Not a Blog

Off to Estonia

July 12, 2009 at 10:20 pm
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Finncon is fini. Parris and I have just staggereed back to our hotel room from the dead reindeer party. The party is still going strong and we would love to have stayed longer… till sunset, at least… but we have to be up early tomorrow to catch a ferry to Estonia, where I’ll be doing a signing in Tallinn. Then the next day it’s back across the sea to Helsinki again, just long enough to set off for Turku, where I’ve got another signing.

Finncon was terrific. The warmth and hospitality we’ve found here has completely ruined my image of Finland as a frozen wasteland. Who knew? The sauna was fun too. And then there were all the cute anime girls in costume offering free hugs…

Thanks to all my Finnish friends. Now off to Estonia!

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Here in Helsinki

July 8, 2009 at 10:17 am
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So we’re here in Helsinki, me from Santa Fe and Phipps by way of Ireland. Grey skies and rain, but the people are warm and friendly. Yesterday we visited Sveaborg, the great island fortress that I’ve written two stories about. “Gibraltar of the North,” it was dubbed by John Quincy Adams. I can only conclude that JQA had never actually seen the Gibraltar of the south, since the resemblence between the two is nonexistent. Sveaborg is pretty cool in its own right, however, and I’m glad to have seen it.

The con proper starts tomorrow. Some come to Finncon if you can. It’s free!

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Finncon Approaches

June 30, 2009 at 9:53 am
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I am closing down book sales for a while, since I leave for Finland on July 5. Reopen in late July or August. If there’s a signed book you want, please wait till then.

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Stick Them With the Pointy End

June 28, 2009 at 10:33 pm
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Just got word from the good folks at Valyrian Steel. They are now taking preorders for their full-size replica of Needle. (Arya not included).

To place an order or get more details, visit their website at http://www.valyriansteel.com/shop/swords/needle-sword-of-arya-stark/prod_3.html

And if you want be the first kid on your block to collect the complete armory, copies of Jon Snow’s Longclaw are still available as well.

Don’t be fooled by the pictures, the two swords are nowhere near the same size.

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Guarded Optimism

June 22, 2009 at 11:55 pm
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I almost hate to say anything here, for fear of jinxing it… but for what it’s worth, the last six weeks or so have been the most productive period I’ve had on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS in… well… a year at least, maybe several. In the last three days I’ve completed three new chapters. Not from scratch, mind you, these were all chapters that had been partially written, and in some cases rewritten, for months if not years. But they’re finally done, and I’ve just reread them, and I’m almost convinced that they’re Not Crap.

We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

Anyway, I know I don’t talk about DANCE frequently here, and that’s not going to change. Sorry, but I’m never going to be one of these writers who blogs daily about how many words they produced today. I don’t like to talk about the good days for fear of jinxing myself (all writers are superstitious at heart, just like baseball players), and I don’t like to talk about the bad days… well, just because. Writing is like sausage making in my view; you’ll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what’s gone into it.

But I am making a small exception now because… well, I’m feeling rather jazzed right now, and for the first time in a very long while, I think I can see a glimmering that might just be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now if I can only slash through the Meereenese knot that I’ve been worrying at since 2005, I may actually start to get excited.

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A Star from LIBRARY JOURNAL

June 15, 2009 at 4:32 pm
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A very nice starred review from LIBRARY JOURNAL for our Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH. Check it out:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6664389.html?industryid=47120

Copies of the illustrated trade hardcover of the book are still available from Subterranean Press via their website.

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SUICIDE KINGS Sample

June 11, 2009 at 1:12 pm
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For all you Wild Cards fans out there, I’ve changed the WC sample on my website, replacing the BUSTED FLUSH scene with a cool one from SUICIDE KINGS, written by Ian Tregillis (look for his his novel next year from Tor!) and featuring Rustbelt.

You can check it out at http://www.georgerrmartin.com/wc-s.html

SUICIDE KINGS will be published at the end of the year. This is the concluding volume of the Committee triad. Besides Ian T, the writers are Caroline Spector, Melinda M. Snodgrass, S.L. Farrell, Daniel Abraham, and Victor W. Milan. Featured viewpoint characters will be Rustbelt, the Amazing Bubbles, Double Helix, Gardener, Bugsy, and the Radical, but the rest of the gang will be on hand as well.

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New Figures From Dark Sword

June 11, 2009 at 12:08 pm
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Dark Sword has just released their long-awaited Tyrion Lannister miniature, previewed below. The figure is available in both 28mm and 54mm scales, unpainted. The new Theon Greyjoy figure and a couple of cool hedge knights sclupted by Jeff Grace have also been added to the 29mm range, along with lots of new additions from Dark Sword’s other lines.

To order, visit Dark Sword’s online store at http://darkswordminiatures.com/store.html

They take PayPal now as well.

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Vance Tribute Available on Amazon UK

June 10, 2009 at 6:04 pm
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I should mention that the Subterranean Press editions of our Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, are not the only versions. Luitingh will be offering a Dutch translation of the book in the Netherlands, Tor will be doing a trade hardback and trade paperback in 2010 and a mass market paperback the following year… and Harper Collins Voyager will be publishing the title in the UK, for all Jack’s British and Australian fans.

The British version of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH is now available for preorder from Amazon UK at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Dying-Earth-George-Martin/dp/product-description/0007277482

The stories, of course, will be exactly the same in all editions. Only the Subterranean Press editions will include Tom Kidd’s interior illustrations, however.

Whichever version you buy, Gardner Dozois and I hope you will enjoy the read.

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Lucius Shepard Visits Dying Earth

June 8, 2009 at 2:28 pm
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SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, the big Jack Vance tribute anthology I edited with Gardner Dozois, is at the printers now, but you can get a free sample of the treats awaiting you therein, courtesy of Bill Schafer and the other good folks at Subterranean Press.

“Sylgarmo’s Proclamation,” Lucius Shepard’s original novellette of the Dying Earth, is now available at Subterranean Online at http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring-2009/

So take a look… and if you like what you see, copies of the illustrated trade hardcover are still available from Subterranean. But don’t wait too long. The lettered and numbered editions are already sold out, and Tor’s hardcover won’t be published until 2010.

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