This year’s SuperBowl kind of sucked, but as ever the commercials were fun — especially the Bud Light commercial. No one was more surprised — and delighted — by the twist it took than I was.
Here’s an extended version:
Now that we’ve taken care of the Bud Knight, we need to send some dragons after Colonel Sanders and the Energized Bunny, I’m thinking.
Current Mood: 
surprised
I had a big new Westeros book published last year (official publication date November 20, 2018) — FIRE & BLOOD, covering the history of the Targaryen kings from Aegon’s Conquest to the regency of Aegon III. It’s been doing rather well, thank you. Debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and is still in the top ten two months later. And just last week, we got a great review in KIRKUS, a notoriously tough journal.
The question of its Hugo eligibility is… well, trickier than usual.
FIRE & BLOOD is eligible, certainly. But what category does it belong in?
There’s Best Novel, the “Big One” A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, A FEAST FOR CROWS, and A STORM OF SWORDS were all nominated for the Best Novel Hugo in years past (they all lost, to be sure, but never mind). In all of the promotional interviews I did leading up to the book’s release, however, I took pains to stress that FIRE & BLOOD was not a novel but rather a work of imaginary history (I used to say “fake history,” but some of my readers objected). I did not want anyone buying the book under the misapprehension that it was the latest volume in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. After saying over and over again “this is not a novel,” it would be rather disingenuous of me to accept a Hugo (should it win, which I must admit is rather unlikely) or even a nomination in the Best Novel category.
Alas, there is no Hugo category for “Best Imaginary History.”
It has been pointed out to me that the publication of FIRE & BLOOD makes me eligible for nomination in the new (relatively) Best Series category. Well, yes, I suppose. It depends on one’s definition of what constitutes a series. Worldcon’s definition is considerably broader than my own, for what it’s worth. Many SF writers have set their stories against a common background or “future history,” a term originated by Heinlein and popularized by Campbell. My own Thousand Worlds stories fit that template, but I don’t consider them a series. They share a background, but that’s all; except for the Tuf stories, there are no recurring characters, and the tales are set hundreds of years and hundreds of light years apart. (The Haviland Tuf stories, a subset of my Thousand Worlds, ARE a series, as I define the term). At the other extreme, you have what I’ll call “mega-novels,” stories spread across many books because of length. Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RINGS was not a series, as I see it, but one long novel published in three volumes.
Those are my definitions, however. Not worldcon’s. The Hugo rules are much looser, and would seem to include future histories, mega-novels, and true series all in the same Best Series category.
For what it’s worth, I do not consider A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE to be a series. It’s one story. A huge complicated story, admittedly, one that will take seven volumes to tell (once I finish the last two). And in any case, FIRE & BLOOD is not strictly speaking a part of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. It’s imaginary history set hundreds of years before any of the characters in SONG were born. Yes, I suppose if you bundle FIRE & BLOOD, the five ASOI&F novels, and the three Dunk & Eggs novellas (collected as A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS) together, you have a series of sorts. I wouldn’t even know what to call it. The Westeros series? The Seven Kingdoms series? Not GAME OF THRONES or ICE & FIRE, certainly. So…
I don’t know.
So… if not Best Novel, and not Best Series, where would FIRE & BLOOD fit on the Hugo ballot? If anywhere?
My suggestion: Best Related Work.
That seems to be the best description of what the book actually is. It’s an imaginary history, related to five published ICE & FIRE novels, but not a novel and not a part of that story. A WORLD OF ICE & FIRE, the concordance we published several years ago, was its closest precursor. That volume got some nominations in Best Related Work, though it did not come close to making the final five. But there’s a precedent of sorts, so…
If you read and enjoyed FIRE & BLOOD and would like to nominate it for a Hugo, I would urge you to consider Related Work rather than Novel or Series. (If you haven’t read it yet, hey, you can still get autographed copies from the bookshop at the Jean Cocteau Cinema).
