OK, there’s the Dark Sword poll below.

I’ve never done a poll on Live Journal before, so let’s hope I haven’t screwed it up.

The top four finishers will be part of Dark Sword’s second wave of figures, sculpted by the incomparable Tom Meier.

Please… if you have no interest in miniatures, do not vote. This is not a “who is your favorite character?” poll. This is a “which miniature do you want?” poll.

I’m looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

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Subterranean Press is now shipping its deluxe limited editions of both FEVRE DREAM and HUNTER’S RUN, for those who love fine books. These are gorgeous editions, and extensively illustrated. Justin Sweet did the art of FEVRE DREAM, Bob Eggleton on HUNTER’S RUN. Yum yum.

We will be running a more extensive story about this on my website news page, but I wanted to drop a quick mention here in case any of you want to hop over to Subterranean and snag a copy before they’re all gone. Bill Schafer tells me that only 75 copies remain unsold of the FEVRE DREAM print run, so if you want one, don’t hesitate too long.

(I love illustrated books. All books should be illustrated).

The Subpress site is at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/

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Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be closing the miniatures balloting on Tuesday. That will be one full week, enough time for everyone to vote.

Barring a flood of new votes in the last few days, it looks as though the winners will be Tyrion (overwhelmingly), Robb, Brienne, and the Red Viper. Prince Oberyn leads the current fifth-place candidate, Asha Greyjoy, by over a hundred votes, and the margin is widening.

I’ve never done one of these before, and I must say, I am finding the results fascinating. So are my friends at Dark Sword. Interestingly enough, on Dark Sword’s other main lines — the ranges based on the artwork of Larry Elmore and Keith Parkinson — the hot babes in chainmail bikinis regularly outsell all other miniatures. No woman in Westeros would be caught dead in a chainmail bikini, of course (well, actually, if a real woman warrior ever wore one of these things, she WOULD be found dead, and very quickly), but we still made sure to include several hot babes in our own list of choices.

Well, Asha Greyjoy is doing well enough, and will finish just out of the money, looks like… but Shae and Arianne Martell are both bringing up the rear, running behind even Prince Joffrey at this juncture. Instead my readers want a dwarf, a bisexual Dornishman, and the homeliest woman in the Seven Kingdoms. Okay.

So what does that mean? Are my readers less horny than Elmore and Parkinson fans? Do they have something against scantily clad women? Is it my large female readership weighing in against sexist stereotypes in fantasy? Is it more just a reflection on the specific characters (Asha’s strong showing would suggest that)?

Interesting to speculate, anyway…

The characters who don’t make the cut this time will have another shot somewhere down the line, have no fear. So long as you guys keep buying these, Dark Sword will keep making more, and we hope to get to everyone eventually.

My thanks to all of you who voted. The turnout has been astonishing.

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Music: The Natchez and the Robert E. Lee
Lord Pat of the Hot List is doing it again, aided and abetted by Bill Schafer and the good folks at Subterranean Press.

Pat is running another one of his infamous contests, this one for a copy of the signed, numbered limited edition of my historical horror novel, FEVRE DREAM. Like all the books SubPress puts out, this will be a gorgeous example of the bookmaker’s art, and it’s lavishly illustrated by Justin Sweet, who has painted the cover and three more full color plates and done a bunch of gorgeous pen and inks for the interior as well. Abner and Joshua have never looked so good.

To win your free copy of FEVRE DREAM, head on over to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist at

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2008/02/win-copy-of-limited-edition-of-george-r.html

And if you’d rather not take your chances with a contest and would rather just buy yourself a copy of the book, you can do that at Subterranean’s website:

http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=martin2&Category_Code=PRE&Product_Count=20

And remember, always keep your steam up.

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… where are my football games?

Damn. Even after a SuperBowl victory, the end of the NFL season always leaves you feeling empty. (And no, I don’t count the Pro Bowl as a real football game).

Well, the Draft’s not too far off.

Meanwhile, it’s back to working seven days a week, I guess.

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