Today's the day.
It's publication day. The first of my "October barrage," OLD MARS, hits the bookstores today. Copies will also be available from your favorite online bookseller.
So go and grab a copy, and return to the Mars That Was,
You can't go home again. But you can go back to Mars.
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Life is… hey, maybe there is some faint glimmer of hope.
NEW YORK JETS 30
ATLANTA FALCONS 28
Gang Green is 3-2. Say, what?
All the talking heads had them picked as the worst team in the NFL during the preseason. Guess that's why they play the games, as Boomer likes to say.
Not that they looked like the second coming of the Lombardi Packers tonight. But they avoided turnovers, and the D looked stout, and the offense — unlike the Giants O — did not shoot itself in the foot. They have a running game. And Geno Smith looked… well, like a promising rookie.
The Jets actually had to win the game twice. With time running out, and Atlanta driving, Rex and the D stopped the Falcons with a great goal line stand, breaking up the fourth down pass. That should have won it right there. But the refs decided to give Atlanta four more downs with a bogus penalty. Given eight downs instead of four, the Falcons scored, as most teams would in that position, leaving the Jets with only a minute. I thought Gang Green had blown it. The slough of despond beckoned. But what the hell, the Rookie moved the Jets right down the field, bing bang boom, and Nick Folk kicked the game winning field goal with 3 seconds left on the clock.
The Jets may not win the Super Bowl. Or even the AFC East. But right now, they sure look like the best team in New York City. And NOBODY saw that coming, least of all me.
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I seem to have quite a few new people visiting here, which reminds me that maybe it's time to lay down the Not A Blog rules again. I have not done that for a couple of years.
There aren't many.
I want no flamewars on this site. Debate and discussion are fine, name-calling and abuse are not. I ask that you be respectful in your comments, not only of me but of the other posters.
No spam, obviously.
I also ask that commenters STAY ON TOPIC. I do close and lock the comments thread on most of my posts as they get old and discussion dies down, but I usually have three or four posts open at any one time. Please place your comments under the appropriate subject, instead of just adding them to whatever is the most recent post. Football threads are for the discussion of football, not writing. Writing threads are for discussion of writing, not football. If I post about OLD MARS, I welcome discussion of the anthology, anthologies in general, the participating writers, other books about Mars, even SF in general… but not about the GAME OF THRONES tv show, or the Jets, or how the novel is coming. Political discussion should be restricted to political posts.
If you want to write me a fan letter, send it via email. My address can be found on my website. Don't post it here. (And, sadly, don't expect a reply. I am about three thousand emails behind at the moment).
Thanks.
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I don't have full details on these yet… and tickets are not yet being offering for presale… but we have some exciting future events coming up at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, and I wanted to give my Not A Blog readers a little heads up about what's coming.
First up: October 21 to 24, we have a special four day marathon of all six seasons of Felicia Day's wonderful webseries THE GUILD.
.
Is this the first time THE GUILD has been shown the big (ish) screen? Dunno. It will be the first time in New Mexico for sure. We'll screen the first and second seasons on October 21, the third and fourth seasons on October 22, the fifth and sixth on October 23… and on October 24, for those who dare, we will show all six seasons at once. What's more, Felicia Day and other cast members will be weighing in from fantasyland via Skype to talk with audience members and answer their questions.
Then, on November 9, we have another live music event — an evening's entertainment from Paul and Storm.
You'll all remember Paul and Storm, I'm sure. "Write Like the Wind," and all that. I had to smash their guitar to splinters at W00tstock this summer, but I hear they got a new one. They're touring the United States… or maybe fleeing to get away from their creditors… but in any case, they are coming to Santa Fe, and we'll have them. So come hear them sing. I understand they have other songs that have nothing to do with me. 🙂
Next up will be another great author event. On December 2 we'll be hosting PAT CONROY, bestselling author of PRINCE OF TIDES, THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, THE WATER IS WIDE (filmed as CONRACK, with Jon Voight), THE GREAT SANTINI, and many other terrific novels.
I've never met Pay Conroy, but he's been one of my favorite living novelists for a long, long time, so I am really looking forward to this. I'll be doing an interview/ conversation with Pat, and he may read a bit from his new book, after which we will adjourn to the concessions area for autographing. Rest assured, we will have plenty of his books on hand for you to get signed. It should be another great evening.
So: October 21-24, November 9, December 2. Mark them down on your calendars. I will let you know when tickets go on sale. As with the Michael Chabon and Neil Gaiman/ Amanda Palmer events, we expect to sell out, so reserve your places early.
And for advance word about these, and other offerings at the Cocteau, sign up for our email newsletter at http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/contact-us/?view=edit
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Two new… and very different… films will open at the Jean Cocteau tonight.
TOUCHY-FEELY tells the story of a massage therapist and her family.
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And EXTRATERRESTIAL is our first Spanish language titles. (Subtitled for English speakers). Santa Fe, like Northern New Mexico in general, has a large Hispanic population, but very few of the local theatres ever show movies in Spanish, so we are hoping to make that a regular part of the mix. ANd not just Spanish art films either, the kind that get entered at Cannes and compete for "Best Foreign Film" Oscars, but genre flicks as well. EXTRATERRESTIAL comes to us from the Spanish director Nacho Vigolondo, who has been described as "the Woody Allen of science fiction." Looks like fun.