And while I am the subject of the Best Related Work Hugo, let me make a recommendation that has nothing whatsoever to do with my own work (though my name is mentioned once, fwiw): ASTOUNDING, by Alec Nevala-Lee, an amazing and engrossing history of John W. Campbell Jr and his authors, Isaac Asimov, L. Ron Hubbard, and Robert A. Heinlein. Insightful, entertaining, and compulsively readable, it brings Campbell and his era back to life. I thought I knew a lot about Astounding, Campbell, and his authors, but Nevala-Lee goes way way deeper than any previous history I’ve read, and his book is full of stuff I never knew. Of course, I’d love to have my own book nominated (I value the Hugo more than any other award), but I suspect that ASTOUNDING will win the rocket in the end. It certainly deserves to.
Current Mood: 
confused
Valyrian Steel has relaunched sales for two of George’s favorite replicas; King Robert’s Warhammer and Longclaw.
Numbers are limited so get yours now!
Current Mood: 
null
As I was saying… nominations are now open for the 2019 Hugo Awards, to be presented this August in Dublin. You need to be a member of either the Dublin worldcon, or last year’s gathering in San Jose, to nominate.
There are two rockets given for editing. As with drama, the editorial awards are split into Long Form and Short Form. In simple terms, the Long Form award is for those who edit books (novels, mostly), and the Short Form for magazine and anthology editors. (Before they split the award, the magazine editors won everything, and the book editors got nothing).
Lots and lots of good editors out there.
In Long Form, I recommend you strongly consider two of my own editors: ANNE LESLEY GROELL of Bantam Spectra/ Random Penguin in the US, and JANE JOHNSON of Harper Collins Voyager in the UK. Anne and Jane have both been doing amazing work for decades, and have been criminally unrecognized. Anne has only been nominated for a Hugo once, and Jane has never been a finalist at all… though she has been one of the major players in the British SF scene for as long as I can remember, and has built Voyager into one of the top UK genre publishers. Last year, both of them did some incredible work… especially for me. They were the editors on FIRE & BLOOD, my book of imaginary Westerosi history. Let’s look beyond the usual suspects this year, and nominate these two amazing women.
In Short Form… well, we have the usual suspects here as well, in a category usually dominated by the editors of the major magazines, both print and electronic. Anthology editors are eligible as well, however, so let me blush modestly and suggest that perhaps you might consider… well… me.
I have been editing the Wild Cards series since 1987, thirty one years and counting, and we’ve published some amazing stories over the years. I’ve edited my share of reprint anthologies and theme anthologies (many with Gardner Dozois), demanding gigs both, but neither one is as tenth as hard as editing a shared world anthology and pulling it all together. I did come in seventh on the long list once for my editorial work on Wild Cards (back when five works made the ballot), a decade or so back, but that’s the closest I’ve ever come. (No matter, it’s a labor of love, I sure don’t do it for the money). Wild Cards had an especially strong year in 2018, I believe. Though I’ve lost lots of Hugos as a writer, I’ve never lost one as a editor. Maybe this is the year.
Current Mood: 
hopeful
HBO has announced the premiere date for the eighth (and final) season of GAME OF THRONES.
Mark it down on your calendars: APRIL 14.
There’s a new teaser too (and a longer trailer in the works):
Current Mood: 
excited
Nominations are now open for the 2019 Hugo Awards, to be awarded this August in Dublin at the Irish Worldcon.
The Hugos (as most of you know) are the oldest and most prestigious award in science fiction and fantasy. They’ve been giving them since 1953, and the list of winners… and nominees… is a Who’s Who of our genre. Dublin 2019 will also be presenting the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, which dates to 1973, and the brand new Lodestar Award for YA fiction.
It is a huge honor to win a Hugo… and almost as great an honor to lose one. I should know. I’ve won a few, lost a lot more, and in 1976 Gardner Dozois and I started the Hugo Losers Party. (It still feels like a punch in the gut to type Gargy’s name, knowing he is gone). To nominate, you need to be a member of either Dublin 2019 or last year’s worldcon, Not ConJose II.
