Fond Memories of Spain

March 12, 2010 at 12:23 am

One thing I’m really really bad at is writing trip reports. I always have good intentions, especially when headed overseas, but whenever I get back from a long trip I find myself buried in emails, bills, snail mail, deadlines, and other pressing matters, and by the time I dig myself out from under it’s time to get back to work.

I was sorting through some of my photos this evening, however, and I came across some pictures from our visit to Spain in 2008 that brought back some wonderful memories. The Spanish fans were really amazing, and the annual summer literary festival in Gijon, Semana Negra, is like no other event I’ve ever been to. If you ever get a chance to attend, do. Parris and I have been twice now, and I expect we’ll be back again someday.

Meanwhile, although it’s way too late to write a trip report, I thought I would share some of the pictures with you guys.

Here’s a panel from Semana Negra. Me and Scott Bakker and Diego, the most amazing translator.

This was from a party that the Spanish fans threw for me in Gijon. Many of them were in costume. Herewith me and a mass o’ Melisandres.

And here’s Parris with the men of the Night’s Watch:

Some of the men of the Night’s Watch were actually women, of course. (Damn, why didn’t I think to make Jon Snow a really cute girl?)

This one breaks my heart. It’s me with the specially engraved sword that was presented to me by the members of the fan group Asshai.

Alas, this was one of the swords that was stolen when my office was burglarized last year.
Since it’s engraved to me, I actually hoped the cops might be able to recover it, but of course not. If anyone ever sees a sword like this in a flea market or pawn shop… well, it won’t be hard to recognize with the engraving…

There’s lots more fond memories that I don’t have pictures for… but Spain is an amazing place, and we WILL be back one day.

(Portugal was great as well. I’ll post those pictures next).

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Tags: conventions, travel

Coming to Chicago

March 10, 2010 at 2:34 pm

Now it can be told. I’ll be headed back to Chicago (my old stomping grounds, in my younger days) next month, April 16-18, as a guest of Avatar Press at C2E2, the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. For more details check out

http://www.avatarpress.com/conventions/c2e2

and the rest of the C2E2 website.

Avatar is bringing me in to help promote the debut of their adaptation of my historical horror novel FEVRE DREAM, due out that month. They’re doing the novel as a ten-issue miniseries, scripted by Daniel Abraham, with art by Rafa Lopez. I’ll be doing the usual round of panels and readings, and also spending a lot of time at the Avatar booth in the dealer’s room, signing copies of the first issue of FEVRE DREAM and whatever else you might want me to sign.

See you there, I hope!

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Tags: avatar, comic books, conventions

The Cage Matches…

March 8, 2010 at 1:24 pm

… have begun at Suvudu: http://www.suvudu.com/

Jaime doesn’t fight till Wednesday, but the first bouts are already underway. Michael Moorcock’s Elric versus Stephen King’s Gunslinger. Conan versus Harry Dresden. Gandalf versus Hiro (no, not the one from HEROES).

Make your voice heard. Your votes determine who will win.

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Slaughter at Suvudu

March 5, 2010 at 11:23 pm

March Madness begins on Monday at Suvudu, the Spectra/ Del Rey/ Bantam/ Ballatine website. You can find it here:

http://www.suvudu.com/

I’m going to need all my fans and readers to check out that site to help defend the honor of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros against a loathesome creature out of Hogwart’s.

What does that mean, you ask? Well, I’ll let the good folks at Bantam Spectra explain:

“Kaitlin Heller and David Pomerico!”two obviously busy editors at Del Rey and Spectra!”thought that it would be fun to take some time out of their schedules to speculate on who would win if the greatest fantasy and science fiction characters were put into a March MadnessÂ®-style bracket, and asked to duke it out.

“The answer, though, would be determined by the experts!”namely, you.

“As readers, I’m sure you know many of these characters intimately. You know their strengths, you know their weaknesses. And most of all, you know that there’s no way in hell Drizzt Do’Urden would ever lose a sword fight with Hiro Protagonist!¦or would he?

“What Kaitlin and David did, then, is all the leg-work, culling through the tomes of science fiction and fantasy to put together a field of thirty-two worthy* combatants. They!”as well as a number of dedicated members of the Del Rey, Spectra, and Suvudu teams!”put together stat sheets, just in case someone wasn’t as familiar with the character as they ought to be (Yes, ought! And you call yourself nerds) to be.

“And then they ran extensive simulations** to see who would come out on top in these first rounds of match-ups. The results, in some circumstances, might surprise you. They definitely surprised us.

“But those were just simulations. It’s up to you readers to vote on who you think would win. It’s up to you to convince others you’re right. Think our analysis is wrong? Let us know. Clearly it’s you who are wrong, but we’ll humor you.

“At the end of the day, what matters is that two men (or women!¦or elves!¦or one elf and one !œother!) are entering the ring starting Monday, and a few days later (voting for the Monday matches close Thursday; voting for the Wednesday closes Sunday), only one of them is leaving. And then the second round begins!

“So make your voice heard.”

That’s the score. The elimination starts on Monday.

To represent the Seven Kingdoms, Bantam has chosen Ser Jaime Lannister. Alas, however, they have chosen the FEAST Jaime, with his… ah… handicap, not the Kingslayer of the earlier books. Which should make the match more interesting.

