NEWS RELEASES FROM GRRM--2004:
11/16/04 TORCON SPEECH IN ASIMOV'S 
Most of you will recall that I was the Professional Guest of Honor at Torcon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention held in Toronto over Labor Day weekend in 2003. Some of you were ever there, to share the fun with me.
A worldcon GOHship is the highest honor that our field can bestow, so it was quite a thrill for me. Part of the gig is giving a speech, of course, and since the honor is such a huge one there is a certain amount of pressure to make it a good speech. After all, it's usually a once-in-a-lifetime gig. 
My speech was called "The Heart of a Small Boy." I delivered it to a crowded room in Toronto, where it seemed to be quite well received... but the crowded room was not as large as it might have been, alas, and in any case most of you reading this were not at the convention. So I am pleased to say that ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION has just printed the full text of "The Heart of a Small Boy" in its October/ November issue, as a guest editorial. All those of you who could not be with us in Toronto to hear the speech in person can read it now. It's not about A Song of Ice and Fire, which may disappoint some of you. It's not about the state of the field or fans being slans either (two traditional subjects for GOH speeches). It's about me, who I am and where I came from and why I write some of the things I do. If that interests you, check it out. 11/16/04 IGNOTUS AWARDS FOR KINGS AND DRAGONS 
Spanish fandom gathered in Cadiz from November 5th through 7th for their 22nd nation science fiction and fantasy convention, HispaCon Gadir 2K4, and presented their annual Ignotus Awards, for work first published in Spanish in 2003. These are the Spanish Hugos, voted on by the fans.
I'm thrilled to have received word that my stuff won two of them (two Ignotuses? two Ignotii? twins?). Best Foreign Short Story went to "The Ice Dragon," published in Spanish in GIGAMESH magazine, issue 34. And Best Foreign Novel went to the Spanish translation of A CLASH OF KINGS, published by Ediciones Gigamesh of Barcelona. I was not able to attend (I am writing this novel, you know), so the awards were accepted for me by my editors, Juanma Santiago of GIGAMESH magazine and Alex Vidal of Ediciones Gigamesh. Last year, A GAME OF THRONES won the Ignotus for Best Foreign Novel, so that's two in a row for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. I knew I that loved Spain. The award is a reproduction of the 2001 monolith, done in black concrete 15cm high. I want to thank all the Spanish fans for this honor, and give a special tip of the hat to the gang at Gigamesh, who have done such a superb job of bringing my work to a new readership: Alex Vidal, Juanma Santiago, Alejo Cuevo, my cover artists Corominas and Juan Miguel Aguilera, and my translators Cristina Macia and Nuria Gres. If not for them and their hard work, I doubt that these Ignotii would be coming my way. I am grateful to them all. I really have to return to Spain for another visit soon (I was there a few years ago, for Semana Negra, and had a terrific time visiting castles and cathedrals, hunting little toy knights, eating tapas, and drinking absinthe with some of my Spanish readers). 08/25/04 GRRM NOMINATED FOR WORLD FANTASY AWARD GRRM: A RRetrospective, my massive half-million word collection from Subterranean Press, has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award as Best Collection of 2003.  GRRM will be competing for the award with collections by Elizabeth Hand, Jack Cady, Glen Hirshberg, and Michael Marshall Smith. Two of the five finalists were nominated by the members of the convention, the other three by this year's WFA jury. The five-person jury will determine the winner, to be announced at this year's World Fantasy Convention, to be held in Tempe, Arizona over Halloween weekend, October 28-31, 2004. A full list of all of this year's WFA nominees can be found on the convention website at http://www.worldfantasy2004.org/wfcawards.html. The World Fantasy Award -- sometimes called the Lovecraft Award, or the "Howie," since the trophy is a wonderfully gloomy and cadaverous Gahan Wilson bust of H.P. Lovecraft -- is among the premiere honors for any writer of fantasy or horror. I've won the Howard once before (for my werewolf novella, "The Skin Trade," back in the 80s), and lost it four times (for my novels Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, and A Game of Thrones, and my novella "The Hedge Knight"), but as they say, "it's an honor just to be nominated." I am very proud of the RRetrospective and the beautiful edition that Bill Schaefer of Subterranean produced, and pleased by this recognition. And in related news, I should mention that the trade hardcover edition of GRRM is once more available from the publisher and can be ordered from Subterranean's website at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/ . The trade had previously sold out, but one large order to a bookstore chair apparently fell through, so their copies have been released again for general purchase. If you missed the chance to pick up the book last fall, here's another opportunity -- though the books now on hand will not last long, in all likelihood. 06/10/04 HEDGE KNIGHT TRIUMPHANT  
The sixth and final issue of THE HEDGE KNIGHT comic from Roaring Studios and Dabel Brothers is now in a comic shop near you. It's a little bigger than the earlier issues, but Ben Avery, Mike S. Miller, Mike Crowell, and the rest of the Roaring gang have delivered the same top quality, bringing the tale to a bang-up close, I think (of course, I'm hardly objective, but what the hell).
