In Beverly Hills for the Writers Guild Awards. GAME OF THRONES has two nominations. Keep your fingers and toes crossed, boys and girls.
Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day to all. May you shares many hugs and kisses with your honeys.
LATER. Back from the awards. Same old same old. Lost them both.
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Congratulations to GILLIAN FLYNN. Her story "What Do You Do?" from ROGUES has been nominated for an Edgar Award by the members of the Mystery Writers of America.
It's a terrific story, and Gillian is an amazing writer. Gardner Dozois and I are very proud to have had the honor of publishing it.
Fingers crossed for Gillian to bring home the head of Edgar Allan Poe when the MWA gives them out at the end of April.
For a full list of this year's Edgar nominees, go to http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html
If you'd like to read "What Do You Do?" — and a lot of other great stories about con men, scalawags, ne'er do wells, cads, scoundrels, and their disreputable brothers and sisters — ROGUES is available from your local bookstore or favorite online bookseller. And you can snag a signed copy (signed by me, not Gillian, alas) from the Jean Cocteau Cinema at http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/
Congratulations also to the amazing and talented SOPHIE TURNER, our very own Sansa Stark, who has just landed the plum role of Jean Grey in the next X-MEN movie.
Yes, THAT Jean Grey. Marvel Girl. Phoenix. Dark Phoenix. One of the most iconic.. and most powerful… characters in the Marvel universe.
I first met Jean Grey in the first issue of the X-MEN, when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced them back in the 1960s. I first met Sophie when when we were shooting the pilot of GAME OF THRONES. This is a casting made in comic book heaven. It brings out the old fanboy in me, the kid who used to write letters that began "Dear Stan and Jack."
Sophie will be terrific.
'Nuff said.
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Well, at least the Cowboys lost.
Otherwise the results of this weekend's various contests were pretty depressing, from where I stand.
Seahawks beat the Panthers pretty soundly, as most people expected. No big surprise there.
For a few minutes at the start, and a few minutes in the middle, the Ravens were two touchdowns up on the Patriots, and it looked as though Evil Little Bill might go down as well. But New England and Tom Brady rallied, not once but twice… once, admittedly, aided by what the Ravens coach called a 'substitution trick,' which wasn't illegal but probably should be. No one ever said Evil Little Bill wasn't clever. And in the end Joe Flacco threw a killer INT, and the Pats moved on. That made me mad and sad.
But not as sad as Jerry Jones and Chris Christie probably were when the Cowboys lost. Last week TV showed up the two of them high-fiving and hugging when Dallas won, it was a pity we didn't get a good shot of them this week when the 'Boys went down. (And honestly, the very idea of the governor of New Jersey rooting for the Cowboys instead of the Jets or the Giants or even the Eagles… never mind Bridgegate, Christie should be impeached for that alone).
Andrew Luck and the Colts upset Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Peyton did not look at all like himself, and this morning all the talking heads are speculating that he might be near the end of the line. I hope that's not so… but if he does retire, well, it was sad to see him go out with such an underwhelming performance. What's doubly sad is that I don't think the Colts have a chance in hell of beating the Patriots next week at Foxboro, which means Brady and Belicheck will be heading to another Superbowl, pfui.
As for the Cowboys and the Packers… it was a lot closer than I thought it would be, and I have to give props to Jason Garrett, who did a helluva job of coaching and showed real guts at a couple of key spots, and Tony Romo, who played an amazing game and did not make the patented Tony Romo Mistake that all of us Cowboy haters were waiting for. But in the end, the game belonged to Aaron Rodgers, who gave the most heroic performance by a one-legged limping star that the world has seen since Hopalong Cassidy.
And then there was the dagger through the heart: Dez Bryant and the catch that wasn't a catch. Sorry, Dallas, them's the rules. Ask Calvin Johnson. Oh, and that sound you hear — that's the city of Detroit, laughing their asses off. Karma's a bitch. The refs giveth, and the refs taketh away.
As for the non-football contests, yes, of course, GAME OF THRONES lost another Golden Globe. This one to THE AFFAIR. Nothing unexpected there, and I am glad I saved myself some time and money and stayed home. Sad to say, I don't think any fantasy will ever win a Golden Globe. The prejudice against genre shows runs too deep. I did think Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were great, however, and I liked Allan Cummings in his peach suit-shirt-tie ensemble.
But never mind. The Cowboys lost, so I went to sleep with a smile on my face.
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Some big big contests this weekend.
