From George RR Martin's BLOG


29th May 2007
5:23pm: My Second Life

I can barely keep up with my first life, if truth be told... but all the same, I'll be having a second life come Thursday.

Yes, I'm making a virtual appearance in Bantam's virtual bookstore on Second Life. For those of you who don't know it, Second Life is... well, sort of like World of Warcraft without the axes, swords, and monsters. Our world, kinda sorta, virtually. Anyway, I'll be there this Thursday evening, in avatar form, doing a reading from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS and doing a Q&A afterwards. Proceedings will start at 9:00pm eastern and run about an hour. This will be a first for me, so it will be fun to see how it goes. Ah, 'tis a brave new world, surely.

If you'd like to be part of the festivities, get thee to www.secondlife.com. You can sign up there, download the software, and design your own avatar. (I've never done a reading with monsters in the audience before, at least not the sort you could tell my looking at 'em).

The virtual bookstore can only hold about sixty avatars, but the overflow will be able to see and hear the reading from satellite sites, and send questions via IM.

I've never done this before either, so that's about all I can tell you about how things will work... but if you live out in the bookdocks where I'm never likely to visit on a book tour, this virtual appearance could be the next best thing. See you there!

I assume you'll be checking this out, Dave?

Yes, I will try. Martin has only released 2 sample chapters for the new book, and the last one was put out I think when the last book was finished, so it's been like two years. This may be a chance to be exposed to some more material from the book, though I do not know what he will be reading. Also, it would be pretty cool to hear the words from the author's mouth (might even pick up a few things on name pronunciations). And I guess he is also going to do some Q&A stuff, so that may also be cool. The most popular question would probably be when the book will be done, but I doubt we'll receive anything remotely concrete on that one.

The first 5 questions will probably all be variations of that theme, and then Martin will end the entire session in a huff, screaming that "the book will be done when it's done!" That's what I predict anyway.

Quasar wrote:The first 5 questions will probably all be variations of that theme, and then Martin will end the entire session in a huff, screaming that "the book will be done when it's done!" That's what I predict anyway.

Lol. It's been awhile since I've visited his site. Any idea how close he is to completing the new book?

No idea whatsoever.

The book will be done when it's done!

On a related note, I hear it's as hot in Hell as it ever was.

I thought Leatherman had started a thread on ASoIaF, but that may have been erased with July's forcible cleansing (I myself feel violated to this very day). Anyhoo, at GRRM's official site he posts news and such, and the most recent news is on a set of paintable figures being released for characters from the books. I like this just because I like seeing form given to the characters, and Martin himself advised the sculptor on how the characters should look. This news is under August 15th, 2007 (which at this time is at the top of the page), and contains pictures of three painted figures. By looking at these, you can get an idea of how large/small Daenarys's breasts are, The Hound's particular scarring, and the length of Eddard Stark's face. Eddard of course looks younger here than I often thought of him, because even though he is described in the books as being in his early 30s, I always imagined him much older.

LINK

I wish they'd have done a figurine of The Mountain, because I can't imagine him without having a disproportionately giant head.

Jack's Sorrow wrote:July's forcible cleansing (I myself feel violated to this very day

We're calling it "The Incident."

Quasar wrote:I wish they'd have done a figurine of The Mountain, because I can't imagine him without having a disproportionately giant head.

Well, they are going to be periodically coming out with new figures, so they may in fact do The Mountain. I'll be curious to see him, but I don't know if it will really do that much for me, because the big thing about seeing him would be his size, and as far as his figure goes it would just be a little larger than the others. Seeing him in the live action HBO series would be more interesting, but I expect I'll be disappointed with him in that context because he just seems like he'll be a difficult character to do justice to. I wonder if they'll do something like they did with the Hobbits in LOTR in order to make him the right size. You'd think they could do that, cause he's not really in the books that much.

They should make him CGI, like Hyde in Van Helsing.

I had started a thread that was lost in the purge. It even included a warning to Q about "that Hedge Knight shit" that Q blatantly ignored.

The figures could be cool, but at the same time a little disconcerting given they're coming partially from Martin himself. Eddard Stark looks about like I imagined him, but Dany doesn't for some reason. The Hound I imagined as much more grisly and rough around the edges...and not so thick. I think he was much closer to what I see in my minds eye in a lot of the sketches that are available on the original site (here). Some of the Dany sketches are a little closer but still not quite there for me.

I've always imagined Dany as a brunette. I think that's what's throwing me.

Rob, quit lying, cause that doesn't even make sense. Dany was always described as a blond. I'm quite certain of it.

for some reason I've always imagined her as brunette, as well. It's funny how you can gloss over descriptions to make them fit what you want.

Jack's right: Dany's a blonde. Not sure where you got the idea she's brunette, Q.

Those figures are nicely detailed but Dany's face looks a bit too old IMO. The figurine makes it seem she's in her late 20s/early 30s instead of in her late teens. But if Martin himself advised and approved of the design, I won't complain too much.

I've just been glancing through Wikipedia's page on minor houses in ASoIaF (I naturally find it quite an entertaining read). It occurred to me that Howland Reed, an important character in events preceding the series, has never made an actual appearance, and that he is the only living person who was at the Tower of Joy when Eddard went to rescue his sister Lyanna. So, basically, Howland has to make an appearance sooner or later; that ought to be interesting. I think in book three Robb Stark was planning on moving his armies through the marshlands, though I can't recall for certain. Perhaps he meant to meet up with Howland at that point. In book four the Iron Men complained about the difficulties of fighting the bog men with their poisoned arrows while they were raiding the coasts (around the Neck, I presume). I believe it is about time that Martin brought these particular characters to the forefront (I'm also eager to see Meera and Jojen Reed again: I enjoyed those characters and missed them in the last book).

