George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 221

The latest outrage by the TSA.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/11/local/la-me-arabic12-2010feb12

America is a free country. Except at its airports.

Anyone who thinks this is cool should go back and read their Orwell.

Kudos to this kid, for challenging the TSA in court.

With WARRIORS scheduled for hardcover release on March 16, there are a number of places on the web where readers can get a taste or two of what the book will offer.

Diana Gabaldon has posted an excerpt of her brand new Lord John novella, "The Custom of the Army," on her website at http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/excerpts/lj_army.html

Macmillan offers a sample from Cecelia Holland's Viking tale, "The King of Norway," on its own site at http://us.macmillan.com/warriors

And of course there's an exc...

... is coming in November.

The good folks at Pocket Books have just informed us that SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH: Tales of Star-Crossed Love, the latest big crossgenre anthology from me and my partner in crime Gardner Dozois, has been slated for publication on November 16 of this year.

The lineup for this one:

-Jim Butcher, "Love Hurts"
-Jo Beverly, "The Marrying Maid"
-Carrie Vaughn, "Rooftops"
-M.L.N. Hanover, "Hurt Me"
-Cecelia Holland, "Demon Lover"
-Melinda M. Snodgrass, "The Wayfarer's Advice" ...

Spent the day in the rainwood. 1205 pages. More to come.

DANCE has now passed A CLASH OF KINGS to become the second longest volume in the series, though still three hundred pages shorter than the monster that was A STORM WITH SWORDS.

I'm sorry the Jets won't be playing, but hey, it's still the SuperBowl, so I'll be watching.

I kinda sorta like both of these teams, so I have no strong rooting interest. I suppose I'll be pulling for the Saints. New Orleans deserves some good news after all that Katrina and George W. Bush have put them through, the Saints have never won one before, Drew Brees seems a good guy, I liked Jonathan Vilma when he was a Jet and Jeremy Shockey when he was a Giant, and they have that whole underdog ...

By popular demand, we've scheduled another Albuquerque mass signing for the latest Wild Cards hardcover, SUICIDE KINGS (volume twenty in the overall series, and the third and concluding book of the current triad).

This time we will be at the Barnes & Noble in Coronado Center, on the southwest corner of Menaul and Louisiana NE in Albuquerque. The event is scheduled for Saturday, February 20, and will run from 1:30 pm until... well, it says 3:00 here, but really, until we run out of people who ...

... which probably means I should be working on another Jon Snow chapter, but I'm not.

Instead I'm floating off the Isle of Cedars, or racing across the sands of Dorne. Warm places, both of them, with nary a flake to be seen. But I'd better not change horses. If I keep on keeping on, I should finish one of those chapters this week. Maybe both.

View Poll: Dark Sword Miniatures

Dark Sword Miniatures has been rolling along merrily this past year with their range of pewter miniatures from A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Tom Meier and Jeff Grace have turned out some fabulous sculpts, and in recent months Dark Sword has released gorgeous minis of Sansa and her snow castle, Arya with her sword, Lady Catelyn, Brienne, the Mountain and the Red Viper in their famous duel, Robb Stark, and many more.

Two years ago, in February 2008, I ran a poll here, so you could let Dark Sword and ...

Kage Baker has passed away this morning, from cancer.

I was saddened to hear the news. I did not know Kage well, but I had the chance to meet her a couple of years ago, when the two of us were Guests of Honor together at a small con in Madison, Wisconsin, and she was great company. Lively, intelligent, good-humored, full of life.

She was also a damn fine writer. She contributed a Cugel the Clever story, "The Green Bird," to SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, the Jack Vance tribute anthology I co-edit...