Memories of Semana Negra

August 9, 2010 at 8:20 pm

Just stumbled across these on YouTube, and thought some of you whackaroonies might get a hoot out of them.

Here’s me having entirely too much fun at Semana Negra two years ago:

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And here’s me still having fun at Semana Negra, and doing a panel with Scott Bakker and Paco Taibo II:

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Semana Negra — for those who don’t know — is an annual “literary conference meets a state fair” held in Gijon, a colorful seaside city in the north of Spain. Writers come from all over the world to talk about their books. Readers come from all over Spain to meet them and get those books signed. And thousands and thousands of other Spaniards come to ride the ferris wheel and tilt-a-whirl, drink the sangria, dine at midnight, play the games of chance, and party all night. I’ve been to two, and loved them both. Nothing like it!

(And believe it or not, Gijon also sports a world-class pizza place, called Vesuvius).

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Tags: convention

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You…

August 9, 2010 at 8:04 pm

… if you happen to live in Brazil.

September 1 is the official release date for the first Brazilian edition of A GAME OF THRONES, to be published by Leya.

The Brazilian editions will sport the beautiful Marc Simonetti art from the recent French reissues. Just thought I’d give you all a peek:

This will be the first of my books to be published in Brazil. Or, indeed, anywhere in South America. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is now on five continents. I only need to conquer Africa and Antarctica to have the whole set…

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Tags: translations

Sorry, New York

August 8, 2010 at 11:47 pm

I wanted to announce — just in case anyone reading this was making plans on going there to see me or get a book signed — that I am scrapping my plans to attend this year’s New York City Comicon.

Hey, it’s still a great show, with lots of terrific guests. So attend, by all means. But not just for me… I won’t be there.

It’s nothing about the show, and certainly nothing about the city. New York is one of my favorites cities in the world, and I like to visit whenever I can. And I will try to get there sometime in the next year. Maybe in February.

This is purely a time crunch. I have two huge international trips coming up within the next couple of months. In less than two weeks, we leave for Australia for the World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne. We will be doing some promotion and travel afterward, so I won’t be home from that until late September. Then, in mid October, we’re off to Ireland, where I am GOH at Octocon, the Irish national SF con in Dublin. After the Dublin con, I will be visiting Belfast (guess why), London (my publishers), and possibly Malta (same guess). The New York City Comicon fell square in between those two dates.

And, of course, I have this book to finish.

Australia and Ireland are conventions that I committed to years ago. Worldcon is the biggest date on the SF calendar, and I have only missed one in the last thirty-five years (Japan, 2007, which I still regret). The comicon, on the other hand, was a recent addition to my schedule. In fact, it’s not actually on my schedule, as you can see on my Appearances page. It was never more than tentative. I am not a guest of the convention (unlike Dublin, where I’m the GOH), and my presence has never been officially announced or advertised, so it’s the most painless of the three cons to scratch. My publishers had initially brought up the idea of bringing me there, but more recently seem to have cooled on that… which, to tell the truth, comes as a bit of a relief. Sandwiching in NYC between Australia and Ireland was always a bit of a push. I can accomplish more (I hope) here at home.

So… sorry, New York. I still love your football teams and your pizza. See you in 2011?

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Tags: conventions

Really?

August 7, 2010 at 6:28 pm

Okay, all this is news to me, especially the bit about the magazine.

Which, y’know, I’m figuring is more wishful thinking than an actual fact.

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/08/game-of-thrones-to-premiere-in-spring.html

But I’ve got to admit, it would be COOOOL.

Dr. Hook put it much better than I can.

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Tags: game of thrones, hbo

Dancing

August 7, 2010 at 4:38 pm

Another chapter done.

And another character. This wraps up Yogi for the book. The Meereenese knot is hanging by a thread. One more good slash and it may finally part.

That’s eight characters completed. Not counting the prologue or epilogue.

Course, there’s still more to due. Got to get back to shoveling Snow soon, and there’s still Fred hanging on, but first I need to hack at that blasted knot some more.

(Some year all this will make sense to you. Assuming anyone still cares).

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Tags: a dance with dragons, writing

August

August 4, 2010 at 12:06 am

August? August? AUGUST??? How the hell did it get to be August? What happened to July? Who took June?

Argh.

