George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 168

Midnight...

...is the witching hour. Or is that the watching hour?

Midnight is when the latest trailer for GAME OF THRONES, season two, will be released. But only on HBO GO.



GET A FIRST LOOK AT THE GAME OF THRONES SEASON 2 TRAILER ON HBO GO®, FEBRUARY 24th

New York, N.Y., February 23, 2012 – War is coming to Game of Thrones Season 2. As kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen continue to vie for power; fans eager for a taste of the action and treachery that will unfold in Westeros will be able to get their fill with an all-new trailer premiering on Friday night, February 24th, at midnight (ET), on HBO GO.
HBO GO can be accessed at hbogo.com or via the HBO GO app – now available for download on Apple's iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch® and numerous smart phones using Google's Android™ operating system as well as platforms such as Samsung Smart TV™ and Roku – and is free of charge to HBO subscribers through participating television providers. For those who haven't experienced this unforgettable fictional world, the entire first season of Game of Thrones can also be found on HBO GO.

Based on the popular book series "A Song of Ice and Fire," by George R.R. Martin, the Emmy® and Golden Globe® -winning fantasy series Games of Thrones chronicles an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom. Among the returning members of the ensemble cast are Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emmy® winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey and Kit Harington. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss executive produce. Games of Thrones Season 2 premieres Sunday, April 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.

Invitation to the Set

Here's yet another glimpse of the GAME OF THRONES second season, courtesy of HBO.

This one is called "Invitation to the Set."

Enjoy (but don't really try to visit the set, security will stop you).

Book Clearance

I am still drowning in books here... so my ongoing effort to sell some extra copies of a few of my older titles and make room for all the new books coming in continues.

This week I have two hardcovers to offer you, both long out of print. My stocks on these is very limited, and will likely run out within days (if not hours) of this post going up, so if you want one, act now. He who hesitates is lost.

First, we have the --

[[ SORRY. The small stock of ARMAGEDDON RAG that I had on hand is now sold out. Which leaves only... ]]

I am also offering some hardcover copies of NIGHT VISIONS 3, an original horror anthology that I edited in 1986 for the small press Dark Harvest.



NIGHT VISIONS 3 features the work of three British horror writers, each with 30,000 words of original fiction: Ramsay Campbell, Lisa Tuttle, and a newcomer (in 1986) named Clive Barker. Barker's contribution was a long novella called "The Hellbound Heart," which later became the basis for HELLRAISER. Here's where it all began. I'm the editor on this one, so none of my own fiction is included, just an intro. But it's a hell of a lineup. The NIGHT VISIONS series is highly collectable. Dark Harvest was a small press, so their print runs were smaller than those of a big publisher, and copies are scarce and hard to find, especially of these early volumes.

While my supplies last, I am asking $50 for THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, and $99 for NIGHT VISIONS 3. But I have fewer than ten extra copies of each, so supplies will not last long. Condition on both titles is pristine... well, except for one copy of the RAG, which has some shelfware and damage to the dj. I will sell that one for $30 to the first one who asks for it.

The special prices include book rate/ media mail shipping within the US. Order via PayPal to direwolf@georgerrmartin.com.

Priority mail and overseas shipping will be extra; inquire of my assistant Ty at grrmbooks@gmail.com for a quote on that. (Depends on where you live).

Needless to say, I will be glad to sign and inscribe the books.

Battle on the Trident

Green Ronin Games will be bringing out a new edition of their popular A SONG OF ICE & FIRE role-playing game this April. They've just unveiled the cover for the new edition, and Michael Komarck has struck again with his own smashing version of the Prince of Dragonstone and the Lord of Storm's End meeting on the Trident.



If his eye-popping Wild Cards covers weren't enough to convince you to nominate Komarck for the Hugo Award, this sure as hell should do the trick. The guy is WAY overdue.

Vote for the Next Miniatures

View Poll: Vote for the New Miniatures

Ghost Rider Blues

So, maybe you're thinking of going to the movies this weekend, and catching the new GHOST RIDER flick. Hey, why not? Choppers, demons, plenty of action and eye-popping special effects, and Nicholas Cage with his head on fire, this movie has it all.

What it doesn't have, alas, is a dime for the writer who created the character.

