George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 211

((Some of what follows may be vaguely spoilerish. Don't read if you hate spoilers).

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS just got a little shorter.

What's happened is, I've decided to move two completed chapters, from Arianne's POV, out of the present volume and into THE WINDS OF WINTER. This is something I've gone back and forth on. Arianne wasn't originally supposed to have any viewpoint chapters in DANCE at all, but there's this... hmmm, how vague do I want be? VERY vague, I think... there's this event t...

Everyone is all in a frenzy for casting news, I know, I know... but it takes a lot of talent to make quality television and film, and not all of that talent is in front of the cameras.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss and the good folks at HBO have been assembling a terrific team for GAME OF THRONES. I thought you all might like to hear about one of the latest hires come aboard -- world-class makeup artist PAUL ENGELEN has signed up to do the hair and makeup design for our series.

You may or may ...

The LARNE TIMES broke the story a "massive castle" being build in an old quarry near Magheramorne for HBO's GAME OF THRONES. The quarry is about forty minutes north of Belfast, near the town of Larne.

I can confirm that, more or less. The set being built at Magheramorne will be our Castle Black. Not actually THAT massive a castle -- much of Castle Black will be created in post with CGI -- but it will come complete with a fully operable winch elevator, David and Dan tell me.

Google tells ...

The Jack Vance tribute anthology that I co-edited with Gardner Dozois, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, has been announced as one of the finalists on this year's shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards. We're in the Best Anthology category, natch.

LOCUS has a full list of nominess available at http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/06/2010-british-fantasy-award-nominees/

Needless to say, Gardner and I are thrilled by the news. It's a great honor for us, and for Jack Vance, without whose seminal work mod...

Time to pull back the curtain on the latest roles cast.

No big surprises for those who read the comments on the last two entries. You guys did an amazing job with the clues, as always. I can see I'm going to have to make them harder in future. Either that, or we need to start hiring more obscure actors.

But not this time around.

"The old maester has lived many lives, brief but numerous. In his youth he fought in the wars that some say inspired all of this. He has been a king and a god, but he...

He doesn't have a lot to say, but he says it a lot. He's not a muslim, not a pagan, not a scientologist, but he might be a town in Scotland.

The old maester has lived many lives, brief but numerous. In his youth he fought in the wars that some say inspired all of this. He has been a king and a god, but he'll always be daddy to me.

I suppose I could still hint around about this... something about holly and oaks and a bill, I guess... but it seems rather pointless, since (1) you guys would solve such hints in about twelve seconds, and (2) the answer has already leaked out on Twitter and has been picked up by some of the fan sites.

So instead I'll just confirm the reports. We have our Knight of Flowers. The part of Ser Loras Tyrell in the HBO series GAME OF THRONES will be played by Finn Jones.



Jones is a talented young B...

Green Ronin has just released the new Campaign Guide for its SONG OF ICE AND FIRE ROLE-PLAYING GAME. The book is now shipping, and should be available soon at your favorite game store. It can also be ordered directly from:

http://www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr2703.html

The cover, featuring the Kingslayer and the Iron Throne, is another spectacular piece of work from Michael Komarck.



Happy gaming!

Busy days.

The reaction to the teaser that HBO ran before TRUE BLOOD has been amazing. Of course, it's turned up all over the internet, and people are analyzing it frame by frame. Makes me wonder what it would have been like in those dark days before Tivo and YouTube, when those fifteen seconds would have flashed by once, with no way to rerun 'em, let alone freeze frame.

Casting continues apace. Mycah, Janos Slynt, Gendry, Tobho Mott, Old Nan, Shagga, Syrio, Marillion, Doreah, Alliser Thor...