Current Mood: 
awake
Long Night Casting
October 30, 2018 at 4:31 pm
Casting is now underway for THE LONG NIGHT, the first of the GAME OF THRONES successor series to ordered to film.
HBO has just announced the first cast member: NAOMI WATTS is coming on board as one of our stars.
For more details, check out https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/game-of-thrones-prequel-pilot-naomi-watts-hbo-1202977630/
I could not be more excited. Welcome to Westeros, Naomi.
Jane Goldman scripted the LONG NIGHT pilot and will be running the show. She and her team are busy in London right now, neck deep in casting, and I expect some more names will be announced soon.
Meanwhile, there are still a couple of other possible prequels in active development. I can’t tell you the subject matter of those projects, no, sorry, wish I could. The readers among you might want to grab a copy of FIRE & BLOOD when it is released on November 20, though.
And speaking of FIRE & BLOOD, tickets are going fast for our big launch at Loew’s Jersey on Journal Square on November 19. If you’d like to join us, snag one soon and come join me and John Hodgman for an evening of talk about Westeros, in a classic old movie palace.
Current Mood: 
excited
Tags: hbo, television
NIGHTFLYERS Coming Your Way
October 26, 2018 at 4:24 pm
NIGHTFLYERS, the new SyFy series based on my 1980 novella of the same name, is heading for your home screens soon.
SyFy has just announced that they will be rolling out the show on DECEMBER 2, on all platforms. Netflix will follow.
A new trailer has also been unveiled.
I saw the first episode on my recent visit to LA, after the Emmy Awards (for anyone who wasn’t watching — we WON). Yes, there are significant differences from my novella. I always knew that would be the case; there was no way the novella, which has a very definite ending, could translate to a multi-season series. On its own terms, though, the show is very well made; the sets and effects look gorgeous, and there’s a terrific, talented cast, and a story that even I cannot predict. And of course, as I have said before, it was a thrill for me to finally see Melantha Jhirl portrayed the way I wrote her.
The show is pretty scary too. Make no mistake, this is as much horror as it is science fiction. By design.
Anyway… check it out on Netflix or SyFy and make up your own minds. (You’ll do that anyway, I know. My readers are like that).
For all the details of the rollout plan, go to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nightflyers-syfy-sets-multi-platform-170016282.html — or your favorite TV news sources on the internet.
(And for those who want to check out my original story, signed copies are available from the bookstore at the Jean Cocteau Cinema).
Current Mood: 
bouncy
Tags: science fiction, television
I’m Number 48!
October 25, 2018 at 4:12 pm
The Great American Read is over, and the final standings were revealed on PBS in the season finale.
A GAME OF THRONES (well, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, more precisely) finished 48th. Pretty cool. I was in the top 50, anyway, and I edged out the FOUNDATION series and WAR AND PEACE. Not half bad. But really, just being on the list at all was amazing. I mean, being included among in America’s top one hundred favorite novels out of… well, out of all the novels ever written, actually… that’s not too shabby.
Just to be in this company was enormously gratifying. Though, like everyone else, I could have quibbled over some of the selections. (I mean, Ayn Rand? Really? C’mon. And while Mark Twain certainly deserved to be on the list, I am baffled as to why they would choose to represent him with TOM SAWYER rather than HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Charles Dickens is a must, of course, and GREAT EXPECTATIONS is well regarded, but I would have gone with A TALE OF TWO CITIES myself. And if they had nominated A CHRISTMAS CAROL, beloved as it is, Dickens might have finished in the top five. I was thrilled to see so much SF and fantasy on the list, but troubled by the omission of some of our genre’s classics. Where was H.G. Wells? Surely THE TIME MACHINE or WAR OF THE WORLDS belonged on the ballot. And Heinlein… if you are going to include SF at all, you have to include RAH, imnsho. That being said, SF and fantasy came out better than some other genres. There were a couple mystery novels contending, but no Chandler, no Hammett. Well, I could go on and on… and you guys will no doubt have opinions as well. All in all, I think it was a very good list, but by no means a definitive one).
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD won, and led from pillar to post, it was announced. And my friend Diana Gabaldon finished second with her OUTLANDER series, a truly wonderful accomplishment. Congratulations to Diana, and kudos to her fans.
LORD OF THE RINGS, which I endorsed in the season premiere, came in fifth. Yay Tolkien! Yay fantasy!
