… and put me out of my misery.
The Giants game was one of the most excruciating defeats I have ever experienced, right up there with the playoff losses in past years to the 49ers and Vikings.
Life is meaningless and full of pain.
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The Wild Cards series has been around since 1987, and to date we have published twenty books, with a twenty-first in the pipeline (FORT FREAK) and scheduled for June. Over that span, we have been with four different publishers, the latest being Tor Books. Tor’s “next generation” Wild Card books have done very nicely, thank you, and have brought in a lot of new readers, many of whom are now looking for copies of the earlier books.
Which is where things get complicated. With that long a history, some of the volumes are naturally much harder to find than others. The original twelve-volume run from Bantam can usually be found via ABE.books or ebay at reasonable prices, but the three volume “Card Shark” series that followed, published by Baen Books, is considerably more challenging, especially the third and concluding volume of the triad, BLACK TRUMP. If you do find it, it will likely cost you a lot more than it originally sold for.
That being said, even BLACK TRUMP is easy to find compared to the two hardcover originals published by iBooks when they brought the series back after a seven-year hiatus — DEUCES DOWN, a typical Wild Cards book with stories by various hands, and DEATH DRAWS FIVE, John Jos. Miller’s solo WC novel. DD5 was published only one week before iBooks went bankrupt and closed up shop. As result, to the best of our knowledge, only 600 or so copies ever got into the bookstores. (Was that the total print run, or are there more sitting somewhere in a warehouse? No one seems to know, and there’s no one left at iBooks to ask). In the years since, and especially after Tor and INSIDE STRAIGHT kicked off the second coming, demand for the book has steadily risen, along with its price. It has become the Holy Grail of Wild Cards collectors.
Well, I can’t help those of you who want a copy for your collection — but now at last there is an answer for fans who simply want to READ John’s novel. Brick Tower Publishing acquired many of the assets of iBooks in the bankruptcy, including the rights to both DEUCES DOWN and DEATH DRAWS FIVE, and they have released an ebook version of DD5 for Kindle. You can buy it here http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Cards-Death-Draws-ebook/dp/B003HNNIBA from Amazon… and most likely it can also be found from other Kindle retailers.
(The Kindle release did have some initial problems, as you can see from the Amazon reviews. Defective copies were distributed, which did not open. However, I am reliably informed that these problems have been fixed, so you Kindle folks out there will get a readable copy).
So… those of you who would like to fill in the last gap in your Wild Cards reading, ask Santa for a Kindle this Xmas. Or else wait another decade or so till we get around to reprinting this one. It was volume seventeen in the series, after all, and Tor has just released its reissue of volume one.
And as long I am talking about John Jos. Miller (who used to be John J. Miller in the early days of Wild Cards, but had to change his name so people would stop confusing him with John J. Miller of NATIONAL REVIEW, and John Jackson Miller the comic book writer), I should also plug ACES & JOKERS, the latest supplement for the Wild Cards RPG, which John authored with Steve Kenson for Green Ronin.
ACES & JOKERS is now on sale at your favorite game store, and is also available direct from Green Ronin at their online store: http://www.greenronin.com/store/ A perfect Xmas gift for any gamer / superhero fan.
Oh, and for all John’s fans out there, I should also mention that he’s got a new gig, blogging about bad movies (and occasionally a good one) for a new film blog called Cheese Magnets, where he is part of rotating cast of crazed and masochistic cinefiles. JJM and his fellow Cheese Magnets are brave people. They watch this crap so we don’t have to! But the blogs are a lot of fun, and will tell more than you ever wanted to know about some flicks that truly have to be seen to be believed (but not by me, John knew the job was dangerous when he took it).
You can find Cheese Magnets at http://www.cheese-magnet.com
Have fun.
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Just a heads up — a new podcast/interview with yours truly is up on Bear Swarm at
http://www.bearswarm.com/episode-136-george-r-r-martin-and-a-song-of-ice-and-fire
Check it out, if you’re so inclined.
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Looks like I will be coming out to LA in early January, to talk about the HBO show at the TCA.
That one is for television critics only, I’m afraid… but I’m looking to set up a couple of public events while I am in town. Watch this space. We will probably do a signing, most likely somewhere in the San Fernando Valley. And our friend Lodengarl, founder and prince of the Brotherhood Without Banners, is going to come down from the Bay Area to organize a BWB event the same day. Details when we have ’em… but angelenos, mark down January 9 on your calendars.
