NEWS RELEASES FROM GRRM--2002 and Earlier:
12/17/02: New GRRM interview online at Silklantern.com November 19, 2002 A GAME OF THRONES collectible card game 
FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES debuted its collectible card game A GAME OF THRONES last August at Gencon, to a very enthusiastic reception from the games community. The game has gotten some great reviews, and Fantasy Flight has lots of exciting plans for its continued expansion and promotion. A special cadre of "Night's Watch" game masters is helping to spread the word by running GOT tournaments all over the country. For details, check out the FFG website at http://www.agameofthrones.com/
The initial release allowed players to vie for the Iron Throne as Starks, Lannisters, or Baratheons, but FFG will be adding more houses in their expansion sets. The first of those, A SEA OF STORMS, is scheduled for December release, and will feature House Greyjoy. I have seen a lot of the artwork for the new set, and I think it's even better than the art for the starter decks. Here's a couple of samples to whet your appetites. Check out Fantasy Flight's own website for more art from this set.
11/09/02: Mike S. Miller talks about adapting "The Hedge Knight" to comics 10/16/02:  Wild Cards fans: ACES ABROAD, was released in September by iBooks. 10/16/02: New GRRM interview online at Dusksite.com August 4, 2002 "THE HEDGE KNIGHT" COMES TO COMICS  I'm an old comic book fanboy, as anyone who has ever read WILD CARDS has likely figured out. Back in the dawn of time, the first stories I ever published could be found in the comics fanzines of the 60s, and I still treasure my collection of comic books. So it's a thrill for me to be able to announce a forthcoming comic book miniseries based on "The Hedge Knight," the novella I wrote for LEGENDS.
The book will be published by Roaring Studios, a new company on the comics scene. They're an eager and enthusiastic crew, and have a lot of great projects in the works. Those of you who are into comics will want to be sure to check out their website. Roaring has signed Ben Avery to script the comic, Mike S. Miller to do the art, and Liquid as the colorist. All of them are committed to turning out a terrific comic, and one that is faithful to my original novella. I'm looking forward to working with them. Here's a look at their version of one of the knights in the story: Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm. For those who never bought LEGENDS (shame on you), "The Hedge Knight" is a prequel to A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, a tale of a tournament held in the Reach some ninety years before the events of A GAME OF THRONES. I am rather fond of Dunk and Egg, its unlikely protagonists, and will be spinning out their further adventures from time to time, in between volumes of the larger series. To help promote the comic, Roaring Studios is offering a special "Hedge Knight" lithograph for sale. It can be ordered from the stop on their website, and the first one hundred copies will be signed by me and by artist Mike S. Miller. July 19, 2002 DEUCES DOWN DEBUTS  The long wait is over for Wild Cards fans. DEUCES DOWN, the first new Wild Cards book in seven years, was released this month by iBooks, in hardcover and ebook versions. DEUCES DOWN features seven brand new tales from the word processors of John J. Miller, Walton Simons, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Stephen Leigh, Michael Cassutt, Kevin Andrew Murphy, and newcomer Daniel Abraham, covering thirty years of secret history. This time around the focus is on the forgotten men (and women) of the Wild Cards universe, the deuces -- aces whose "super" powers are minor, trivial, sometimes even silly. Long time favorites like Demise, Bradley Finn, the Sleeper, Digger Downs, and the Great Ape return, to share the spotlight with a motley cast of unforgettable deuces, including Chuckles, Puddle Man, Heavy Lifter, His Nibs, the Myth Patrol, and Father Henry Obst. DEUCES DOWN features cover art and design by Steranko, and ten original interior illustrations by Tim Truman. It was edited by GRRM with the assistance of Melinda M. Snodgrass. June 15, 2002 Free Artwork Preorder Program: Fantasy Flight is offering a limited edition print signed by George R. R. Martin to everyone who preorders a booster display (36 booster packs) of A Game of Thrones from their local game store. You get to choose which of the following five 8x10 prints you want mailed directly to you within weeks of the game's release. All you have to do is download the Free Art Form and have your local retailer fill it out when you're at the store to preorder. You must mail the form in to us by July 15! Your limited edition print will be sent to you by August 30. This offer is only good if you preorder at a game store -- you cannot preorder through Fantasy Flight. Don't know where to find a store that will take your preorder? Check out this List of stores that will be happy to take preorders for you! Thomas Denmark Robb Stark Thomas Gianni Storm's End Martina Pilcerova Just Like the Songs John Matson Dark Wings, Dark Words Martina Pilcerova 5/27/02: New Interview online at Rhode Island Science Fiction Club May 25, 2002 ICE & FIRE CARD GAME ON SCHEDULE The folks at Fantasy Flight Games tell me that playtesting has been completed for the collectible card game based on A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE and the world of Westeros and its Seven Kingdoms. All the artwork is in as well, and the cards are now at the printers, so everything looks good for Fantasy Flight being able to introduce the game at this summer's GenCon gaming convention. We have been getting some terrific artwork for the cards, too. Here are a few more samples for your enjoyment. George R.R. Martin  "Knight of Flowers" by Jason Engle http://www.jaestudio.com  "Harrenhal" by Martina Pilcerova http://www.martina.sk  "Library Tower" by Franz Miklis http://www.franzmiklis.com/ April 16, 2002 Yesterday was tax day, a traumatic time in the life of a freelance writer. Others may get refunds, but for those of us who are self-employed April 15 is almost always the day on which we write big checks to the IRS, and so it was this year. (sob) To salve my pain, I am taking off tomorrow morning for Elf Fair in Holland. I hope that some of you will be descending on Castle de Haar as well. I'll be looking forward to meeting some more of my European readers. In addition to my various appearances at the festival, I will also be doing a signing at Boekhandel Schelterma in Amsterdam, and one at Boekhandel Donner in Rotterdam, both on Friday, April 19. After Elf Fair, I will be in Amsterdam for a few days for various interviews, and meetings with my Dutch publisher, agent, and translator. Meanwhile, on another front, Fantasy Flight Games is moving ahead quickly with their GAME OF THRONES collectible card game. The game has just gone into the playtesting stage, and Fantasy Flight tells me that they hope to launch it at this summer's GenCon gaming convention. The folks at Fantasy Flight have lined up some terrific artists to do the cards, and sketches and paintings are flooding in to their offices from all over the world. Here, to whet your appetite, here are a couple of the first of the finished pieces to arrive, by Jason Engle and Martina Pilcerova.  "Jaime Lannister" by Jason Engle http://www.jaestudio.com  "The Eyrie" by Martina Pilcerova http://www.martina.sk 3/12/02: FANTASY FLIGHT ANNOUNCES ICE & FIRE GAMES 2/28/02: A STORM OF SWORDS on final ballot for Nebula award 2/25/02: Skin Trade now available as audiobook from Random House at http://www.audible.com 
February 22, 2002Meisha Merlin Press is now accepting orders and deposits for the second volume in its series of "A Song of Ice and Fire" limited editions, the signed numbered slipcased edition of A CLASH OF KINGS, illustrated by John Howe. Howe is doing some gorgeous work for the book, both in color and black-and-white. I included a couple of samples in my December update. Let me give you another taste. Here's his cover, a stunning seascape of the Greyjoy stronghold on Pyke, and another of his beautiful interiors. 
If you'd like to see more samples of Howe's art, or place an order for one of the 500 copies of the Meisha Merlin edition, please go here:
http://www.meishamerlin.com/AClashofKings.html 2/1/02: New interview with GRRM on Fantasy Online 01/22/02: Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild (Paperback, US) now available from iBooks. 
12/15/01 JOHN HOWE TO ILLUSTRATE LIMITED EDITION OF A CLASH OF KINGS 
Tolkien fans need no introduction to John Howe's beautiful and evocative artwork, which has made him one of the world's best known and best respected fantasy illustrators. Meisha Merlin Press managed to lure John from Middle Earth to Westeros last summer, to provide their artwork for their deluxe illustrated limited edition of A CLASH OF KINGS, and I've had the pleasure of working with him for several months. Those of you who were at Worldcon in Philadelphia saw Howe's cover painting on display at the Meisha Merlin booth; a dramatic, stormy seascape featuring the Greyjoy stronghold on Pyke on its rocky stacks above the waves. Since then, John has been at work on the interior illustrations. To give you a taste of what John is doing, here are a couple of his pieces from A CLASH OF KINGS. I'll be changing the samples every few weeks, so check back often if you'd like to see more. And there will soon be an entirely different set of Howe's interiors up on the Meisha Merlin website, so you will want to check that one out regularly as well. 