Well, I had to turn over the page on my World Wildlife Fund calendar. The big gorilla has been replaced by elephants. But Kong is not yet subdued. So much for omens.

Perhaps for the next month it is my fate to wrestle Dumbo. How am I gonna beat Dumbo? He FLIES.

I actually had a very good day today, writing about a character who wasn’t originally supposed to be a POV, but has turned out to be sharpest sword I’ve got for slicing through the Meereenese knot. I’d feel very good about that, except somehow it has become AUGUST. With worldcon bearing down on me like a freight train.

Sorry. Sorry. Don’t mean to rave. Got to remember my mantra. One page at a time. One sentence at a time. One word at a time.

Here’s a nicer memory of August, from the old 2009 calendar:

Would that it were actually August 2009 instead of August 2010.

Bye for now. I have to feed the elephant.

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Tags: a dance with dragons, writing

Jetboy Flies Again!

August 2, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Coming in November…

For all those Wild Cards fans, both old and new, who have been complaining that the original series is impossible to find, and too damn expenseive when you do find it, I’m pleased to announce that Tor will be releasing a new edition of the first volume in the series, WILD CARDS, this November.

Here’s an advance peek at the cover mock-up, which once again features the gorgeous art of Michael Komarck.

The new edition will be in trade paperback format.

If you’ve enjoyed INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH, and SUICIDE KINGS (and if not, you should), and wanted to know how it all began, here’s your chance to start at the beginning.

Longtime fans of the series will recall that WILD CARDS is our historical volume, with stories that took us all the way from Dr. Tachyon’s arrival on Earth in 1946 right up to the Wild Card “present” — which was 1986 back when the book came out in 1987. We had forty years to cover, and we covered it pretty well… but of course, there were gaps. Years and even decades of Wild Card history that we simply did not have the space to dramatize.

Tor’s new edition will help rectify that. We’re not just reprinting volume one as it was first published; we’re adding three brand-new, original, never-before-published stories set during some of the “lost years” we couldn’t cover last time around. So this edition of WILD CARDS will be fortified with original content, extra fiber, and three news tale:
– Michael Cassutt will take us back to 1956 with, “Captain Cathode v the Secret Ace,”
– David D. Levine will visit 1960, to tell us about “Powers,” and,
– Carrie Vaughn will show us 1981, as “Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan.”

We think these will be three terrific new additions to the Wild Cards saga, and we’re excited about the chance to present them to you.

November is looking to be a big, big month for me. In addition to WILD CARDS, that month will also see the release of SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH, the big new cross-genre romance/ fantasy anthology that Gardner Dozois and I have edited. AND I’ll be showing up in Minnesota for Fantasy Flight’s “Days of Ice and Fire.”

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Tags: anthologies, wild cards

Dancing

August 1, 2010 at 6:58 pm

Still have that final Fred chapter to finish. Sometimes it’s good to change gears, though, so I did that today, and completed the last Barney chapter.

So that’s one more viewpoint done with, at least.

If only I didn’t have so many of them…

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Tags: a dance with dragons, writing

Recipe for a Sunday Morning

August 1, 2010 at 11:22 am

Hiya kids, hiya, hiya.

You’re too dumb to make this soup the way they’re making it in Belfast. Start with Becky, Tom, and Boss. Take away two fathoms. Now you want the second course. In the dark the breaker of rocks seeks the living stone. But take away the fat guy with six wives, and the babe with the bumbershoot as well, that salty wench. Out, out. What’s left tastes good, but just remember, there is no gamecock in aurochs stew. IMDB? What’s that? I’m Dumb Boy? Won’t help you here, no way, no how.

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Tags: game of thrones, hbo

Dancing

July 31, 2010 at 1:22 pm

No, this is not the promised post about Charles Dance. Later.

Just kicked Aeron Damphair’s scraggly arse out of DANCE WITH DRAGONS. He only had the only chapter, and it will work better early in the next book than late in this one. (That’s how it looks to me today, anyway. I reserve the right to change my mind).

So DANCE has gotten a smidge shorter. But is still not done.

The good news is that I seem to have written more than a hundred pages of THE WINDS OF WINTER already.

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Tags: a dance with dragons, the winds of winter, writing

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Memories of Semana Negra

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You…

Sorry, New York

Really?

Dancing

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Dancing

Recipe for a Sunday Morning

Dancing

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