The comic is available in your choice of covers: the "A" cover by Mike S. Miller gives us Dunk, mounted and armored, and the "B" cover by Andres Finer portrays his antagonist, Aerion Targaryen, the Bright Prince. Buy both, he said. They fit together splendidly for an evocative tableau. 
Some of you may have missed issues of THE HEDGE KNIGHT comic, most of which sold out on or shortly after publication. You haven't been forgotten. Devil's Due will shortly be releasing a trade paperback edition of the series that collects all six issues between one set of covers... with a cover painting by Ted Nasmith, famed for his work illustrating J.R.R. Tolkien. And unlike the comics, the trade paperback will be widely available in bookstores, and can be ordered over the web from Amazon or your favorite internet bookshop. It will have the entire story, beginning to end... and a few "extra" treats as well. Working with Mike S. Miller, Ben Avery, and the Dabel Brothers has been a delight from beginning to end, and I am thrilled by the beautiful job they've done bringing Dunk and Egg to another medium. Roaring is going on to bring more fantasy to the comics, including stories by Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Raymond Feist, and Robert Silverberg. Check it out, even if you don't normally read funny books. Comic books don't have to be about guys in long underwear punching each other, as the Dabel boys are proving. 06/10/04 OLDIES BUT GOODIES Some of the fans of A Song of Ice and Fire seem to believe that I burst onto the writing scene full-grown with the publication of the first book of the series, but actually I had been a professional writer for twenty-five years when A GAME OF THRONES was published in 1996. My older novels have long been out of print, alas, but that's about to change. Bantam Books is bringing three of those books back in brand new trade paperback editions, to give all my new readers a chance to have a look at them. They are not a part A Song of Ice and Fire. They are not even epic fantasy. But I do think they're pretty good. 
DYING OF THE LIGHT and FEVRE DREAM will be released this October. THE ARMAGEDDON RAG will follow in February of 2005. Here's a look at the covers for the new Bantam editions.
DYING OF THE LIGHT was my first novel, originally published way back in 1977. It's science fiction, a tale of doomed love and betrayal on a dying world, part of the "Thousand Worlds" future history that much of my early work was set in. It was a finalist for the best novel Hugo (the "big one") in 1978, losing to Fred Pohl's GATEWAY (but it's an honor just to be nominated).  FEVRE DREAM came out in 1982, and represented my first major departure from science fiction. This one is a historical horror novel, a tale of vampires on the Mississippi in the antebellum period, during the heydey of the great steam packets. Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain. Before A Song of Ice and Fire, it was the most popular and successful of my novels, and was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in 1983, losing to Michael Shea's NIFFT THE LEAN (but it's an honor just to be nominated).
