best wideout the Giants have had since… well, since forever… and next year, if Victor Cruz returns to form, Big Blue could have one of the best receiving tandems in the league.
But that's next year. And we'll still need some more studs on the O-line, to help keep Eli alive and upright.
Current Mood: null
Hmmmm…. that went well… those 14 signed hardcovers of DANGEROUS WOMEN went in a few hours, my team at the Cocteau tells me. So let's go ahead and offer a few more autographed books.
We have seventeen remaining copies in stock of Dennis Lehane's novel THE DROP, signed by the author.
Price is $24.99. Add $15 S+H (media mail) or $25 S+H (priority mail).
We also have twenty-two copies of Anne Perry's mystery novel, DEATH ON BLACKHEATH, available in hardcover.
Those are $27, plus S+H as above.
And I will include another of my own titles as well. We have the long out-of-print Meisha Merlin hardcover of TUF VOYAGING (with wonderful interior art by Janet Aulisio, and a cover by Michael Komarck) available in two states, a trade hardcover and a slipcased limited.
The trade hardcover sells for $30, the slipcased limited edition for $120. Plus $15 S+H for media mail, $25 S+H for priority.
All orders should be placed with the Jean Cocteau via PayPal at jeancocteausantafe@gmail.com
Thanks.
Current Mood: null
This blog is the only place for official communication from George R.R. Martin. For press inquiries, please contact David Moench
