George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 236

A Casting We Will Go

Well, Reuters has the story out already, so there's no longer any reason for me to keep mum. Yes, the rumors you've been seeing all over the web the last few days are true. Another huge piece has fallen into place for the HBO pilot of A GAME OF THRONES -- we have signed Sean Bean to play the part of Lord Eddard Stark.

For the movie fans out there, Sean Bean needs no introduction. I mean, what the hell, he was Boromir and he was Sharpe, he was terrific in both roles, and in a hundred other part

Worldcon Schedule

I've received my preliminary schedule from Anticipation, next month's Montreal worldcon.

Here's what it looks like at the moment:

THURSDAY AUG 6
12:30 pm panel: Werewolves of Brigadoon

FRIDAY AUG 7
3:30 pm panel: Writing a Series

SUNDAY AUG 9
12:30 pm panel: Writing for a Living
4:00 pm autographing

MONDAY AUG 10
3:00 pm reading

Aside from these "official" appearances, of course, I will also be doing the usual worldcon stuff -- hanging around the hotel bar, hitting the

Battling Babes of Westeros

Here's a sneak peak at two new Ice & Fire figures from Dark Sword Miniatures -- a couple of the battling babes of Westeros, the wildling spearwife Ygritte ('You know nothing, Jon Snow')and the kraken's daughter, Asha Greyjoy.






Both sculpts are by the talented Jeff Grace. They're not available yet, but will be soon. Watch the Dark Sword website for further details and more pix.

The Genius of Jack Vance

Wonderful article in the NEW YORK TIMES about Jack Vance:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19Vance-t.html?%20_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss

It is nice to see one of our genre's few authentic masters finally getting some recognition from the mainstream press. I agree with most everything that's said here: Vance is not only a great SF and fantasy writer, he's a great writer, period, and deserves a place in the canon of American literature.

I love TIME magazine

Great blog post from TIME magazine's TV critic, urging HBO to pick up ICE & FIRE.

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/07/06/hbos-next-i-hope-great-drama

Needless to say, I share his hopes.

Home Again

Back home, safe and sound. Finland was great and I enjoyed my visit to Estonia as well. More on both later. The journey home was endless and exhausting, and god, I hate the TSA, especially the ones at Chicago O'Hare. Petty pseudopolice drunk on their authority. But never mind.

Tons of emails, a mountain of mail, much sleep to catch up on. I'll be digging out from under for a while. But lots of cool stuff happening too, on all sorts of fronts. I'll post what I can when I can.

Next trip on t

Farewell to Finland

We're back in Helsinki for one last night. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn (which cracks very very early here in Finland) we're off again. Parris returns to Ireland, and I head home to the cats, the green chile, and A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. We'll meet again in Montreal. Ah, the jet set life...

Estonia was great, and Turku was fun as well. I hope to write more about all these places once I'm home.

Thanks for all my Finnish friends, new and old, for making this is awonderful trip. Finncon rocks.

Off to Estonia

Finncon is fini. Parris and I have just staggereed back to our hotel room from the dead reindeer party. The party is still going strong and we would love to have stayed longer... till sunset, at least... but we have to be up early tomorrow to catch a ferry to Estonia, where I'll be doing a signing in Tallinn. Then the next day it's back across the sea to Helsinki again, just long enough to set off for Turku, where I've got another signing.

Finncon was terrific. The warmth and hospitality we'v

Here in Helsinki

So we're here in Helsinki, me from Santa Fe and Phipps by way of Ireland. Grey skies and rain, but the people are warm and friendly. Yesterday we visited Sveaborg, the great island fortress that I've written two stories about. "Gibraltar of the North," it was dubbed by John Quincy Adams. I can only conclude that JQA had never actually seen the Gibraltar of the south, since the resemblence between the two is nonexistent. Sveaborg is pretty cool in its own right, however, and I'm glad to have

Just a Reminder

Today is the last day to get an autographed hardcover of INSIDE STRAIGHT for $15.

The sale ends at midnight, and the price of the book goes to its normal level of $27.

(Actually, I'll probably be closing down book sales entirely for a while, since I leave for Finland on July 5. Reopen in late July or August. So this would be a good time to get a copy of the Guardians of Order RPG book, TUF VOYAGING, WINDHAVEN, or any of the other titles as well).

Details on the INSIDE STRAIGHT supersale four post