If you want a copy of the illustrated CLASH OF KINGS, best contact Meisha Merlin soon. The edition is limited to 52 lettered and 446 numbered copies, and collectors who bought the Meisha Merlin GAME OF THRONES (illustrated by Jeff Jones) have right of first refusal. There are still copies of GAME available at this writing, but Meisha Merlin tells me the number is shrinking steadily, and we expect the edition to be sold out by the time CLASH is published in April. 12/01/01 Hard to believe that December is already upon us, with the end of the year just ahead. I hope all of you visiting this website had as pleasant a Thanksgiving as I did. There's nothing like having turkey with friends... it certainly beats having turkeys for friends, an entirely different proposition. Fortunately, I have great friends, and they are one of the things I am most thankful for at this time of year. I'm also thankful for my readers, who have made A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE such a great success and enabled me to buy a lot more really nice toy knights and castles. Most of all, though, I'm thankful for Parris. But enough of that, before I get too mushy. It has been a while since I updated the front page of my website, but there's not a lot of news to report... beyond the stories featured in the News column, which you'll see off there to your right, all in purple. A couple of new publications are worth mentioning, although my contributions to both are small. St. Martin's Press has just issued MEDITATIONS ON MIDDLE EARTH, edited by Karen Haber, an assemblage of essays by a number of leading contemporary fantasists concerning J.R.R. Tolkien and the influence he had on their work. I wrote the introduction to the book, and John Howe provided the illustrations. MEDITATIONS has some good stuff in it; those of you with an interest in Tolkien might want to check it out. Also published fairly recently is a new collection by Gardner Dozois, who is best known for winning Best Editor Hugos and sticking jellybeans up his nose. But the Great Gargoo is also a helluva writer, and STRANGE DAYS is a wonderful introduction to his work. Besides some first-rate fiction, the collection features one of Gargy's infamous Trip Reports, about his travels in Scotland before and after the Glasgow Worldcon. I wrote the intro to the trip report, and also feature a character in same. Soo if you're interested in learning about the Mad Scotsman who almost strangled me trying to get me to smile, pick up a copy of STRANGE DAYS. Work continues on A FEAST FOR CROWS, the fourth volume in A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, despite all the disruptions caused by the remodeling of our kitchen. The kitchen is done now, the FEAST is not... but I am making progress. I read a few chapters from the book at Worldcon in Philadelphia, and a few more at Archon in St. Louis in October. The next con on my schedule will be ConFusion in Ann Arbor in January, and I hope to be doing a reading from AFFC there as well. Just what, I can't say. Maybe some brand new chapters, if the audience has heard the old ones. The second Sansa chapter, or perhaps the first Jaime... maybe even the Prologue... Speaking of cons, I do get a lot of mail asking me when I am coming to X city or Y state or Z country. The usual answer is, "I don't know." We try and keep the Appearances page of this website as up to date as possible, so it is worth checking that regularly if you want to meet me or get a book signed. We add new events just as soon as they are scheduled and confirmed. Two were added quite recently, in fact; the Williamson weekend in Portales, New Mexico, and a fantasy fair in Holland in the spring. Before I close this update, let me tip my hat to Pati Nagle, my webmaster, who does a wonderful job on the site. She is always adding new covers to the Art Gallery, new articles and speeches to Musings, and new features as well. The latest addition is What I'm Reading (scroll down if you haven't seen it), which is just what it sounds like. I read a lot, so expect that box to change frequently. I also plan to add a section on my Hobbies and Obsessions soon, which will tell you more about Richard Courtenay and Freddie Ping than you ever wanted to know. Probably not until after Xmas, though. If I don't update again until 2002, let me wish all my fans and friends a great holiday season and a wonderful new year. Keep reading. 11/21/01 Amazon.com has announced its Fantasy and SF bestsellers for 2001, and GRRM is on the list three times at #11 (A GAME OF THRONES paperback), #17 (A CLASH OF KINGS paperback), and #23 (A STORM OF SWORDS hardcover). 10/26/01 The November issue of FIRSTS is out, featuring John Miller's article on "Collecting George R.R. Martin." Copies of the article autographed by both Miller and Martin are available from John Miller at JJM1954@aol.com . 09/28/01 THE WILD CARDS ARE BACK New editions of the first eight volumes of the original Bantam series are being released by iBooks, in trade paperback and ebook editions. The first two volumes -- WILD CARDS and ACES HIGH -- have already been released, and should be available in your local bookstore. JOKERS WILD, the third volume, is scheduled for a January release. The new iBooks editions feature the Brian Bolland cover art originally done for the Titan editions in Britain, along with new interior illustrations by other well-known comics artists. WILD CARDS features ten Mike Zeck illustrations, while ACES HIGH includes art by Floyd Hughes. Each book will also include a never-before-published afterword by GRRM. And best of all, two completely new WILD CARDS books are in the works from iBooks -- volumes sixteen and seventeen in the overall series. DEUCES DOWN, the first of the new books, is presently nearing completion, and will include stories by Melinda M. Snodgrass, Walton Simons, John J. Miller, Stephen Leigh, Michael Cassutt, Kevin Andrew Murphy and our newest Wild Carder, Daniel Abraham. Look for it some time next year.
