"If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look him into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."
Eddard Stark in A Game of Thrones (1996)
I wrote a post 3 years ago declaring that the A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels to be my favourite books of all time. 3 years later and after reading more books than I care to count, they still remain the most cherished tomes in my little personal library. The newest published volume debuted in 2005, and fans the world over have been waiting patiently, irascibly and hopelessly since for the next installment; the unattainable, fabled 5th book. That's six long and lean years. I am slightly luckier than most in that I've only been weathering a famine half as long, but believe me, it had been hard on me too. It had also been equally hard (if not harder) on every single person I personally converted to these amazing books, and most of them curse me regularly for getting them addicted to a drug they have no way of procuring the fix for without first discovering the secret of time travel.
Anyway, if I sound obsessed - I totally am. A Song of Ice and Fire is about as close to a religion to me as anything will ever be.
Anyway, if I sound obsessed - I totally am. A Song of Ice and Fire is about as close to a religion to me as anything will ever be.
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| 2011 will be the year we will read A Dance with Dragons. |
Today, I am beside myself with silly joy because our faith in Ol' Tardy George will finally see vindication. Winter is coming, and it's close. On March 3, 2011, this update appeared on George R. R. Martin's site,
We now have an etched-in-stone date to look forward to. It almost feel like it's George's birthday present to me this year; the big day being a mere 48 hours before the 25th anniversary of my birth. I'm so keyed up right now that I simply can't bring myself to sleep even a wink. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a massive letdown in any way because I don't think I can take any more blows. My expectations of how incredibly the story's going to unfold in A Dance with Dragons is almost a tragedy begging to happen.
No. Sorry. Not done yet.
I'm close, though. Watch this space. When the book is done, you will read it here.
Meanwhile... there is news. Big news. The end is in sight, at long long last, and we're close enough so that my editors and publishers at Bantam Spectra have set an actual publication date.
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will be in your favorite bookstore on
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011
Yes, I know. You've all seen publication dates before: dates in 2007, 2008, 2009. None of those were ever hard dates, however. Most of them... well, call it wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes, whatever you like.
This date is different. This date is real.
Barring tsunamis, general strikes, world wars, or asteroid strikes, you will have the novel in your hands on July 12. I hope you like it.
(For what it's worth, the book's a monster. Think A STORM OF SWORDS.)
The dragons are coming. Prepare to dance.
And hey... thanks for waiting.
We now have an etched-in-stone date to look forward to. It almost feel like it's George's birthday present to me this year; the big day being a mere 48 hours before the 25th anniversary of my birth. I'm so keyed up right now that I simply can't bring myself to sleep even a wink. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a massive letdown in any way because I don't think I can take any more blows. My expectations of how incredibly the story's going to unfold in A Dance with Dragons is almost a tragedy begging to happen.
But considering that six years went into crafting it, I'm certain it's going to be a fuckin' masterpiece.
In related news, the first official full trailer of HBO's television series adapted from the first book, A Game of Thrones, was released about the same time as George's announcement,
Tits!
It's too early to speculate on its eventual quality and fidelity, but the bloke playing Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) looks like he's going to do his paper counterpart justice. Also, I have always imagined Liam Neeson as Eddard Stark both in voice and stature, but the fact that they managed to persuade freaking Sean "Boromir" Bean to take up the mantle of the Warden of the North is bloody impressive. And Peter Dinklage will be our Tyrion: everyone's favourite Lannister!
Okay, I'm not really sure if I like Tyrion or his brother, the Kingslayer, more. Jaime came a long, long way since he, um, chucked something out of a very high window in Winterfell.
P.S. Sansa is my favourite Stark. I will duel anyone who dares to dispute my choice. I will also punch any wiseguy piping in to tell me that his favourite Stark is Tony.
Will waltz with wyrms,
k0k s3n w4i
10 comments:
I AM READING THE SERIES AGAIN.
ME TOO.
When I read his post a few days back, I was very excited, of course, but filled with dread at the same time - Which (of my fave) character/s will he kill off now? I've definitely yelled at the book more than once asking it if GRRM, that damned serial killer / mass murderer, was freaking joking. The characters in the series have about the same life expectancies as fruit flies - I wouldn't be surprised if the series ended with no Starks/Lannisters left :\
Arya was my favourite from the earlier books but Sansa has definitely come a long way and been given a lot of opportunity to redeem herself since the days of the bird-brain. Don't get too attached though.. she could be next.
I read all the books with Tyrion looking like Danny Woodburn (he was the only dwarf actor who was registered with my memory - my choice was very limited) and Cersei and Jaime having hair a richer shade of blonde (more gold, less brown).
Rant: I'm slightly peeved they made Robb look so mature. He's supposed to be 14 - tell me what boy of 14 in the history of the world has that much facial hair?! And why then, if they decided to make him look older, did he have to look hot as well? It is WRONG - Encouraging pedophilia, that is.
I had Eddard Stark, Daenerys, Khal Drogo and Arya spot on in my mind though.
Oh, and I adore Tony Stark, he's a dreamboat! He could very likely be my favourite Stark but we'll have to wait for Ironman 3 to see =)
i want to borrow the books >_>
haha feebs you haven't read them? i'm surprised.
i haven't watched the trailer but from c3rs3i's comment it seems like she has. and if that's true, then i don't think i will like the twins having more brown than blonde, because that's how i imagined them to be too. meh, for some reason i felt peter dinklage would be too obvious a choice for tyrion. i imagined tyrion to be more hideous, more like The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Disney. although aiden gillen does look like he could play Littlefinger..
meh. if you watch it and you feel it's good, then i'll watch it. otherwise i'm not having my imagination tainted.
i haven't because po didn't lend them to me :( i hate feeling left out T___T po says he wants to come to penang & go watch movies without me. just for kicks. isn't he evil :(
c3rs3i: well, i don't get very worked up when my favourite characters get killed off - some deaths can be beautiful. at any rate, i'm quite certain that sansa will survive. i imagined jaime to be younger and more boyband-ish personally, and i wanted brian blessed to be robert so hard.
Phoebs: i didn't lend them to you because you wanted to borrow my other books first D:
beve: what is wrong with the obvious choice? would you rather verne troyer in the role? also, the more i see aiden gillen, the more i think he's perfect as littlefinger.
just because i have something against the obvious choice doesn't mean i want them to pick the other obvious little person in the industry, does it? your logic is so flawed, it's almost like mine. come on, i thought you were better than that.
quasimodo is what i want him to be. if anything, it's nothing a little make up won't fix. at least.
beve: my logic is sound. i mentioned verne troyer because i don't consider him an obvious choice at all. troyer looks old (even though he's the same age as dinklage) and tyrion is the youngest lannister after all. i also think troyer's voice doesn't have the timbre to carry an epic dramatic role. and puh-leeze, tyrion's face wasn't disfigured until much later. besides, i've always imagined tyrion as dinklage anyway.
just because he didn't turn quasi till much later, doesn't mean he couldn't still be uglier. i have no idea about their voices, all i did was aesthetic comparisons, and i still don't agree with you
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