Paper ballots are available for those who want them, but these days most voting is electronic. Worldcon members will be sent a link to the nominating ballot by email. Nominations close on Friday March 15.
For more details about the awards, go to https://dublin2019.com/hugo-awards-wsfs/the-hugo-awards/
My most recent Hugo wins — and losses — have been in the Dramatic Presentation categories, where GAME OF THRONES has been been a strong contender. However, there were no episodes of GOT telecast in 2018, so the show is not eligible this year (the seventh season was shown in 2017, and the eighth and final season debuts this April). As it happens, however, I have another series for your consideration: NIGHTFLYERS, SyFy’s sf/horror series based on my 1980 novella (a Hugo finalist, and Hugo loser, in its day), all ten episodes of which were shown between December 2 and December 12.
There are two Drama categories in the Hugos, Long Form and Short Form, as determined by running time. Feature films usually dominate Long Form, and television shows Short Form. You can nominate a TV show in Long Form, but in that case you are nominating the entire season (GAME OF THRONES won its first Hugo in Long Form, as it happens). In Short Form, you need to nominate a specific episode. So if you’re a fan of NIGHTFLYERS, you can nominate the entire first season in Long Form, or one or more of the following episodes in Short Form:
01 “All We Left Behind”
02 “Torches and Pitchforks”
03 “The Abyss Stares Back”
04 “White Rabbit”
05 “Greywing”
06 “The Sacred Gift”
07 “Transmission”
08 “Rebirth”
09 “Icarus”
10 “All That We Have Found”
I expect the competition to be very tough in Dramatic Presentation, Short Form this year. This is a golden age for science fiction on television. Not all that long ago, we were lucky to have one or two genre shows worthy of nomination, but today, in this age of max tv, there are science fiction and fantasy shows everywhere you look — on the broadcast networks, on cable, on the streaming services. Recent winners THE GOOD PLACE and THE EXPANSE both had new episodes in 2018. Fans of superheroics had the Marvel shows on Netflix and the DC shows on the CW to choose from. Zombie lovers had THE WALKING DEAD and Z NATION. Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS had a fun third season. If starships and aliens were your thing, there was a new STAR TREK show and Seth McFarlane’s THE ORVILLE. And of course there is always DOCTOR WHO, a perennial powerhouse, this year with a brand new Doctor, the thirteenth. I’d be very surprised if there were not at least two episodes of DOCTOR WHO on the final ballot (recent rules changes make it impossible for there to be more than two). I’ve undoubtedly forgotten some other shows as well, and there may well be British and Irish shows of which I am entirely unaware… there’s just so much out there, that even someone deeply involved in television on a professional basis, like myself, cannot keep up.
I would like to recommend one series that has never been nominated, but IMNSHO deserves to be: OUTLANDER, based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling novels. I have a feeling that Hugo nominators tend to overlook the series because they think of it as a historical or a romance rather than science fiction. It IS both those things, of course, but it is also a time travel show… and more importantly, it’s superb. Amazing production values, well written (and quite faithful to Diana’s books), well directed, and well acted. The cast is doing fantastic work, especially the leads. If you haven’t watched OUTLANDER, you should check it out… and nominate your favorite episode, if you like it as much as Parris and I do.
Whatever you watch, whatever you like, NOMINATE. It IS a singular honor just to be nominated, and far fewer people nominate than vote on the final ballot, so this is your chance to let your voice be heard.
I will talk about some of the other categories in subsequent posts, over the next few weeks.
Current Mood: 
busy
It was twenty years ago today Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. But for the guys in the band, it probably did not seem that long.
A GAME OF THRONES was published in 1996. In 2016, to celebrate the twentienth anniversary, Bantam Spectra published a special deluxe leatherbound edition of the novel, lavishly and beautifully illustrated, with an introduction by John Hodgman.
