VARIETY broke the story a couple of days ago, so this will be old news to many of you, but…
We have our hedge knight.
And he has his squire.
Peter Claffey will play Dunk. He’s a former professional rugby player turned actor. And he’s tall. Ok, maybe not quite as tall as Ser Duncan the Tall, but still plenty tall, and with the magic of television…
His readings were terrific. I think you’re going to love him.
As Egg, we’ve cast Dexter Sol Ansell. Most recently seen in the HUNGER GAMES prequel, but he’s got an amazing amount of experience for his age. I am told he cannot wait to shave his head. (Love that sort of commitment).
His auditions were wonderful as well.
Peter and Dexter. They should make one hell of a pair.
Many more parts to cast, of course, but we’re seeing some great candidates. More news soon, I hope.
THIS MESSAGE HAS BE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER
Long before the Wall fell, the Targaryens reigned with fire and blood.
From the conflict between Rhaenyra and Alicent to Daemon burning the Crabfeeder army,
explore the reign of the Targaryen Empire in Westeros with the official House of the
Dragon coloring book.
Featuring over 75 original illustrations and thick paper, this coloring book offers you a way to
relive the most dramatic moments from the show.
Interested in getting your colored pencils honed sooner? Download two coloring pages today
and create your own watch party decorations for the June 16 premiere of Season Two!
All must choose.
THIS MESSAGE HAS BE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER
It was Robert A. Heinlein who said we can never pay back the people who helped us when we started, so we need to pay forward instead.
The last week of February saw me return to the Chicago area, for a visit to my alma mater, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Not for a homecoming or a class reunion, no… but to give away a chair. February 28 was the official investiture for Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, a fellow Medill alum (Class of ’97) as the inaugural holder of the George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling.
I attended Medill back in what they now like to call “the turbulent 60s” (and no kidding, they were pretty turbulent), and departed with a couple of degrees, BSJ ’70, MSJ ’71. I did not get back often in the half-century that followed, alas. Life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. But I always looked back fondly on my years in Evanston, and the courses and teachers that helped shape me as a writer.
I had been writing long before I arrived in Illinois, of course. Monster stories for other kids in the projects in grade school (got a nickle each for them, enough for a Milky Way, and if I sold two I could buy a comic book) and amateur superhero stories for comic fanzines when I got to high school (Powerman, Dr. Weird, the White Raider, and Garizan the Mechanical Warrior), but it was during my years at Northwestern that I began to submit to professional magazines. It was while I was in Evanston that I got my first professional rejection slip (from AMERICAN SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW, for “The Fortress,” a story I wrote for a history class at Northwestern) and made my first professional sale (from GALAXY, for “The Hero,” a story I wrote for a creative writing class at Northwestern). So it seemed only fitting for me to “pay forward” to Medill for all I learned there, by endowing a chair in storytelling.
The investiture was my first opportunity to meet Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who was chosen over thirty other highly qualified applicants to be the first “GRRM Professor.” It seemed only fitting that I give her an actual chair, as well, as the title… so I did.
(I considered presenting her with a full-size Iron Throne, but it would not have fit in her new office).
Cheryl has written both fiction and non-fiction. She has been a news and fashion reporter for the Wall Street Journal, InStyle, the Baltimore Sun, and other major news outlets. Her books include the bestselling novel SARONG PARTY GIRLS, set in her native Singapore. She will teach both undergraduate and graduate students, organize panels and conferences, and conduct an intensive writing workshop every summer, to help professional journalists cross over into creative writing.
“Storytelling is at the foundation of our school, and Cheryl’s expertise in telling her own stories and helping others tell their stories will allow Medill to build on its tradition of excellence in this area,” Medill Dean Charles Whitaker said when announcing her appointment.
Medill presented Cheryl Tan with a splendid medallion at her investiture. (She is wearing it in the picture above). And hey, I got one too.
It was such a delight to be back in Evanston, if only for a few hours… and to meet Cheryl Tan. I expect that she’ll be terrific.
I am thrilled to announce that DARK WINDS has won a second Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, for the best television drama of 2024. This is the second year in a row that DARK WINDS has taken the prize.