Gary Friedrich is reportedly penniless, sick, and about to lose his house... and he's just lost the lawsuit he filed, hoping to get back rights to the character, or at least some portion of the millions that Marvel is making off him. In fact, just to salt the wounds, the court ruled he owes Marvel $17,000 for selling unlicensed prints of the Ghost Rider. Here's the scoop:

http://blastr.com/2012/02/judge-rules-penniless-gho.php

So... see the movie, or don't see the movie, that's up to you. But whether you do or you don't, why not donate an amount equal to the cost of admission to the writer without whom there would BE no Ghost Rider:

http://www.steveniles.com/gary.html

FWIW, long long ago in a kingdom by the sea, I started as a comics fan... indeed, as a Marvel fanboy, with letters published in FANTASTIC FOUR, AVENGERS, and other Marvel titles. I never much cared for the Ghost Rider in the modern incarnation (motorcycle, head on fire, and all that... the Dread Dormammu from Dr. Strange was always my favorite 'hey, his head's on fire' character), preferring the older western hero who went by the same name). And while I had and have lots of friends in the comics industry, I don't believe I have met Gary Friedrich.

None of which lessens my sympathy for him. In the summer of 1971, fresh out of Northwestern with a master's degree in journalism, an Alley Award for my fanzine writing, and my first two short story sales under my belt, I applied for a job as a writer at Marvel Comics. I got as far as a meeting with Roy Thomas at Marvel's offices in New York, but they did not hire me. If they had, who knows what characters I might have created? If they had, who knows what movies might have been made about those characters forty years later?

So when I read about Gary Friedrich, and others like him, I cannot help but think, "there, but for the grace of the Dread Dormammu, goes me."

There are lots of talented writers in the world. Not all of them have been as lucky as I have. But with great power comes great responsibility.

Send the guy some bucks, true believers.

Extra in Westeros

And here's another "Making of... " video with HBO, with more behind-the-scenes looks at how GAME OF THRONES is made.

This one is on life as an extra.



I was an extra myself once... well, twice... on two episodes on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, back in the dawn of time. And on the GAME OF THRONES pilot as well, though my scene wound up on the cutting room floor. And I had such big balls too... and a HUGE, ah, hat...

Yakking It Up

For any of you who are not yet tired of hearing me talk, there's a new interview up on a blog called Feather Factor:
http://www.featherfactor.com/2012/02/interview-with-george-r-r-martin.html

I gather it's a fashion blog. I'm sure a fashionable guy, donchaknow.

Gianni to Illustrate 2014 Calendar

Cool news for everyone who likes great ICE & FIRE artwork (starting with me).

The 2011 Ted Nasmith calendar and the 2012 John Picacio calendar both did very well, and Random House has extended our deal for three more calendars: 2014, 2015, and 2016 (the 2013, featuring art by Marc Simonetti, is already in the works, and will debut in July at the San Diego Comicon).

And if that wasn't exciting enough, we've just signed GARY GIANNI to provide the art for the 2014 calendar!

The comic book fans among you probably know Gianni best for his work on the PRINCE VALIANT comic strip in your Sunday paper, where he took on the daunting task of following in the footsteps of the immortal Hal Foster, and brought it off wonderfully.

But I've been a huge fan of Gianni's ever since I first stumbled upon a copy of the Wandering Star limited edition of THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE (my favorite Robert E. Howard character, fwiw). Until I saw the Wandering Star book, the notion that any other artist could ever do a Solomon Kane to compare to Jeff Jones's version would have struck me as rank heresy, but Gianni's art blew me away.





Gianni went on from that to illustrate one of Wandering Star's gorgeous CONAN volumes, to provide some lovely interiors for Michael Chabon's GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD, to Prince Valiant, and assorted other triumphs too numerous to mention.



He's an amazing artist, and I cannot wait to see him bring my world and characters to life for the 2014 calendar.

So now the only question is... who can we possibly get for 2015 and 2016?

Report from Iceland

Here's the latest "In Production" video from HBO, this time featuring Iceland.



Damn, but that looks gorgeous.

DAMN, but that looks cold.

Watching this really makes me regret that I did not get to visit the shoot this season. Not Belfast, not Croatia, and not Iceland.

Next season, though...