The anniversary edition was a big success, and is still selling strongly two years later. (If you’d like to snag an autographed copy, you can get one from the bookstore at the Jean Cocteau. We are out of stock at the moment, but we have more on order, and I will be defacing them with my illegible scrawl as soon as they come in — which will, alas, probably not be in time for Xmas).
So… drum roll please… we’ve going to do it again.
The second volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, A CLASH OF KINGS, was published in 1999. (Seems like yesterday, honestly. And I still recall the three years between books, when readers would email me to ask what was taking so long for book two, since Other Fantasy Author [fill in your choice] put out a book a year, rain or shine, and why was I taking so long? Sigh. Those were the days, when I was only two years late). Next year will mark the twentieth anniversary of its release, so Bantam Spectra will be doing a deluxe leatherbound edition of CLASH as well.
As with GOT, the anniversary edition will be lavishly illustrated with both color plates and black and white.
Our artist this time around will be an amazing young talent named LAUREN CANNON. You can see some samples of her work on her own website, here: http://navate.com/ I love her paintings, and we’re all looking forward to working with her, and seeing her unique take on my world and characters.
Current Mood: 
cheerful
Thats right all you aspiring world builders, this years Odyssey Writing Workshop is now taking applications. Check out their website for all the juicy details:
Odyssey is for developing writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work. Those who attend must be ready to put aside all their other concerns and make a single-minded effort to improve their writing. This is a serious, demanding program. I’m constantly told by graduates that they learned more at Odyssey than they learned in years of workshopping and creative writing classes. You should not apply unless you are ready to hear about the weaknesses in your writing and ready to work to overcome them. Class meets for over 4½ hours, 5 days a week, and students use afternoons, evenings, and weekends to write, critique each other’s work, and complete other class assignments. Students spend at least 8 hours on “homework” each weekday and 12 hours per day on the weekend. You should come prepared to write new material, either short stories or novel chapters. After the first two weeks, you will not be able to submit anything that was written before the workshop began, unless you have radically revised it since arriving at Odyssey. The only way to improve is to write new material that incorporates what you have learned.
For those interested in financial aid, several scholarships and one work/study position are available.
The Miskatonic Scholarship will be awarded to a promising new writer of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It will cover full tuition, textbook, and housing. A separate application is required to demonstrate financial need. A panel of three judges will select the winner from among the applicants who have demonstrated financial need, using the short story or novel excerpts sent with the workshop applications. A few notes, “we are not looking for Lovecraft pastiches, nor even Cthulhu Mythos stories. References to Arkham, Azathoth, shoggoths, the Necronomicon, and the fungi from Yuggoth are by no means obligatory…though if some candidates choose to include them, that’s fine as well. What we want is the sort of originality that H. P. Lovecraft displayed in his day, something that goes beyond the tired tropes of werewolves, vampires and zombies, into places strange and terrifying and never seen before. What we want are nightmares new and resonant and profound, cosmic terrors that will haunt our dreams for years to come.” For more information contact the Odyssey Writing Workshop at jcavelos@odysseyworkshop.org for the Mistakonic application, which is due April 1.
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER
Current Mood: null
It appears I have been nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
(So has Peter Dinklage. And many other fine folks).
No idea whether or not you need to live in New Jersey… or at least be from New Jersey, as I am… in order to vote.
Current Mood: 
pleased
Meow Wolf is conquering America, city by city.
First came Santa Fe, in 2016.
Las Vegas is scheduled to open next year, in 2019.
Denver will follow, in 2020… and Denver will be HUUUUUUUGE.
And now, the latest announcement: Meow Wolf is moving on the nation’s capitol, Washington D.C.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meow-wolf-to-create-huge-exhibition-in-washington-dc-300763085.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/12/11/huge-multimedia-museum-meow-wolf-coming-to-fort.html
https://www.westword.com/arts/meow-wolf-breaking-ground-in-denver-breaking-news-with-dc-location-11056669
Lots more out there, if you need further details. The story is everywhere.
And if you haven’t seen the Meow Wolf documentary yet, track it down! You will even get a glimpse of me…
Current Mood: 
bouncy
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