The winning episode was “Hozho nahasdlii (Beauty is Restored),” the finale from our second season, shown last spring on AMC and AMC+. Chris Eyre directed, from a script penned by John Wirth and Graham Roland, based on the novel PEOPLE OF DARKNESS, by the late great Tony Hillerman. Zahn McClarnon starred as Joe Leaphorn, with Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee, and Jessica Matson as Bernadette Manuelito. The producing team includes Chris, Graham, Zahn, Jim Chory, Anne Hillerman, Vince Gerardis, Tina Elmo, and me.
Here’s yours truly with last year’s Wrangler. This year’s trophies will be presented in Oklahoma April 12-13.
(It’s a pretty formidable trophy, all in bronze).
Meanwhile, we are moving ahead with the third season of DARK WINDS, which will start shooting this week in Santa Fe, at the Candle Rock Studio and on location around the state. And AMC is giving us EIGHT episodes this season, rather than six as with seasons one and two! More Hillerman to savor!
If you haven’t seen DARK WINDS yet, check it out. The first two seasons are streaming on AMC+. It’s a damn fine show, and I think it’s past time Zahn McClarnon got an Emmy. Maybe next year,
Howard Waldrop is gone, but his work will live on.
We’ve completed work on two more short films, based on a couple of Howard’s best stories (he wrote so many, it was very hard to choose).
You can find the trailer for MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER several posts down.
And here’s the latest one, an adaptation of Howard’s most famous story, THE UGLY CHICKENS. Winner of the Nebula. Winner of the World Fantasy Award. Nominee for the Hugo, but, alas, not a winner. A pity, that. Howard never won a Hugo, but in some more Waldropian world he has ten of them lined up on his mantle.
Felicia Day (SUPERNATURAL, THE GUILD, DR. HORRIBLE’S SING ALONG BLOG) stars in our film of “that dodo story.” Mark Raso (COPENHAGEN, KODACHRONE) directed. Michael Cassutt (TWILIGHT ZONE, MAX HEADROOM, TV101, EERIE INDIANA, and many more) did the screenplay.
Howard saw a rough cut of the film before he died. He liked it, which pleases me no end. I only wish we had been able to screen the final cut for him.
Meanwhile, here’s our trailer.
We’re taking THE UGLY CHICKENS and MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER out on the film festival circuit, as we did with NIGHT OF THE COOTERS before them. Don’t know yet when and where you will be able to see them — that depends on the festivals — but watch this space, and I will be sure to let you know where the films are playing.
Exciting news for all the Wild Cards fans out there. Today is the publication day for the newest Wild Cards hardcover from Bantam, the thirty-third volume in the overall series… but no, you do not need to have read the first thirty-two to enjoy this book.
SLEEPER STRADDLE is the title. And yes, as our long-time readers will no doubt guess, this one features a character who has been around since the first Wild Cards Day (September 15, 1946 — the day Howard Waldrop was born): the Sleeper, created by the late great Roger Zelazny.
In poker, a sleeper straddle is a blind raise, made from a position other than the player “under the gun.” Sleepers are often considered illegal out-of-turn play and are commonly disallowed. In Wild Cards, the Sleeper is Croyd Crenson, who was a high school freshman on his way home from school when the virus was released over Manhattan. From that day on, Croyd has been continuously reinfected by the virus whenever he sleeps, his body reshaping itself into a myriad of new shapes and forms. Each time he wakes, he is changed. Sometimes he wakes as an ace, with astonishing new superpowers, different every time. Other times he wakes as a joker, malformed and hideous. He lives in terror of the day he draws the black queen, and does not wake at all. Croyd can sleep for days, weeks, even months, but when awake he does all he can to keep sleep at bay. Unable to hold a normal job or have a normal relationship, he lives on the margins of society; he has been a bodyguard, a thief, a mercenary, a con man, a hero for hire… whatever it takes to survive. Everyone knows Croyd, and no one really knows Croyd.
You never know what you are going to get when the Sleeper wakes. He is the ultimate wild card… and our most iconic character. It is long past time he had a book of his own.