(Might have an exciting announcement that day as well. Maybe two. But don’t quote me on that).
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Principal photography on HBO’s first season of GAME OF THRONES has now wrapped.
Which is not to say the work is done. Now comes editing, special effects, scoring, and all the other behind-the-scenes stuff that makes up post production. The cast and crew get to go home for a while; for the producers, the road goes ever on and on.
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On Jon. On the krakens. On me.
We all slog onward.
Finished a chapter a few days ago. Revised another. Then re-revised it.
The days go too fast, the work too slowly. But onward.
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I haven’t made a political post in a long, long time.
I’d make one now, except just thinking about it depresses me. I was not happy about the results of the midterm, needless to say… and I am even less happy, if possible, about this “compromise” that Obama has made with the GOP on taxes. From where I sit, it smells more like capitulation than compromise. Give a lot, get almost nothing.
Obama is the most intelligent president we’ve had since Jimmy Carter… and, sad to say, he is looking more and more like Jimmy every day. A good man, but not a good leader. At least not so far. He doesn’t seem to have the stomach for a fight. We need another FDR, another JFK, another LBJ. NOT Jimmy II. (And, yes, I know, Obama has accomplished some important stuff. But so did Jimmy. Camp David accords, remember?)
Yeats was writing about his own time in “The Second Coming,” I know, but sometimes I think he was prescient:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
And could that rough beast whose hour has come round at least be… Sarah Palin?
No, please. Tell me that’s just a bad dream. Somebody wake me up.
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Back at home with the NFL. But weekends like this wear me out.
The Jets game was a horror. Bad enough that they lost to a mediocre Miami team they should have dominated. It was how they lost. Sanchez seems to have reverted to his rookie ways, throwing INTs every time he had the ball. Santonio dropped a sure TD. I think the Patriots game has robbed Gang Green of their mojo, which does not bode well for the remainder of the season, with the Steelers and the Bears coming up. I am starting to have flashbacks to the great collapse of ’86. Rex, Rex, work your magic, I can’t take that again.
As for Big Blue, well, the Giants thumped a lifeless Vikings team playing without Brett Favre. The defense and the running game looked good. Eli, not so much. Two terrible INTs right out of the box. And now we have to play the Eagles on a short week. We haven’t beaten the Eagles in what seems like decades. Time to end that streak. But if Eli keeps throwing the ball to guys in the wrong color jersey, it won’t be easy.
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HBO has opened an on-line shop for GAME OF THRONES merchandise.
Their first offerings are a couple of T-shirts featuring logo art from the series.
Oh, and you can also buy copies of the books that started the whole thing, by some guy.
Check it out and place your orders at
http://store.hbo.com/?v=hbo_shows_game-of-thrones
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The Wild Cards gang — the New Mexico chapter, anyway — will be gathering tomorrow at Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque to sign copies of the new Tor reissue of WILD CARDS, volume one, the book that started it all (with Extra! Added! Content!!). I’ll be on hand, natch, along with Melinda M. Snodgrass, John Jos. Miller, Victor Milan, Walter Jon Williams, Ian Tregillis, and Daniel Abraham. Seven signatures, one stop!
WILD CARDS will be the featured volume, but copies of INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH, and SUICIDE KINGS will also be on hand, and available for autographing.
So will a whole bunch of my other recent releases, including
— the new Tor edition of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH
— the hardcover of SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH
Books by Melinda Snodgrass, Daniel Abraham, M.L.N. Hanover, Victor Milan, Walter Jon Willianms, and Ian Tregillis will also be available. So will ACES & JOKERS, the latest game supplement from Green Ronin, by Steve Kenyon and our own John Jos. Miller.
Page One is at 11018 Montgomery NE in Albuquerque. Check out their website at http://www.page1book.com/
If you cannot make the signing in the flesh, it is still possible to order a signed book or three by phone, mail, or email. The Page One staff will be glad to take your order, set the book aside, have it signed, and ship it to you. Call their toll free number at 1-800-521-4122 or email the service department at books@page1book.com.
Signed books make great Christmas presents… so if you’re anywhere near Page One tomorrow, stop on by. The signing begins at 3:30 in the afternoon. See you there!
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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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