In the NFL, it's the divisional round. On Saturday, Baltimore is at New England and the Carolina Panthers are at Seattle. My former assistant Ty is a big Panthers fan, so my feelings for them are largely positive… but I like the Seahawks too. I had a very pleasant breakfast with their owner a few months ago. I have no favorite in that game. Of couse, I will be rooting hard for the Ravens to defeat Evil Little Bill and his Patriots. Hey, they are named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, a fellow writer… and while it is true they beat my Giants in a SuperBowl once, it's been a long time, I forgive them.
On Sunday, it is Dallas at Green Bay and Indianapolis at Denver. I am for Denver in the AFC game; after all, Peyton is Eli's big brother. And the Colts should never have left Baltimore besides, so pfui to the Irsays. The early game, hey, no contest, I have hated and despised the Cowboys even longer than I have hated the Patriots, so I will be pulling hard for Green Bay and that baaaaad man Aaron Rogers.
(Meanwhile, I will also be rooting for the Jets to get a kickass GM and head coach, for Rex to get another head coaching job, and for my Giants to bring back Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator).
The NFL isn't the only contest this weekend. This year's Golden Globe Awards will also be presented on Sunday night, and GAME OF THRONES is nominated in Best Dramatic Series. The competition this time around is HOUSE OF CARDS, THE AFFAIR, THE GOOD WIFE, and DOWNTON ABBEY. David Benioff and Dan Weiss and Carolyn Strauss and a number of our other producers and cast members will be on hand at the ceremony, though I won't be there myself this year. But I will watching from home and cheering loudly for the show, and hoping that my friends and colleagues get a Globe (the GG rules are such that I would not get one myself, even if we win).
So in conclusion:
GO RAVENS
GO PACKERS
GO DRAGONS
GO DIREWOLVES
GO HBO!
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Another year has come and gone, and all sorts of folks are putting out lists of their favorite books of 2014…
… including the editors at Amazon.
I am pleased to say that our Westerosi worldbook THE WORLD OF ICE & FIRE and our anthology ROGUES both made the Top Twenty list in Science Fiction and Fantasy:
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_426357402_25?ie=UTF8&node=10207159011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-leftnav&pf_rd_r=1MX64NEX9Q76GESKDKKX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1968735602&pf_rd_i=10207069011
Thanks, Amazon. And thanks to all of you, my readers. Hope you enjoyed the books as well.
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… again.
First the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER named me the third most powerful writer in Hollywood.
And now, yes indeed, Barbara Walters has included me as one of her Ten Most Fascinating People of 2014. The third, actually. Though I am not sure the order actually matters.
LiveJournal is not letting me embed the video, for some reason, but for those of you who missed the show, here's a link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/game-thrones-author-george-martins-rise-success-27599428
(Look closely, and you can catch a glimpse of Parris, of Gardner Dozois, of various other friends).
It is gratifying to know that I am as fascinating as I am powerful (this year, at least). Plainly it must be the Autumn of George (obligatory SEINFELD reference).
Sad to say, however, I failed to win the triple crown. I may be fascinating, and I may be powerful, but somehow, unaccountably, PEOPLE magazine failed to name me Sexiest Man Alive to complete the sweep. They went with Thor… er, Chris Hemsworth… instead. And, yeah, okay, he's all rugged and muscle-y and stuff, and his hammer is bigger than mine, but really… PEOPLE did not even include me in the list of runners up, although Kit Harrington and Richard Madden were both included (and congrats to both of them).
But that's the way it goes with triple crowns. The Belmont always breaks 'em.
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Award season is at hand in Hollywood, and GAME OF THRONES is racking up the nominations.
The show scored three nods from SAG, the Screen Actors Guild. Peter Dinklage was nominated as Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, along with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey of TRUE DETECTIVE, Steve Buschemi from BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and Kevin Spacey for HOUSE OF CARDS. The cast as a whole was nominated for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama, and our stunt team was nominated for Best Action Performance by an Ensemble.
Variety has the full list at http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sag-awards-nominations-birdman-boyhood-1201375775/
This year's Golden Globe have also just been announced. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated GAME OF THRONES in Best Drama. The competition is THE GOOD WIFE, DOWNTON ABBEY, THE AFFAIR, and HOUSE OF CARDS. (Very surprised not to see BOARDWALK EMPIRE on that list; their final season was astounding. MANHATTAN also deserved a nod, I think. This is truly the Golden Age of television drama).
As ever, it is an honor to be nominated, to be part of the conversation.
(I remain skeptical about our chances of actually winning, the bias against fantasy being what it is).
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The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominees for its annual awards, and HBO and GAME OF THRONES are both well represented on the shortlists.
