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Off Season

March 5, 2010 at 4:17 pm
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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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The Green Light

March 2, 2010 at 11:32 pm
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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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HBO

March 2, 2010 at 2:53 pm
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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

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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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Win A Warrior

March 1, 2010 at 12:51 pm
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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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The Ides of March

March 1, 2010 at 10:38 am
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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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Winter Olympics

March 1, 2010 at 12:02 am
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Parris and I watched a fair amount of the Winter Olympics. ’twas okay. Some stirring moments, some excitement, drama, grace, all that.

Some of these sports are silly, though. I mean, really. Two man luge? The top guy lying on the bottom guy, both of them flat on their backs, careening down an ice chute? Why not eight-man luge? Just stack ’em up, keeping the stack together would be real exciting.

And really — this one is going to get me in trouble, I know — if you don’t know who won until some judge holds up a card or enters a number on a computer, it’s not a sport. Now listen. I am not saying it doesn’t require incredible skill, grace, strength, what have you. I am not saying the participants are not athletes, even. I am certainly not saying this stuff should not exist. But it’s not a sport. I mean, really. Ice dancing? Dancing is an art. Has been an art for thousands of years. Doing it on ice doesn’t change that. And when it’s Russians dressed up as faux Australian aborigines or Americans ice dancing a Moldavian folk dance, it’s REALLY not a sport.

All these judged “sports” are too subjective. A real sport may require umps or refs, but you know who won when the contest is over. We didn’t have to sit around after the SuperBowl saying, “well, the Saints scored more points, but the Colts attempted more long passes, so their degree of difficulty was harder, and the judges will certainly give Dwight Feeney points for that triple spin move, even though he didn’t get the sack. It could be close…”

I propose a new sport for the next Winter Olympics. A REAL sport. Ice football. Played exactly the same way as real (American) football, except everyone is on ice skates. I mean, we have field hockey and ice hockey, why not field football and ice football? Just think of the excitement as Peyton Manning skates backward to get off the pass and those speed skaters on the D-line come flashing after him while his wideouts do spins and triple axels trying to lose the CBs… most exciting sport EVER!!!

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The Meereenese Knot…

February 26, 2010 at 7:51 pm
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… may be fraying, just a little.

But don’t quote me on that.

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Green Ronin Special

February 23, 2010 at 2:04 pm
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Green Ronin Games is about to go to press with the new Campaign Guide for their SONG OF ICE AND FIRE ROLE-PLAYING GAME, and to help launch the guide they’ve announced a pre-order special. Anyone who pre-orders the Campaign Guide direct from Green Roning will get the PDF version of the book for free immediately. The PDF is normally $20 on its own.

For more info, and to place those pre-orders, go to
http://www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr2703.html

The special will continue until the book comes back from the printer, Green Ronin tells me.

And check out some of the other SIFRPG products while you’re there. In addition to the game itself, Green Roning also offers —

— the adventure module PERIL AT KING’S LANDING,

— a cool Narrator’s Kit with 3-panel screen, poster map, and 16-page booklet,

— a PDF ebook adventure module, WEDDING KNIGHT,

Be the first kid on your block to collect the whole set.

(Lots of cool art in these too).

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Odds and Ends and Snow

February 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm
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Another snowy day in Santa Fe. Winter has bloody well come, and refuses to leave.

Yesterday’s SUICIDE KINGS signing at Barnes & Noble in Albuquerque went well, I think. We had a nice, enthusiastic crowd and signed a lot of books. Poor Vic Milan came down with some sort of creeping crud and had to cancel, but Carrie Vaughn, Caroline Spector, John Jos. Miller, Ian Tregillis, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Daniel Abraham, and yours truly were all on hand, defacing books. We signed a considerable amount of stock as well, so if you’re looking for an autographed title by any of the above, contact B&N at Coronado Center.



(photos by Parris)

Speaking of Wild Cards, we have some good news for my Italian fans. I’ve just signed contracts for Italian language translations of the first three volumes of the series (WILD CARDS, ACES HIGH, and JOKERS WILD). The publisher will be RCS Libri. Needless to say, if these books do well, the rest of the series will follow in good tine.

On other fronts, I’m going to be coming to Minnesota in November. Fantasy Flight Games is bringing me in as a special guest for ‘Days of Ice and Fire,’ a weekend-long celebration of Westeros at FFG’s new Events Center in Roseville, MN. FFG will be running tournaments for their Ice & Fire card game and board games, and I’ll be doing a Q&A, several signing sessions, and maybe a reading from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. More details can be found on FF’s own site at http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1120 We’ll know more about the schedule when we get closer to the event.

Another visit to a big midwestern city is in the works as well, and much sooner than the FFG event, but I can’t talk about that one yet. Watch this space. Announcement soon.

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Just A Reminder…

February 19, 2010 at 11:21 pm
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… for all you New Mexicans, and anyone passing through.

Tomorrow (that is, Saturday, February 20) is the SUICIDE KINGS signing at Barnes & Noble in Albuquerque. It’s at the Coronado Center B&N, starting at 1:30 pm, and lasting… well, until we’ve scrawled in all the books you have for us.

In attendance, besides myself, will be SUICIDE KINGS contributors Melinda (Double Helix) Snodgrass, Victor (Radical) Milan, Daniel (Bugsy) Abraham, Ian (Rustbelt) Tregillis, and Caroline (Bubbles) Spector. (The elusive S.L. Farrell will miss this one too. He’s a hard man to pin down).

Also on hand, all the way from Colorado, will be wild carder Carrie Vaughn, who will be signing copies of her new Kitty Norville novel, KITTY’S HOUSE OF HORRORS.

Carrie will be glad to sign her stories in INSIDE STRAIGHT and BUSTED FLUSH too, as will John Jos. (Carnifex) Miller, also expected to be on hand. And for Wild Card completists, there’s a chance we might also glimpse Gail (Peregrine) Gerstner Miller, Laura (Lamia) Mixon, and maybe even Ty (Tinkerbill) Franck.

So be there or be square.

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