Millions of people voted… and more importantly, millions of people READ, and were exposed to books they might elsewise never have encountered. This was a wonderful idea, and I hope PBS does it again in a few years… maybe with a different hundred books. There are so so many great books out there, and anything that promotes reading and literature is to be commended.
A tip of the hat to everyone who voted. Even if you didn’t vote for me.
Comments allowed… but ONLY on the Great American Read, literature, reading, and all that good stuff.
Current Mood: 
contemplative
NEW Wild Cards story on Tor.com
October 24, 2018 at 11:30 am
We’re proud to announce a brand new story from the Wild Cards World, written by Max Gladstone entitled “Fitting In” and featuring the antics of Rubberband.
Here’s a link to the full text at Tor.com with art provided by the ever impressive John Picacio
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER
Current Mood: 
cheerful
Jets Crash
October 22, 2018 at 12:14 pm
Life is meaningless…
At least for Jets fans. Just when the team had won a couple in a row and looked as if it has turned a corner, reality set in with a painful loss to the Vikings. The Jets hung in there for a long time and looked as if they actually had a chance, only to collapse in the second half. The defense played hard throughout, despite the absence of three starters in the secondary. By the end of the game, however, they were plainly exhausted from having been on the field so much.
The offense, however, was inept from start to finish. Our kid quarterback, Sam Darnold, threw three interceptions, which will kill you every time. He was turnover prone in college as well; that was the biggest black mark against him in the draft. Unless he can get that under control and stop throwing the ball to the other team, all the talk about him being the next Joe Namath may be way premature (though, to be fair, Broadway Joe threw quite a few INTs himself). He may not even be the next Chad Pennington (I still miss Chad, who is way underrated). The offensive playcalling was pretty questionable as well. Way too conservative.
And next week, the Bears await.
Meanwhile, I have the Giants game to “look forward to” tonight. Hoo boy. The G-Men look terrible.
This looks as if it is going to be another long, painful year.
((Comments permitted, but ONLY about football))
Current Mood: 
morose
The Creators
October 18, 2018 at 6:06 am
Funko Pop has just rolled out a new boxed set for collectors of GAME OF THRONES figures.
Not the characters this time. The writers. Me, David Benioff, and D.B. Weiss.
They’re calling it The Creators.
I suspect that this is the only time I will ever be as tall as David Benioff.
Current Mood: 
amused
RIP, Paul
October 16, 2018 at 1:37 pm
I was saddened yesterday to read of the death of Paul Allen.
I cannot claim to have known Paul well, but I met him a few times, and always enjoyed his company. He had a house in Santa Fe, and when he was there, we would sometimes get together for a breakfast and talk about… well, all sorts of things.
With great power comes great responsibility, Stan Lee once wrote. In the modern world, there is no power greater than wealth. Paul Allen used his great wealth for the benefit of his community, his country, and his planet. He left the world a better place than he found it, and no more can be asked of any man.
This was a kind man, a bright man, a profoundly good man. He will be missed.
Current Mood: 
sad
Tags: life and death
Superheroes v Aces
October 13, 2018 at 9:55 am
Here’s a cool new video from the Wild Cards event at the Jean Cocteau in August of 2017, wherein our wild card authors discuss their favorite comic book superheroes… and whether their own Wild Cards characters could take them in a fight.
Yes, it took us quite a while to get this edited and on line. Sorry about that. What can I say? We’re busy.
I wasn’t interviewed myself, since I was busy running around herding cats and running the whole shebang. But if I had been I would have said my own favorites were the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, and a few oddball titles like the Challengers of the Unknown, Space Ranger, and Cosmo the Merry Martian. How would my Wild Cards characters have done against them? Hmmmm… well, depends on the match-up. Doc Strange could probably wipe the floor with any of my guys, him being the Master of the Mystic Arts and all, but Lohengrin and the Turtle could have given most of the others a good fight, and Popinjay maybe couldn’t defeat them, but he could send them to another planet light years away, which would be distinctly inconvenient for most of them. Oh, and any of my guys could take Cosmo the Merry Martian.
Comments permitted… but ONLY on superhero death matches, please.
Current Mood: amused
“Retro Geffen Award” for Best Translated Fantasy
October 10, 2018 at 8:14 am
GRRM received a “Retro Geffen Award” for Best Translated Fantasy !
The Geffen, is presented by the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy every year at the ICon festival. We were unable to attend the festival, but George is grateful to receive this honored award from the Israeli Society. Thanks for helping us spread a bit of Westeros around the world!
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER
Current Mood: 
accomplished
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