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So if you're in Santa Fe… or Albuqueruqe, or Taos, or Espanola, or wherever… drop by and join us.
You can even pick up some signed Neil Gaiman books while you're here. While the supply lasts.
(We have my own books too. The supply of those will last forever).
And don't forget our midnight movie, SPIDER BABY. Previews for that one several posts below. Shows start at 11pm.
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The Neil and Amanda Show last Sunday night was a great success. (Sorry if you missed it).
Neil Gaiman read stories, Amanda Palmer sang her hits and played her ukelele, and from time to time the they did duets. They opened the night with a memorable version of "Makin' Whoopee" and Amanda closed it with "The Ukelele Song," bringing the whole audience to its feet. After the concert Amanda and Neil adjoined to the concessions lobby to sign books and CDs… and sign, and sign, and sign. Strong wrists, those two. And good hearts.
Every seat was filled. No surprise there. The concert sold out within hours of our announcing it. "I need a larger theatre," as I wrote to Neil and Amanda, after tickets had been on sale for a few hours, "at least when you two come to town."
All box receipts went to two worthy Santa Fe charities, Warehouse 21 and the Food Depot. Warehouse 21 works with local youth, while the Food Depot feeds the homeless and the hungry. The concert raised more than $9000, which will be split between them. To find out more about their work, go here http://www.warehouse21.org/ and here http://www.thefooddepot.org/ And CONTRIBUTE!
Neil and Amanda regularly fill large halls and auditoriums with thousands of fans. It was incredibly kind of them to take time out of their busy schedule to visit Santa Fe and play our modest venue. Though I am delighted to report that they thought the Jean Cocteau was cool. (It is).
For those locals who could not get tickets to the show (sorry for that, they sold out very quickly)… well, Neil signed large stacks of his books and comics for us before he took off, and we have Amanda's CDs in stock as well. So drop by the Jean Cocteau at 418 Montezuma, and you too can score an autographed Neil Gaiman book, or the latest CD from Amanda. But come soon… stocks are limited.
(We also have a handful of signed copies of Michael Chabon's KAVALIER AND CLAY left, from his visit here, as well as autographed copies of many of my own books).
(Sorry, we are not set up to do mail orders)
Lots more cool stuff coming up at the Cocteau: movies, author appearances and booksignings, live music, magic, comedy. If you want to keep on top of that, signed up for our weekly email newsletter. It's free. Go here:
http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/contact-us/?view=edit
See you at the movies!
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It's only a week till the release of OLD MARS, the latest anthology from Gardner Dozois and Yours Truly, featuring fifteen brand new, original, never before published tales of the Red Planet of bygone years, the one with the canals and the dead sea bottoms and the lost cities and myriad marvelous Martians.
If you'd like a taste, Pat's Fantasy Hotlist has posted an excerpt from Allen Steele's story, "Martian Blood." You can find it here:
http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.ca/2013/09/extract-from-old-mars-edited-by-george.html
Pat is also giving away three copies of the hardcovers. To see how you can snag one, check out that link above.
The full lineup of stories and authors:
RED PLANET BLUES (Introduction) by George R.R. Martin
MARTIAN BLOOD, by Allen M. Steele
THE UGLY DUCKLING, by Matthew Hughes
THE WRECK OF THE MARS ADVENTURE, by David D. Levine
SWORDS OF ZAR-TU-KAN, by S.M. Stirling
SHOALS, by Mary Rosenblum
IN THE TOMBS OF THE MARTIAN KINGS, by Mike Resnick
OUT OF SCARLIGHT, by Liz Williams
THE DEAD SEA-BOTTOM SCROLLS, by Howard Waldrop
A MAN WITHOUT HONOR, by James S.A. Corey
WRITTEN IN DUST, by Melinda Snodgrass
THE LOST CANAL, by Michael Moorcock
THE SUNSTONE, by Phyllis Eisenstein
KING OF THE CHEAP ROMANCE, by Joe R. Lansdale
MARINER, by Chris Roberson
THE QUEEN OF NIGHT’S ARIA, by Ian McDonald
You can preorder a copy from Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Mars-George-R-R-Martin/dp/0345537270/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380639121&sr=1-1
or grab one next Tuesday from your favorite local bookseller.
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At worldcon this year, Tom Maringer and his bawdy band of coinsmiths debuted three new coins, the first "golden" dragons from Shire Post Mint.
They even did a video about it:
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These dragon coins bear the likenesses of Jaehaerys I Targaryen (the Old King), the pretender Daemon I Blackfyre, and Joffrey I Baratheon.
(No, silly, they're not made of real gold. If they were, they would be considerably more expensive. They look good, though; bright and shiny with a nice heft to them. And if there is enough demand, Shire Post Mint might even do a short run in real gold for collectors willing to pay the price.)
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Midnight starts at 11 pm every Friday and Saturday night at the Jean Cocteau.
This week we have another horror… ah… "classic"… coming up, for all of you who loved PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILLS.
Yes, it's SPIDER BABY!
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See you at the movies!
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This blog is the only place for official communication from George R.R. Martin. For press inquiries, please contact David Moench
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