 THE ARMAGEDDON RAG followed in 1983. The RAG is my strangest novel, a blend of horror, mystery, dark fantasy, and a mainstream novel of character, a look back at the tumult of the Sixties and the music that provided the sound track for my generation. It got great reviews, and was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in 1984, losing to John M. Ford's THE DRAGON WAITING (but it's an honor just to be nominated). Sadly, no one bought it. I hope that won't be true this second time around.
I am still at work on A FEAST FOR CROWS and I know that all of you are waiting. While you wait, you might try some of these. 06/10/04 KING AEGON'S SILVER STAG 
Robert Baratheon always hated counting coppers. Maybe you do too. Well, here's your chance to move on up to silver.
Last year Will Whitfoot of Shire Post, long renowned for turning out splendid Middle Earth coinage for Tolkien fanatics, issued a copper star with King Robert's head on it, the first in his series of coins from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Now he has followed that up with a beautiful silver stag. 
This one is modeled after the coinage minted on Dragonstone shortly after the Conquest. On one side it shows Aegon the Conquerer and his sisters, on the other the stag that gives the coin its name. You can add one to your collection by heading for Shire Post's online shop at http://www.shirepost.com .
In King's Landing one of these will buy you a steamy night with Chataya and her girls. On Earth, it will get you... absolutely nothing. 05/30/04 SCI-FICTION TO PUBLISH "SHADOW TWIN" Just a heads up. A new, never-before-published novella, "Shadow Twin," will be coming out in June on the internet, at SCI-FICTION. "Shadow Twin" is a three-way collaboration between me, Gardner R. Dozois, and Daniel Abraham, a long SF story set on a distant planet about one Ramon Espejo and his encounter with... well, that would be telling. You'll need to read the story. Ellen Datlow will be presenting it in three parts, on June 9, 16, and 23. I don't do many collaborations these days, it's true, but Gardner was the very first person I ever met when I walked into my first SF con (Disclave in 1971) and Daniel was one of my students at Clarion West a few years back, and the two of them are among the finest writers in the field. It was a joy and a priviledge to be able to work with them. And before the hardcore among you start writing me furious emails about "How dare you write something else when you haven't finished A FEAST FOR CROWS yet," let me assure you that my part of "Shadow Twin" was largely written before I began A GAME OF THRONES. Sometimes we run into these little... ahem... delays in the writing game... I'm thrilled with the way that "Shadow Twin" turned out, however, and I hope you'll be as well. Those of you who like SF as well as fantasy, check it out at SCI-FICTION. 05/05/04 RRETROSPECTIVE ALL SOLD OUT The numbered edition of GRRM: A RRETROSPECTIVE is now sold out, I have been informed by my publishers at Subterranean Press. This means the book is now officially sold out in all editions. The trade hardcover sold out on publication, last September. The super-deluxe lettered edition, which is still in the works, was fully subscribed well before that. Some bookstores may still have copies on the shelf, but there are no more to be had from Subterranean. Will there be a second printing of the trade hardcover? Yes, possibly, but that's far from definite, and in any case won't be for some time. Will the book be reprinted in paperback? Probably not. With a half a million words and all those illustrations, it's too large and too expensive a project for most paperback publishers to tackle. I had a splendid time working with Bill Schaefer and his team at Subterranean, and I've very proud of the book that we produced. I hope those of you had a chance to snag a copy will treasure it for years to come. 04/07/04 FANTASY FLIGHT TO EXPAND GAME OF THRONES BOARD GAME 
Fantasy Flight's A GAME OF THRONES board game has been doing so well that they are planning an expansion. The first version of the game allowed for only five players: Stark, Lannister, Greyjoy, Baratheon, and Tyrell. The expanded version will allow House Martell of Dorne to join the fun, and compete for supremacy in the Seven Kingdoms.
