George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 241

Calling All Jack Vance Fans

All you Vance fanatics out there... if you'd like a taste of the treats that we have in store for you in the forthcoming Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, be sure to check out the new issue of Subterranean Press's online magazine, SUBTERRANEAN.

This issue was guest edited by Gardner Dozois, the most honored editor in our genre and my partner on the Vance book and WARRIORS. Among other treats, it contains a brand-new Dying Earth story from Lucius Shepard. "Sylgarmo's Procla

Hard Call, At Long Last

After a long, unfortunate delay, the fifth issue of the new Wild Card miniseries, "The Hard Call," is finally out from DB Productions, and should be available soon at your favorite local comics shop. Daniel Abraham wrote the script, and Eric Battle did the art.

Check it out.



One more issue after that one. I have hopes that this time the delay between issues will not be as long... but don't write that down in blood, please.

Lots of other exciting Wild Cards news as well, but I can't talk about t

Dying Earth Giveaway

Want to be the first kid on your block to read all the swell stories in our Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH??

Well, here's your chance. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is doing it again, offering up an Advanced Reading Copy of the gorgeous Subterranean Press edition, illustrated by Tom Kidd.



To check out the details of the contest, go to:

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/04/win-advance-reading-copy-of-songs-of.html

Good luck. And remember, cheaters will be blasted with the Exc

Writing 101

Spoilers Below

Don't read this if you haven't yet watched the season finales of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and/ or LIFE ON MARS. I've finally seen both (we are TIVO junkies, so we don't always watch shows the night they air), and... well...

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ends with "God Did It." Looks like somebody skipped Writing 101, when you learn that a deus ex machina is a crappy way to end a story.

And now LIFE ON MARS ends with "It Was All a Dream." Curiously, I actually found that a bit more satisfying t

Cool New Toy

Mostly I collect knights and medieval miniatures, sure, but I'm a science fiction fan and writer too, and every so often I see a space toy I can't resist.

If any of you are fans of the old 1953 George Pal version of WAR OF THE WORLDS, Pegasus has just released a marvelous model of the Martian war machines, available in both kit and finished form. I picked up two of the finished models from Michigan Toy Soldier, and they're really seriously stunning, boys and girls.



I know, Pal's floating manta r

Well, Not Really

Okay, you got me.

Some of you, anyway.

Howard is a swell writer and all, but he's even slower than me. (By the way, all that stuff about the Wanderer and the Chronicles of Chim-Wazle is true).

Guess I'll just have to finish Dancing by myself.

See you again next April, boys and girls. Bya, bya, bya.

A Partner for the Dance

Hiya, kids, hiya, hiya, hiya.

I have some good news for all of you who have been waiting for A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

It's no secret that I've struggled with this one, that the writing has been going slowly, that I've missed several deadlines. Meanwhile, I've delivered several Wild Cards books (ably assisted by Melinda M. Snodgrass) and co-edited a couple of major original anthologies with Gardner Dozois. And then there was HUNTER'S RUN, the three-way novel that I did with Dozois and Daniel Abraham

QB for Trade

So the other shoe has finally dropped in Denver, and it's now official: quarterback Jay Cutler is available for trade. No big surprise. Everybody but the Broncos has seemed to know that Cutler and Denver were done a month ago.

That decision to fire Mike Shanahan is looking worse and worse.

Big question from my end is whether the Jets should go after Cutler, now that he's officially on the market. I admit to having mixed feelings about that.

With the NFL draft only a month away, all the draft gur

Random Thoughts at Midnight

Just a few days left in March. When the month ends, so does our foreign edition sale, so if you want $5 off the foreign translations of any of my books, this is the time to act.

I really don't know where the time goes. It seems like yesterday I was watching the Superbowl, and a few days before that I was just getting back from Spain and Portugal. The days and weeks and months seem to go by so quickly now... and the pages come so slowly...

Speaking of Spain and Portugal, I meant to post a lot mo

Tax Time

It's that time of year again, and Ty and I have spent two days pulling together all my tax records for my accountant.

Help, help, I'm drowning in little bits of paper!!!

How I hate this time of year.

(It's snowing, too).