George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 213

Road Trip

As much as I hate flying... or rather, what flying has become, thanks to the airlines and the TSA... I love long drives. Seeing the country as you pass through it, rather than just flying over it. Road trips are especially great if you can get off the Interstates. Stopping to eat at little mom & pop eateries, taking in the small towns, visiting the roadside attractions (the weirder, the better).

Our plan was to travel to ConQuest by road in a two-car caravan, with our Aussie friends Stephen...

Freaky Monkey Bites the Dust

One more monkey off my back.

I just sent the manuscript of FORT FREAK, volume twenty-one in the ongoing Wild Cards series, off to our editors at Tor. Six hundred and eight pages of Jokertown goodness.

After the wide-ranging global storylines of the Committee triad, this volume returns to New York City, the epicenter of the Wild Cards universe, to tell the stories of the cops and crooks of the historic 5th precinct of the NYPD -- the Jokertown precinct, Fort Freak. The lineup features work by ...

I've Been There...

... though not recently (thank the gods).

A hilarious video that brings back memories of the day I signed next to Douglas Adams at a Chicago Worldcon ("No waiting for George R.R. Martin"), or that time in Dallas when I went up against Clifford, the Big Red Dog.



All I can say to Mr. Hall is -- keep at it. Twenty or thirty years from now, I'm sure you'll be an overnight success like me.

Tom Canty Art for a Good Cause

If you'd like to pick up some of Tom's originals for the FEAST FOR CROWS limited from Subterranean, and help out in a worthy cause, check out:

http://community.livejournal.com/debsliverlovers/profile

The bidding closes tonight, so move fast!

A New Daenerys

Those of you who read Mo Ryan's blog for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE will already have heard the news: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2010/05/game-of-thrones-hbo.html

Yes, the role of Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series of GAME OF THRONES has been recast.

Our new Daenerys is a beautiful and talented young actress named Emilia Clarke, a recent graduate of Drama Centre London. You can learn more about her here:

http://www.spotlight.com/7655-7861-0395

I haven't had the chance to ...

No Place Like Home

We got back home last night, after a pleasant weekend at LepreCon. The convention was very small, only half the size of Bubonicon, but the Phoenix fen were a friendly bunch and we had a great time.

I should never go away, though. The amount of stuff that builds up when I leave, even for a short trip like this one, is truly daunting. Hundreds of emails, huge stacks of snail mail (bills, contracts, junk, with a few real letters salted in)... and, for this trip at least, must be a hundred or m...

Book Orders

Due to other commitments this month, we won't be shipping any new book orders until June 2nd at the earliest.

Questions sent to the grrmbooks@gmail.com address may or may not be answered before that date.

Ty

R.I.P. Frank Frazetta

Frank Frazetta has died. One of the giants of SF and fantasy art. In his heydey, it was said that having a Frazetta cover on your paperback would double your sales. I have no idea whether that was true, but most of us believed it, and dreamed of one day having one of his paintings on our own books. Frazetta had a profound influence on many artists who came after him as well, some of whom went on to become giants in their own right. Jeff Jones in particular comes to mind, but there were m...

Requiem for a Queen

Caught the fifth episode of the new season of THE TUDORS this evening.

Given my fascination with history and my love of historical fiction, it's probably no surprise to most of the regulars here to know that I've watched this Showtime series from the beginning, albeit with decidedly mixed feelings.

The show has great costumes, great sets, great visuals overall. The storytelling has been rather uneven, though... the first season in particular was weak, I thought... and they do fudge about with ...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

... on the theory that, sooner or later, we have to stop talking about fanfic.

So, let's see. Casting is in full swing for the HBO series. No one has been cast yet. But I think we're getting close on a few roles.

I've been looking at many audition tapes. Varys. Littlefinger. Pyp. Grenn. Sam. Ser Gregor. Renly. Bronn. Septa Mordane. Jory. The Old Bear. Even Marillion. And probably some other characters that I've forgotten about, writing this off the top of my head.

Some very hard ...