The writing staff of GAME OF THRONES season four (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, and me) scored another nomination for Best Dramatic Series. We'll be up against THE GOOD WIFE, HOUSE OF CARDS, TRUE DETECTIVE, and MAD MEN.
But that's not all. In the Episodic Drama category, my own season four episode, "The Lion and the Rose," was nominated. It will be competing against episodes from THE GOOD WIFE, RECTIFY, MAD MEN, and two strong BOARDWALK EMPIREs. Tough company indeed.
But I am thrilled by the nomination. The last time one of my scripts was nominated was 1987, when one of my TWILIGHT ZONE episodes was a finalist. (I lost to Harlan Ellison, with another TZ script). So it's very cool to make the shortlist.
For a full list of nominees, go to:
http://www.eonline.com/news/603528/game-of-thrones-orange-is-the-new-black-and-true-detective-lead-2015-wga-nominations
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DANGEROUS WOMEN, the big crossgenre anthology that Gardner Dozois and I edited for Tor, was announced as the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology of 2013 on Sunday, at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, DC.
I wasn't able to attend the con this year (I do hope to be at next year's event, in Saratoga), but Gardner was on hand, and accepted for the both of us.
The news came as a pleasant surprise… nay, even a shock. Neither Gardner nor I thought we had a prayer of winning. The anthology shortlist was very strong this year. But this one is case where I was glad to be proved wrong.
My thanks to the fans and readers who nominated us, to the judges who chose us as winner, to our editors and publishers and all the rest of the good folks at Tor and Harper. And of course to our writers, whose talents made DANGEROUS WOMEN. We had a great lineup:
INTRODUCTION, by Gardner Dozois
SOME DESPERADO, by Joe Abercrombie
MY HEART IS EITHER BROKEN, by Megan Abbott
NORA’S SONG, by Cecelia Holland
THE HANDS THAT ARE NOT THERE, by Melinda Snodgrass
BOMBSHELLS, by Jim Butcher
RAISA STEPANOVA, by Carrie Vaughn
WRESTLING JESUS, by Joe R. Lansdale
NEIGHBORS, by Megan Lindholm
I KNOW HOW TO PICK ‘EM, by Lawrence Block
SHADOWS FOR SILENCE IN THE FORESTS OF HELL, by Brandon Sanderson
A QUEEN IN EXILE, by Sharon Kay Penman
THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR, by Lev Grossman
SECOND ARABESQUE, VERY SLOWLY, by Nancy Kress
CITY LAZARUS, by Diana Rowland
VIRGINS, by Diana Gabaldon
HELL HATH NO FURY, by Sherilynn Kenyon
PRONOUNCING DOOM, by S.M. Stirling
NAME THE BEAST, by Sam Sykes
CARETAKERS, by Pat Cadigan
LIES MY MOTHER TOLD ME, by Caroline Spector
THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, by George R.R. Martin
For those of you who missed DANGEROUS WOMEN in hardcover, the anthology is being released in mass market (in three volumes) by Tor in the US and HarperVoyager in the UK. All three of the British paperbacks and the first two of the American are on the stands, and available from Amazon and other online booksellers. Gardner and I are very proud of this one. We hope you check it out.
For the full list of this year's World Fantasy Awards winners, go to:
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/11/world-fantasy-awards-winners-2014/
This is my third Howard. I won Best Novella for "The Skin Trade" a couple of decades ago, and more recently a Lifetime Achievement Award… which I guess makes this one a post-lifetime achievement. I look forward to lining up my three HPLs on the mantlepiece.
Aieeeeeeeeee…………………….
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It's Emmy night!
(On a Monday in August… thanks, NBC, he muttered sourly).
Parris and I will be off to the Nokia Theatre in a few hours, battling the inevitable traffic jams, which will be much worse than usual because, well, it's a Monday in August.
GAME OF THRONES scored 19 Emmy nominations, more than any other program, and took home four awards last weekend in the technical categories. Tonight we are contending in five more categories: Neil Marshall for directing, David and Dan for scripting, Lena Headey for Best Supporting Actress, Peter Dinklage for Best Supporting Actor, and of course the show itself for Best Drama.
Whether we will win any remains to be seen. Pretty much everyone is saying that BREAKING BAD has this year locked up. Maybe they are right. But last week pretty much everyone was saying DOCTOR WHO had the Hugo locked up as well. Can GAME OF THRONES score another upset, and break through the Academy's long-standing aversion to fantasy and science fiction? We will know in a few hours.
That's why they play the games.
Anyway (all together now), "it is an honor just to be nominated," and the after parties are always fun.
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