His opponent? Well, he’s really pissed off about that. He wanted Conan or Elric or Aragorn. Instead he’s drawn (they CLAIM it’s random):

Who will win? YOU decide.

Vote early and often, and Jaime may live to fight another day.

(And I’m closing comments on this one. Save all your eloquence for Suvudu, where your arguments will help determine the outcome of the match).

((There are fifteen others matches you can weigh in on too. Single elimination. If I was a betting man, I’d put my sheckles on Cthulhu myself, but maybe that’s just because I’ve been writing all those ironborn scenes.))

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Tags: bantam spectra

A Blast from the Past

March 5, 2010 at 10:37 pm

/>Music: Those Were The Days
I was startled looking at my website today when I saw the hit counter, which tells me the site has had more than 23 million hits since December of 2000.

Of course, I have to put that in perspective. It’s really just the same forty-two people coming back again and again to see if DANCE is done yet, isn’t it?

(I suspect the Not A Blog actually gets MORE visitors than my main site. A mention here — of a forthcoming appearance, a book sale, a news item — seems to generate a lot more response than anything on my Appearances page, my Signed Books page, or my News page).

No point to any of this, just… hey, 23 million hits, that’s kinda cool…

No telling how many of you have actually been around since 2000, and how many found my site and/or the Not A Blog just last week. Some of you newcomers, though, might enjoy giving a listen to the series of podcasts I recorded back in 2005, to promote A FEAST FOR CROWS. (I assume you old timers have heard them all already). They’re all at

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheGeorgeRRMartinPodcast

I imagine I will be doing more of these when DANCE WITH DRAGONS comes out. I’ll need to think up some more topics. (Maybe “Deadlines, and Why They Should Never Be Missed” would be a good one). Meanwhile, these may entertain and enlighten those of you who haven’t heard ’em.

And try not to laugh TOO hard at the part where I say I hope to finish DANCE by the end of the year. I really meant it, honest.

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Tags: a dance with dragons, fandom, writing

Off Season

March 5, 2010 at 4:17 pm

Like rust, the NFL never sleeps.

The offseason is already in full swing, and the Jets just acquired Antonio Cromartie from the Chargers for a third-round draft pick… in 2011! Wow. Sounds like a great deal to me. Cromartie is a first round talent, led the league in interceptions just a few years ago. And paired with Darrell Revis, he’ll give Gang Green the best CB tandem in the league… which should make our #1 ranked defense even better. (We’ll get Kris Jenkins back as well).

Hey, maybe nobody will EVER score on us next season.

So now all we need is a stud pass-rusher and sack artist. Oh, Vernon Gholston, won’t you please show up to play one day???

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Tags: nfl

The Green Light

March 2, 2010 at 11:32 pm

Thanks, everyone. The outpouring of enthusiasm has been amazing. The comments are piling up here faster than Ty can unscreen ’em, my phone is ringing off the hook, and my email is exploding. And of course the story is all over the internet. Quite a day.

For the six of you who may not have seen it elsewhere, here’s a production still from the pilot sent out by HBO.

Lots, lots more to come in the days and weeks and months ahead. I will probably not be the best source for most of it, however. I’ll be here writing, while David and Dan will be out in the center of the storm, writing the scripts and supervising pre-production.

On other fronts, I hit page 1311 yesterday. No, not done yet.

For some reason, got nothing written today.

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Tags: a dance with dragons, a game of thrones, hbo

HBO

March 2, 2010 at 2:53 pm

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/hbo-will-play-game-of-thrones/

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/03/hbo-greenlights-game-of-thrones-.html

<lj-embed id=”33″/>

http://tv.ign.com/articles/107/1073428p1.html

http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/hbo-says-yes-to-game-of-t.php

… and many more.

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Tags: a game of thrones, hbo

Win A Warrior

March 1, 2010 at 12:51 pm

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is running a giveaway for Advanced Reading Copies of WARRIORS, the big crossgenre anthology I did with Gardner Dozois.

For more details, go to

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2010/03/win-copy-of-warriors-anthology-edited.html

And for those of you who don’t win, WARRIORS will be in the bookstores on March 16.

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Tags: anthologies, tor

The Ides of March

March 1, 2010 at 10:38 am

So… March is upon us. The month when HBO will announce its decision on A GAME OF THRONES.

(Yes, I know, I know, it is not actually the Ides until March 15, but the phrase is so fraught with drama I could not resist).

I have absolutely no idea whether “March” will translate to “early March” or “the end of March.” The decision could be announced today, for all I know. Or maybe they will make us all wait until March 31. The Ides… well, maybe not. I don’t know if I can wait another fifteen days, and anyway that date has ominous connotations. “Beware the Ides of March,” and all that. So please let us know before that, HBO.

From the start of this, I’ve told myself, “Don’t get too emotionally invested in this, or you will be devastated if it doesn’t go.” Wise words, those. I’m a smart guy.

But easier said than done. I’ve failed. I am totally emotionally invested, and if HBO does indeed decide to pass, for whatever reason, I will be gutted.

So let’s all hope I am soon doing the happy dance instead.

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Tags: a game of thrones, hbo

Not a Blog

Fond Memories of Spain

Coming to Chicago

The Cage Matches…

Slaughter at Suvudu

A Blast from the Past

Off Season

The Green Light

HBO

Win A Warrior

The Ides of March

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