The lineup this time around:
“Days Go By,” by Carrie Vaughn, “The Hit Parade,” by Cherie Priest , “Yin-Yang Split,” from William F. Wu, “Semiotics of the Strong Man,” by Walter Jon Williams, “Party Like It’s 1999,” from Stephen Leigh, “The Bloody Eagle,” by Mary Anne Mohanraj, “The Boy Who Would Be Croyd,” from Max Gladstone.
The stories will be tied together by “Swimmer, Flier, Felon, Spy” from Christopher Rowe, featuring his enigmatic investigator Tesla. Other featured characters will include old favorites like Golden Boy, Oddity, Lazy Dragon, and Ramshead, along with some great new aces and a colorful assortment of jokers and jacks.
Ye editor is hardly objective, of course, but I have to confess, I have always loved Croyd, and it was great to see him in action again, in tales that spanned the decades, from the Fifties to the present day. Those of you who are already Sleeper fans will be delighted, I think, and as for all the readers out there who have yet to meet Mr. Crenson… you have a treat in store.
Roger would have loved this book, I like to think. I hope you will as well.
Howard Waldrop had a new book out last year: H’ARD STARTS: THE EARLY WALDROP, from Subterranean Press. Brad Denton and I put it together. It was a collection of Howard’s earliest work — the stories he wrote for comic book fanzines in the 60s and early 70s, some plays from college, con reports, articles from CRAWDADDY, a sketch he wrote for Red Skelton (Red passed), sword and sorcery in the mode of Robert E. Howard, science fiction in the mode of Cordwainer Smith, and his earliest pro work, including his first sale, one of the last stories bought by John W. Campbell Jr. Plus the never-published “Davy Crockett Shoots the Moon,” a story purely in the mode of Howard Waldrop. All of it tied together by a series of interviews done by Brad Denton, wherein H’ard told the stories behind the stories, and how all this came to be.
It’s a swell book, if I do say so myself. Howard liked it too. If you missed it, you can still grab a copy from SubPress, autographed by me, Brad, and Howard himself.
Howard also had a movie out last year… well, actually the year before, but overlapping. NIGHT OF THE COOTERS, an adaptation of his novelette of the same name, debuted at the LA Shorts Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Sci-Fi. Scripted by Joe Lansdale, directed and starring Vincent d’Onofrio, produced by the sfx wizards at Trioscope, it spent most of the year on the festival circuit, screening at the Atlanta Film Festival, the Dubuque Film Festival, FilmQuest in Provo, Utah, the New York Shorts Film Festival, Midwest WeirdFest in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the Santa Fe International Film Festival, winning several additional awards along the way.
Howard liked it too.
COOTERS was just the beginning, though. Only the first of a series of short films — and one full-length feature, we hope — we have been making, based on some of Howard’s astonishing, and unique, stories. He wrote so many, it was hard to know where to start, but start we did, and I am pleased to say that we have three more Waldrop movies filmed and in the can, in various stages of post production. Some of you — the lucky ones — will get a chance to see them this year, at a film festival near you. As with COOTERS, we’re taking them out on the festival circuit.
First one out of the chute will be MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER. We were able to screen a rough cut for Howard just a few days before his death. I am so so so glad we did. And I am thrilled to be able to report that he loved it.
We can’t show it to the world yet. But here’s a trailer, to give you all a taste.
MARY-MARGARET was adapted and directed by Steven Paul Judd, and features an all-indigenous cast, with Crystal Lightning as Mary-Margaret and Martin Sensemeier as Billy-Bob Chevrolet. The tractors are all by our friends at Trioscope.
I will be sure to let you know where the movie will be appearing just as soon as we hear back from some of those film festivals.
And there’s more coming after that. Next up will be THE UGLY CHICKENS, Howard’s most famous story, which won the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award (and should have won the Hugo too, if you ask me). That one is almost done, and I hope to have a trailer for you soon. Further down the pike is the film we’re calling FRIENDS FOREVER (that will not be the final title), which should be ready in another four-five months.
And after that, we hope we hope, will come the feature, a full length adaptation of A DOZEN TOUGH JOBS. Have not started filming on that yet, but the deals are in place. The amazing Joe Lansdale adapted the novella, and Howard loved the script.
I wish he was here to see the movies. To see all the movies.
excited
hopeful
pleased
cheerful
quixotic
contemplative