The expansion will also include a board overlay, and rules for adding castles, siege equipment, ports, and other new wrinkles to the play, which should make the game even better... and it was pretty damn good already, says someone who played far too much DIPLOMACY and RISK back in college. Thomas Denmark did the artwork for the new package. Here's a look. 04/07/04 LAST CHANCE FOR GRRM April 7, 2004 Bill Schaefer of Subterranean Press has informed me that as of April 5, he has only twenty (20) copies left of the signed, numbered, limited edition of GRRM: A RRETROSPECTIVE. The trade hardcover sold out on publication, last September. The forthcoming super-deluxe lettered edition was fully subscribed well before that. So when these last twenty copies of the numbered edition of GRRM are gone, the book will only be available through ABE, ebay, and other dealers in rare and collectible second-hand books. Will there be a second printing of the trade hardcover? Yes, possibly, but that's far from definite, and in any case won't be for some time. Will the book be reprinted in paperback? Probably not. With a half a million words and all those illustrations, it's too large and too expensive a project for most paperback publishers to tackle. In other words, if you'd like to add the RRETROSPECTIVE to your collection, best go to the Subterreanean website and order now. 03/06/04 
STEAM UP!Way back in 1982, I published FEVRE DREAM, a historical horror novel set on the Mississippi in the antebellum south, during the heydey of the great steam packets. The story of steamboat captain Abner Marsh and his mysterious partner Joshua York, it was my third novel, and by far my most successful... at least until A GAME OF THRONES came out in 1996. Abner, Joshua, and the fleet sidewheel steamer Fevre Dream (pay no attention to the cover art, she never was a sternwheeler) will always have a special place in my heart, but the novel has been out of print in this country for decades now. All that's about to change. It appears as if it's steamboat time again. Not one, not two, but three new versions of FEVRE DREAM are steaming our way, and should be appearing before year's end. 
Bantam Books will be releasing a new edition of the novel, in a trade paperback edition, for all those who just want to read the story. The book is scheduled for this fall. My first novel, DYING OF THE LIGHT, will be released simultaneously, also in trade paperback. Meanwhile, the good folks at Subterranean Press -- who put together that gorgeous collection GRRM: A RRETROSPECTIVE for me last fall -- have acquired the rights to do a deluxe signed, numbered edition of Fevre Dream for the collector's trade. The Subterranean edition will be limited to 500 hardcover copies. It will be slipcased, and lavishly illustrated by one of the top artists in the field. Which one? Ah, that would be telling. We're still in negotiations, but as soon as the papers are signed, I'll make the announcement here. And last but definitely not least, Avatar Comics has picked up the license to adapt Fevre Dream for comics. They'll be doing a ten-issue run, with black and white interiors and full color covers. No publication date has been announced, but Avatar is steaming ahead full speed with the project. The brilliant young fantasist Daniel Abraham is doing the adaption. The art will be from the pencil of the Spanish artist Rafa. Watch this page; I will be showcasing some sample artwork here when the time is right. So keep your steam up and your fangs sharp. The Fevre Dream is coming round the bend. 03/05/04 HEDGE KNIGHT # 3 HITS THE STANDS The third issue of THE HEDGE KNIGHT comic from Roaring Studios and Image Comics has finally shipped, and should be available now at a comic shop near you. But go now... the first two issues sold out immediately on publication last fall, and the good folks at Roaring expect that this one will vanish quickly too. HEDGE KNIGHT #3 will be available in two variant covers. The "A" cover is by Mike S. Miller, the "B" cover by Tom Mandrake. The comic is a six-issue adaption of "The Hedge Knight," the first of my Dunk and Egg novellas, which originally appeared in the anthology LEGENDS, edited by Robert Silverberg. Ben Avery has done the adaption, while Mike S. Miller (pencils) and Mike Crowell (ink) provide the artwork. Personally, I think they're doing a magnificent job... but don't take my word for it. Check out a couple of the reviews that have appeared in comix journals: http://www.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/2004/march04/hedgeknight3.htm  
Unfortunately, there was a long delay between the second and third issues of the comic, for various complex and boring reasons that I won't go into here. The Dabel Brothers, lords and proprietors of Roaring Studios, assure me that it won't happen again.
