Hey there.   It’s me again.   I am back in Santa Fe, and once more again seated at my computer(s).   My thanks to my mighty minions for holding down the fort in my absence, and especially to the Sensational Sid, who shared my quarantine in Los Angeles and taped those video segments for me… and unfortunately came down with covid herself.   Not fun, and sadly it meant she too had to miss the Hot D red carpet premiere and the world premiere of NIGHT OF THE COOTERS a day later at the LA Shorts Film Festival.   Her symptoms were as mild as my own, though, and both of us in the end recovered fully.

Which does not change the fact that Covid Sucks, and all of you should avoid it if you can.

I tried my best to do just that.   I attended San Diego Comicon, only the second time I’ve left home since the pandemic started in March 2020, but the only thing I did there was the big HOUSE OF THE DRAGON panel in Hall H.   I never walked the floor, turned down invites to half a dozen parties, and  cancelled all three of my planned autograph sessions, which would have involved me getting close up and personal with hundreds of readers.   I wore a mask every time I went out, except at meals… and then only when I was eating.   I even upgraded my masks before leaving home.   I do not know what else I could have done, except cancel the entire trip.   But covid got me anyway.

Oh, wait… I did visit the incredible Red Keep that HBO put up outside the convention center, though I stayed masked for most of that.   I claimed a dragon’s egg, and hatched my dragon.   He’s green, and growing nicely.   Maybe the dragon gave me covid, but I doubt it.   Targaryens never get sick, donchaknow?   Hey, you guys can hatch a dragon too…

Have fun with that.   Post pictures.

What else, what else?   Oh, well, I do not lug a laptop around on my travels, so I returned home to a thousand emails.   I am presently digging out from under.   Mostly done.

Oh, and while in quarantine, Sid and I watched Neil Gaiman’s new show, THE SANDMAN.   Neil had been kind enough to send up an advance copy.   Guys, gals, don’t miss this.   If you loved the comics, well, this is a VERY faithful adaptation, Neil saw to that.   And if you never read the comic, don’t worry, not required, the TV series stands on its own.   It’s a fabulous fantasy, and I rope it will run for many more seasons.   There are, after all, many more issues of the comic to adapt.

I hope to wrap up the story line for one of the viewpoint characters of WINDS OF WINTER this week.   Maybe even two.

Meanwhile, work continues on all the other GAME OF THRONES successor shows we’re developing for HBO and HBO Max.   Animated and live action both.   Development is a long and chancy process, of course, and there’s no telling how many series will be green lit in the end… I am really excited about the way some of them are coming along, though.   Oh, and there’s also ROADMARKS, another show I’ve been developing for HBO, based on a novel by the late great Roger Zelazny.   That’s coming along well too.

Thanks to covid, I could not attend the world premiere of NIGHT OF THE COOTERS at the LA Shorts International Film Festival, but Vincent d’Onofrio and Hopper Penn and several other cast members filled in for me ably, along with scriptwriter Joe Lansdale and the team from Trioscope.   I am delighted to report that COOTERS took home the prize for Best Science Fiction Short!!!   We’ve entered it in a number of other festivals and hope to have word on that soon.   Meanwhile, our second Waldrop film has wrapped and is post-production.

Let’s see, what else.   There was something, I’m sure, I….

Oh.  Of course.

 HOUSE OF THE DRAGON.   August 21, on HBO and HBO Max.

That’s… hmmm…. nine days away as I type it.

I’ve seen all ten episodes now (albeit in rough cuts), and I love what I’ve seen.   Ryan and Miguel and their amazing cast and crew have done some magnificent work.   Hot D is all I hoped it would be; dark, powerful, visceral, disturbing, stunning to look at, peopled with complex and very human characters brought to life by some truly amazing actors.

(Oh, and FIRE & BLOOD is back on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list, and rocketing up every week.   I wonder if there is any connection).

Anyway…. there’s lots more I could report, but that will need to wait.   Stuff to do.

Glad to be home.

 

 

Current Mood: busy