Free George R. R. Martin Books!

From George R. R. Martin

Pat of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is giving away an autographed set of Dreamsongs (a collection of short stories from George R. R. Martin).

The rules are the same as usual. First off, you need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "DREAMSONGS." Remember to remove the "no spam" thingy.

Second, your email must contain your full mailing address (that's snail mail!), otherwise your message will be deleted.

Lastly, multiple entries will disqualify whoever sends them. And please include your screen name and the message boards that you frequent using it, if you do hang out on a particular MB.

Martin's Wild Cards Licensed to Green Ronin

I don't know why--coincidentally, in the two days that my Internet is dead at home, I have all these RPG-Book related news.

Here's the first batch, taken from George R. R. Martin himself:

For the Wild Cards fans among you -- we're just announced a new deal with Green Ronin Games for a new WILD CARDS rpg. John Miller will be writing the campaign setting. Details on the Green Ronin website, my own website news page, and soon on John's live journal, I'm sure.

WILD CARDS originally grew out of a role-playing game called SUPERWORLD, so in a sense we're going home again. I'm sure that John will do a great job... and Green Ronin makes some seriously cool games.

On a side note, I love what Green Ronin is doing, it's just that no one is importing their books here in the Philippines, and sadly, my gaming group probably isn't interested in playing even if someone did.

George R. R. Martin at Second Life

Author George R. R. Martin will be making an appearance at Second Life on May 31, 2007 at 9:00 pm Eastern and will last for around an hour. He'll be doing a reading of A Dance of Dragons as well as a Q&A afterwards.

From: George R. R. Martin

Valyrian Steel for Sale

Longclaw in 2008

From: George R. R. Martin

The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin and Yvonne Gilbert

George R. R. Martin is one of those flexible writers who seems to be able to adapt to a wide variety of mediums. The Ice Dragon is a children’s book that was based on one of Martin’s stories more than two decades ago and is illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert. What makes this book interesting is that it is a coming-of-age story that works on many levels and yet doesn’t condescend nor preachy. All the characters are well rounded and deep and while Martin does have a reputation for tragedy, it simply works here and I wouldn’t be surprised if a child reader will shed a tear upon turning the last page. Of course children’s books wouldn’t be complete without the illustrations that grace its pages. Yvonne Gilbert adopts a style that gives the book an archaic feel that fits the “coldness” of the story. To the uninitiated, the drawings might look like simple sketches but anyone who’s seen Yvonne Gilbert’s previous work will know that she is capable of a lot more and that the art direction in this matter was by choice rather than a lack of ability. Honestly, The Ice Dragon is a relatively long book for children’s books standards but the words are simple yet precise enough to keep the reader’s attention—either children or adult—and is worth a second or even a third reading.

Rating: 4/5

Song of Ice and Fire... on HBO

George R.R. Martin has been hinting that he has "big news" for quite some time now and confirms it's a story recently released by Variety: A Song of Ice and Fire HBO series. David Benioff (Troy) and D.B. Weiss (Halo) will be producing it and according to the article, they're thinking of shooting it in either Europe or New Zealand.

While many of Martin's fans know him today for his work in his epic series A Song of Ice and Fire or his super-hero fiction Wild Cards, Martin has done work for TV before, namely The New Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast (yes, the one with Ron Perlman as Vincent and Linda Hamilton as Catherine). Martin will be co-exec producing his series along with others.

Interestingly enough, the article states that A Song of Ice and Fire is a seven book cycle and that the target date for all of it to be finished is 2011. Of course using Murphy's Law, I predict it'll actually finish in book eight (it's an even number), and will be done by 2018 (adding one year delay for each book plus two extra years for the 8th book).