The fourth issue is already done and should be along shortly, albeit from another publisher. With issue four, Roaring will be moving the series from Image to Devil's Due. Issues five and six are also coming along. A deluxe trade paperback edition collecting all six issues between one set of covers will be released as soon as the series is complete, with a beautiful and evocative cover by Ted Nasmith. Fantasy fans should also check out Roaring Studios' own website for word on all their other projects. The Dabels have comic book adaptions of works by Ray Feist, Robert Jordan, Robert Silverberg, and Tad Williams in development, and an original story penned by Harry Harrison... with some terrific artwork too. 03/05/04 RRETROSPECTIVE NOMINATED FOR INTERNATIONAL HORROR AWARD GRRM: A RRetrospective, my massive half-million word collection from Subterranean Press, has been nominated by the International Horror Guild as the Best Collection of 2003. The IHG Awards, presently in their tenth year, recognize "outstanding achievement in the fields of horror and dark fantasy." Nominations and awards are decided by a jury. The winners will be announced Saturday, April 10, at the annual World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. Although GRRM is not purely a horror collection, the judges felt it contained "more than enough first-rate horror fiction to justify its nomination." Needless to say, I was as pleased as I was surprised by the nomination. It's a distinguished list of finalists, and I'm proud to be a part of it. The trade edition of GRRM: A RRetrospective sold out immediately on publication last September, but copies of the signed, numbered, slipcased limited edition are still available from Subterranean Press at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/ A full list of this year's IHG nominees can be found at http://www.ihgonline.org/ -- along with more information about the International Horror Guild and the World Horror Convention in Phoenix. 03/05/04 HEDGE KNIGHT RETURNS TO THE LISTS  
The long delay between the second and third issue of THE HEDGE KNIGHT comic frustrated a lot of my readers. I know. It was frustrating for me as well, and for the good folks at Roaring Studios... so they went out and changed publishers, moving the project from Image to Devil's Due.
What a difference! The fourth issue of THE HEDGE KNIGHT is now out, and should be on sale at your favorite comic shop, with two variant covers, the "A" cover by Mike S. Miller, and the "B" by Tom Yeates. And with Devil's Due, no one will have to wait half a year for the next issue. HEDGE KNIGHT #5 is already roaring down the lists, and will soon be on the stands as well. That one features another gorgeous Mike S. Miller cover, and an stunning alternative by Ted Nasmith, one of the world's premiere Tolkien artists. You can catch a preview of some of the art for issue #5 by going here. Devil's Due and Roaring have also rereleased issues #1-3 in a new collected edition, for those who missed the original comics from Image (all of which sold out upon release). Those should be available in your favorite comics shop as well. There will be one more issue in the Roaring miniseries. Then the entire six-issue story will be released as a trade paperback... with a little something extra. As I said last time around, I think Mike and Mike and Ben and the Brothers Dabel are doing a magnificent job, but of course I'm prejudiced. So here are a couple of reviews from folks who aren't: Roaring has also established a forum where you can talk about the comic with other readers, which can be found here. 01/04/04 SUBTERRANEAN SHIPS LIMITED OF GRRM Subterranean Press has announced that it is now shipping the signed, numbered, limited edition of GRRM: A RRETROSPECTIVE.
The trade hardcover of GRRM sold out immediately upon release in September. The limited has taken a little longer, but it was well worth the wait, I think. Beside the autograph page and the slipcase, the limited edition will also include a chapbook of "The Last Defender of Camelot," containing both Roger Zelazny's original short story (a classic, in my opinion), and the script for my TWILIGHT ZONE adaption, the first of my teleplays to be produced.
The numbered edition is limited to 400 copies and goes for $125. It contains all the stories and art from the trade hardcover, of course, in addition to the "extras." Some 300-odd copies have already been spoken for, Bill Schaefer informs me, but there are still almost 100 available for purchase. GRRM is best ordered directly off the Subterranean website. These special collectors' editions are not available in the vast majority of bookstores. |