09/01/01 HARRY POTTER KICKS GRRM'S BUTT IN HUGOS 08/15/01 I wanted to bring you all up to date on some on some of the latest publication plans for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Bantam Spectra has just informed me of their plans to issue the first three volumes (and presumably the later ones as well) as trade paperbacks. This will be the first time that the books have been available in this format in the American market. All three volumes will be released simultaneously in trade paperback in June, 2002. This will also be the first American paperback edition of A STORM OF SWORDS. The mass market paperback of A STORM OF SWORDS will be postponed until some time in 2003. The exact pub date has not yet been set. (For those of you unfamiliar with publishing jargon, a "trade paperback" is the same size as a hardback, but with soft covers, while a "mass market paperback" is the smaller paperback you see at grocery stores and on spinner racks.) In addition, Bantam will also be releasing a new hardcover edition of A GAME OF THRONES, something that many readers have been requesting, since the first edition hardcover has become so expensive and hard to find. This new second edition will feature a cover design incorporating the Steve Youll art from the paperback, which will bring it into line with the current hardcover look of A CLASH OF KINGS and A STORM OF SWORDS. The new hardcover edition has also been scheduled for June, 2002. The series is also doing quite well overseas, and I have been signing a lot of contracts for foreign editions. Italy and Israel will both be continuing with the series, I am pleased to say, and Japanese, Portugese, Chinese (Taiwan), and Korean editions of A GAME OF THRONES are now in the works. This will be the first time that any of my work has been translated into Portugese, Chinese, or Korean, to the best of my knowledge. On the personal front, I had a wonderful three weeks in Spain, where I visited some old friends and made some new ones, drank too much sangria and ate too many tapas, saw some fantastic museums, Roman ruins, and castles, and enjoyed some wonderful Spanish and Catalan hospitality. And in about a week I will be heading east, for a visit to New York City and my family in Bayonne, followed by the World SF Convention in Philadelphia. I hope I will see many of you there. Oh... yes, I'm still working on that pesky fourth book as well. I hope to read a few chapters from it at Philcon. 07/28/01 GRRM Interviewed by El Pais Spanish Newspaper. 07/12/01 A Storm of Swords wins Locus Best Fantasy Novel Award! 05/28/01 Babbage Press releases new edition of A Song for Lya 05/16/01 Windhaven flies again! New hardcover edition from Bantam Books 04/25/01 A Storm of Swords on Final Ballot for 2001 Hugo Award 04/11/01 GRRM Featured on CNN's Entertainment Website 03/12/01 Meisha Merlin Releases Illustrated Limited Edition of A Game of Thrones 02/01 NESFA releases GRRM's new collection, Quartet. 11/00 11/00 A Storm of Swords hits #12 on The New York Times bestseller list 11/00 11/00 A Storm of Swords hits USA Today's bestseller list 11/00 George R.R. Martin to be Guest of Honor at Torcon III 11/00 A CLASH OF KINGS took the #1 place on the SF Site's Reader's Choice list for best book of 1999. See the whole list at: SF Site |