Master Ulic wrote:But if Martin himself advised and approved of the design, I won't complain too much.

Complain, U. Go on and do it. You ain't gotta take shit off your heroes just 'cause you think you owe 'em somethin' fer entertaining you. So go on an' pitch a fuss, I say!

And while you're at it, take some time out of your day to appreciate this conversation from The Last Detail:

Meadows: Hey, you guys mind if I say somethin'? That guy at the bar, why did you get so mad at him? I don't blame him not givin' me a beer.
Budduskey: 'ey, don't you never get mad at nobody?
Meadows: Well, sure I do, yeah.
Mulhall: Who do you get mad at?
Meadows: Not at somebody who's doing their job.
Budduskey: Who then?
Meadows: Injustice
Budduskey: Bullshit! You never get mad at nobody. You're just a pussy.
Meadows: I do, too, get mad.
Mulhall: Did you ever get mad at the old man for what he done to you?
Meadows: Well, he was just . . .
Budduskey: . . . doin' his job. Hey, they're gonna take eight years outta your life, man.
Meadows: Six years. You said six.
Budduskey: Hey, what the fuck difference does it make? You don't even care about it.
Mulhall: Come on, Badass, that don't help him.
Budduskey: Fuck help, fuck fair. Fuck injustice. Don't you ever just wanna fuckin' whomp and stomp on someone, bite off their ear just to do it? I mean just to do it, just to get it out of your system?

'A Song of Ice and Fire' House Test

Your Score: House Stark18% Dominant, 50% Extroverted, 59% Trustworthy

Responsible. Respectable. Dour. That’s not shit coming out of your ass--it’s honor. You are clearly of House Stark.

You are a submissive personality, meaning that you are more than willing to relinquish control to someone more qualified; you will unflinchingly accept any responsibility that is thrust upon you, including servitude. Unfortunately for you, your unending patience and accommodating nature often make people look to you for a leader. In essence, you are the perfect leader: someone who has no desire to lead, yet is substantially well-qualified to do it.

You are also introverted, which means that people sometimes have difficulty understanding your thought process. Your dependable nature makes you predictable, but you’ve probably got all sorts of emotional dysfunctions when it comes to more intimate relationships. There are very few people whom you trust unwaveringly, and you’re not the type to confide in other people. So cold, so aloof--so Stark.

Finally, you are trustworthy--the very definition of the word. All secrets are safe with you. All of your vows are unbreakable. True to your name, you world is a stark place; there is black, and there is white. Your rigidity tends to undercut your overall value as a friend and ally. Honesty such as yours is hard to come by, which is easy to understand when you consider how easily manipulated you are by less decent individuals. Essentially, you’re the nice guy, and you’ll always finish last.

Representative characters include: Eddard Stark, Jon Snow, and Sansa Stark

Similar Houses: Frey, Lannister and Tully

Opposite House: Baratheon

When playing the game of thrones, you play it with one sword in your hand and another up your ass.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 0% on Dominance

You scored higher than 60% on Extroversion

You scored higher than 50% on Trustworthiness

So, Rob, how many issues are you into 'The Sworn Sword' now? I assume it'll be six issues, like 'The Hedge Knight'. I myself am waiting for the trade paperback, of course, but I do not know when that will be released. I remember 'The Hedge Knight' had some kind of production problems, I think, and it took forever for all six issues to make it to shelves, but I assume they've got things worked out for this time around and the issues will be coming out with regularity.

Latest news on 'A Dance with Dragons'.

Note on the Latest GRRM Update
George's ADWD update on 26 June 2007 confirms that the book is not yet finished, although a number of additional chapters have been completed, including a particularly difficult one. He cancelled a trip to Asia in August 2007 to ensure that the book is completed as soon as possible.

This does now mean that the chances of the book making it out in 2007 are now non-existent, due to the 4-5 month editorial turnaround time that prior books in the sequence needed between completion and appearing on shelves. However, this is merely speculation.

The 3 October 2007 Update
Noted online blog Pat's Fantasy Hotlist visited GRRM's publishers in New York City several months ago and they confirmed they were expecting the ADWD manuscript in the autumn/winter 2007/08 period for publication some months later. Locus Online have now gone further and listed ADWD for release in June 2008. This is only a guesstimate, albeit one presumably provided by the US publishers (it should be remembered that the previous volumes were released at least a month earlier in the UK).

Here's some miniatures from Martin's novels.

HERE is a painted version of the Melisandre miniature.

Latest word from George:

And yes, I am trying to finish up the third Dunk & Egg story as my own contribution to WARRIORS. Right now I'm calling it "The Mystery Knight." That's the fourth or fifth title I've slapped on this one. We'll see if it sticks.

DANCE WITH DRAGONS? Yes, working on that too. Lately it's been Tyrion and more Tyrion. When I finish these three chapters, I will need to double back and pick up some of the other POVs lest my devious dwarf get too far ahead.

George has commented in the past how easily Tyrion chapters seem to come to him, so it looks like he continues to enjoy writing them. It doesn't particularly sound like he's anywhere near the end from that statement, though, but it least it sounds like he's getting a good amount of writing done, which is most important.