Not a Blog

Time Square Coolness

August 15, 2022 at 9:52 am
Profile Pic

Check out this amazing 3D billboard in Time square promoting HoTD!

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

Home Again

August 12, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Profile Pic

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 busy

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON JCC PREMIER

August 3, 2022 at 8:33 am
Profile Pic

Beastly Books and the Jean Cocteau Cinema are hosting a special screening event of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON:

We’re SUPER excited to be hosting this event in conjunction with HBO on Thursday August 18th and our schedule is

4pm Wristbands available outside Beastly Books, this is a FREE event and wrist bands are first come first serve so come early to line up!

5pm Spanish screening

7pm English screening

READ ALL ABOUT IT ON THE BEASTLY BOOKS WEBSITE:

https://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/hotd

________________________

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

FULL HOUSE Is Here!

August 2, 2022 at 8:12 am
Profile Pic

 Aces Assemble!  You jokers can come too.   We have a new book coming for you TODAY

 Our friends at Tor will be releasing FULL HOUSE in hardcover.  

 FULL HOUSE is the thirty-first volume in the overall Wild Cards series, which began all the way back in 1987, before some of you were born.   (Seems like last week to me, though)  This one is a little different.  It is not our usual mosaic, but rather a collection of stand-alone stories:

“When We Were Heroes”                                 Daniel Abraham
“Evernight”                                                          Victor Milan
“Lies My Mother Told Me”                               Caroline Spector
“Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza”                   Carrie Vaughn
“Discards”                                                            David D. Levine
“The Elephant in the Room”                            Paul Cornell
“When the Devil Drives”                                 Melinda M. Snodgrass
“The Atonement Tango”                                  Stephen Leigh
“Prompt.  Professional.  Pop!”                        Walter Jon Williams
“How to Move Spheres and Influence People”              Marko Kloos

Many of those titles may seem familiar to you… if you’re one of our longtime Wild Cards fans.  Yes, all of these stories have appeared before.  All but one of them were originally published electronically on Tor.com.   This will be their first time on paper, though, in an actual book that you can put on your shelf beside all of your other Wild Cards books. 

The sole exception is Caroline Spector’s novella, which originally appeared in DANGEROUS WOMEN, one of the big crossgenre anthologies I co-edited with my dear friend, the late great Gardner Dozois.  (It was a great fit there.  Bubbles and Hoodoo Mama are not to be messed with). 

 Maybe you’re read all of these.   Maybe you missed a few.   Maybe you missed all of them.   They’re some terrific tales, however, and I’m delighted to have them all together between the same set of covers.  And who knows?  FULL HOUSE may get these stories a whole new readership — old guys like me who hate reading stuff on a computer, most like, but what the hell.

 And if this one does well, there have been enough Wild Cards stories on Tor.com to fill two more collections… and more in the pipeline.   So watch for new Wild Cards tales on Tor.com, and enjoy those collected  in FULL HOUSE.   On sale August 2 from your local bookstore or favorite online bookseller… and signed copies are always available from Beastly Books, via their website.

Spread the word, aces.

Current Mood: cheerful cheerful

COVID UPDATE

July 31, 2022 at 7:57 pm
Profile Pic

An Update from LA

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

Sandman screening at the JCC

July 29, 2022 at 3:21 pm
Profile Pic

Beastly Books and the Jean Cocteau Cinema are hosting a special screening event of the new TV series, The Sandman. Based upon Neil Gaiman’s award-winning DC comics, our exclusive event showcases Episodes 1 & 2. Enjoy cocktails, music by DJ Dmonic and photo ops before the screening! This FREE event is open to the public—whether you’re attending the screening or not. Note that this is a first come-first seated event, so be sure to lineup early for your screening wristband as seating is limited. We encourage everyone to come in their dreamiest cosplay!

Event Schedule

4pm Wristbands available outside Beastly Books!

5pm Pre-party at Beastly Books with Music by DJ Dmonic and Happy Hour

6pm Doors open at Jean Cocteau Cinema for Specialty Cocktail “The Lucid Dream”

7pm Screening of The Sandman at Jean Cocteau Cinema

Stay for the Afterparty!

 

https://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/special-events

Physical Address and contact info:

(505) 466-5528   |   418 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe NM, 87501

 

 

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

Travel Update

July 27, 2022 at 7:24 pm
Profile Pic

An annoucment:

 

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT ET

July 27, 2022 at 6:40 pm
Profile Pic

We’re root- tootin over the moon about “Night of the CootersWORLD premiere! Come take a ride with us, as iconoclast Howard Waldrop’s story about extraterrestrials invading Pachuco, TX debuts TOMORROW at 7:30pm during the LA International Shorts Festival.  And if that wasn’t enough to get your mother-in-law smiling, the WORLD premiere screening is followed by a Q&A with Joe Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep, Hap and Leonard) and cast.

This peach of a tale features up and coming talent and some familiar old hats. Ramin Djawadi’s musical stylings immediately transport the viewer into the old west, while Trioscope’s proprietary animated drama engine that fuses live-action with animation make the pages of a graphic novel come to life on the silver screen. Director Vincent D’ Onofrio’s rendition of Sheriff Bert Lindley is like a tall glass of sweet-tea on a dusty day while Hopper Penn’s walk like his talk has that feeling of a slow, Texas drawl. The talented ensemble cast is rounded out by Martin Sensmeier, Elias Gallegos, Cristin Mcclearry, Harrison Page, Luce Raines, Jazzy Kin O’Brian, and Darius Eteeyan. Produced by Lumenscape in association with Trioscope and Fevre River Packet Co. Directed by Vincent D’ Onofrio.  Run, don’t walk to reserve your seat now!

Tickets for “Night of the Cooters” PROGRAM 42 available at the venue link   https://www.laemmle.com/festivals/la-shorts-international-film-festival

“It was beyond a treat writing the screenplay for Night of the Cooters.
Always a favorite Waldrop story, and George Martin and Howard Waldrop
and I have known each other for a lot of years. A collaboration
between us all in our individual roles was a dream come true, an
absolute delight.” Joe R. Lansdale

For more information about LA International Shorts Festival visit https://www.lashortsfest.com

THIS POST BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

 

Current Mood: excited excited

DracARys App for HOTD

July 25, 2022 at 9:02 am
Profile Pic

How fun if this!  You can raise and hatch your own dragon with the new HBO DracARys App.  Get ready for the August 21st premier of House of the Dragon by watching your own dragon grow!

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

SDCC cancellations and signatures

July 22, 2022 at 12:22 am
Profile Pic

We’re sad to report due to the high levels of the new variant of Covid that George has decided to cancel his in person appearances at San Diego Comic Con this year.

*NOTE GRRM will be at the Hall H House of the Dragon panel, but we felt in-person signings might be dangerous.

But there will be signatures will be floating around on the Comicon Floor.  Please ask about signed copies of Fire and Blood at the Penguin Random House booth or at the Mysterious Galaxy booth.  Plus we’ve gotten some limited edition posters featuring the first cover of the Marvel WildCards run coming out later this month.  Please ask about how to acquire a poster at the Marvel booth.

 

 

We hope everyone has a great Con and again apologize for our cancelations.

 

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER