123 replies to this topic

[Jadaki]

HBO acquires rights to the George RR Martin Epic Series!

[pokerinc]

sick.

any release timeline?

[rogerwilco]

I have never heard of that book, but this sounds great:
"The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood.""

[Jadaki]

I have never heard of that book, but this sounds great:
"The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood.""

This might be hard to believe, but it's way more adult oriented than anything in Rome or Deadwood. There are things that take place that are possibly even too graphic for HBO to put on the air. You would have to mix the most graphic parts of Rome, Oz, Sopranos and Deadwood together to start to get the idea of what you would see in this series. I really don't have the words to explain it.

The setting of the books takes place 15 years after a civil war tears through a continent of the seven kingdoms as they prepare for winter, and while the kingdom buckles down for a winter that lasts over a decade, the fallout of the civil war and the positioning of various people in a play to take over the kingdom take center stage. The story is told through multiple point of views, from up to 10 different characters or so per book. Unlike some other books in the genre that rely on magic and things that are very fantasy based, magic lays in the background (though it is present) and the series and at the forefront are gritty realistic characters that are not necessarily good or evil, but everything in between. I could give you a better summary of what the story is about but I would feel like I am ruining a great experience of reading them.

The thing about Martin's work is that no character is safe, many have died already and the series only has the first 4 books out, 3 more are due (the 5th one soon hopefully). Everyone I have introduced the series to absolutely loves them even if they don't like the genre. If they stick to the plan of 1 book per season, season 3 (A Storm of Swords) might be the best thing to ever hit television.

The series so far...

• A Game of Thrones (1996)
• A Clash of Kings (1998)
• A Storm of Swords (2000)
• A Feast for Crows (2005)

The remaining three novels are provisionally titled:

• A Dance with Dragons (no release date set, but it is hoped to be released in early 2007)
• The Winds of Winter
• A Dream of Spring (formerly known as A Time for Wolves)

[digitalmonkey]

This might be hard to believe, but it's way more adult oriented than anything in Rome or Deadwood. There are things that take place that are possibly even too graphic for HBO to put on the air. You would have to mix the most graphic parts of Rome, Oz, Sopranos and Deadwood together to start to get the idea of what you would see in this series. I really don't have the words to explain it.

The setting of the books takes place 15 years after a civil war tears through a continent of the seven kingdoms as they prepare for winter, and while the kingdom buckles down for a winter that lasts over a decade, the fallout of the civil war and the positioning of various people in a play to take over the kingdom take center stage. The story is told through multiple point of views, from up to 10 different characters or so per book. Unlike some other books in the genre that rely on magic and things that are very fantasy based, magic lays in the background (though it is present) and the series and at the forefront are gritty realistic characters that are not necessarily good or evil, but everything in between. I could give you a better summary of what the story is about but I would feel like I am ruining a great experience of reading them.

The thing about Martin's work is that no character is safe, many have died already and the series only has the first 4 books out, 3 more are due (the 5th one soon hopefully). Everyone I have introduced the series to absolutely loves them even if they don't like the genre. If they stick to the plan of 1 book per season, season 3 (A Storm of Swords) might be the best thing to ever hit television.

The series so far...

• A Game of Thrones (1996)
• A Clash of Kings (1998)
• A Storm of Swords (2000)
• A Feast for Crows (2005)

The remaining three novels are provisionally titled:

• A Dance with Dragons (no release date set, but it is hoped to be released in early 2007)
• The Winds of Winter
• A Dream of Spring (formerly known as A Time for Wolves)

You gonna check out the show when it airs?



















Now I have to check out these books, you bastard. I need more hours in a day.

[Jadaki]

You gonna check out the show when it airs?

I am preparing a letter to HBO now that warns them if they pull the plug on this prematurely like they have a few other series then I very well may get have to go Ving Rhames on them and break out some pliers and a blowtorch.

[fleung22]

I am preparing a letter to HBO now that warns them if they pull the plug on this prematurely like they have a few other series then I very well may get have to go Ving Rhames on them and break out some pliers and a blowtorch.

a.k.a. Medieval on their ass

[digitalmonkey]

I found a sample on his website. View it here. [WARNING: Spoiler alert!]

[Jadaki]

I found a sample on his website. View it here.

Thats a sample chapter from the upcoming 5th book. If you plan on reading the series, don't read that because way to much info about stuff that happens previously is potentially spoiled including a shocking part of the 3rd book.

[rogerwilco]

Everyone I have introduced the series to absolutely loves them even if they don't like the genre.

Well, I have no aversion to Fantasy anyway, I'm not ashamed to say that I have been playing D&D much longer than I have been playing poker.

I don't care about violence/sex/drugs/etc. if it is presented as end in itself, but I always enjoyed a more "realistic", non-manichean world with believable characters, who aren't necessarily heroes, as opposed to a "clean" universe where you know where everyone stands all the time, and only the bad guys do stupid/dubious things. For example in sci-fi I like Firefly and Galactica a lot more than Star Trek (except DS9 somewhat).

I might check out these books, sounds interesting.

[Jadaki]

I might check out these books, sounds interesting.

We have similar tastes in Sci-fi and an outlook on characters, you should definitely check them out. Martin's use of character viewpoints will make you flip flop on weather you hate someone or are quietly cheering for them later on, because after getting I involved in everyones perspective you realise it's not just good vs evil, its people against people and no one is perfect.

I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

[digitalmonkey]

I found A Game of Thrones Audiobook formatted for iPod Video.

[rogerwilco]

Hehe, I bought the first 2 books and nearly finished reading the first part today (I'm a fast reader), this will make a sick tv-show, in the best and worst sense of that word.

[Jadaki]

Taken from a fansite of the series... here is a decent spoiler free preview.

In a day and age where door-stopper fantasy series with no apparent endings are hitting the bestseller lists, it’s often hard to consider new entries into this particular sub-genre with any seriousness. After all, if Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind are the heights of the field, what’s the point of trying anything else? But each book (or series) should be judged on its own merits - and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire proves that there’s still room for diamonds among the rough.

The first book in the series (for a long while planned as six volumes, but the exigencies of the publishing world now make seven the likelier number) is the award-winning A Game of Thrones. Describing it isn’t easy, because a short summary will miss one of the precious facets of the work. But here’s an attempt to give the feel:

Imagine a feudal kingdom on a massive continent in a world filled with many cultures and half-legendary lands and an ancient history. Imagine a time where dragons once lived but magic is now dwindling, yet the seasons can be long or short, bringing glorious summers or terrible winters that last years at a time. Imagine a massive iron throne from which seven kingdoms are ruled, with false knights and true all gathered about it in hopes of blood or glory or profit, and shadows behind it pushing the pieces that make up the game of thrones.

That’s the book for you, in a nut-shell. But if you want something more specific, try this:

The story starts with a frightening prologue that tells us who the truest enemies are, and then turns suddenly to the castle of Winterfell from which the Starks rule the North for King Robert on his Iron Throne far to the south. A man is executed and on that bloody day direwolf pups are found next to the dead body of a huge direwolf slain by a broken antler in her neck. There just happens to be one for every son and daughter of Lord Eddard Stark, including his ******* Jon Snow, and what that strange coincidence can mean is a mystery. On that same day, more blood when news arrives that Lord Eddard’s childhood fosterer and friend Jon Arryn, the man who had rebelled against a king to protect him and his best friend Robert and became Robert’s Hand, has died. Slowly the history is unveiled, piece-by-piece like a jigsaw puzzle forming into place haphazardly, and layers of events are formed that mold the lives of all the characters.

What follows is a tumult surrounded by the distant tremor of fear that comes when we hear the Stark motto, "Winter is Coming". Politics, murders, conspiracies. Tournaments, love, hatred. War, battle, trials. Disaster and victory. And that’s not the half of it, for a parallel but separate storyline follows Daenerys Targaryen, Stormborn, the last daughter of the dragonkings who had ruled the Seven Kingdoms for three hundred years. Wed to a barbarian khal with an army of 40,000 nomadic warriors, she goes from childhood to adulthood in a harrowing journey that follows her progression further and further from the things she knew.

It’s one of the best fantasies written in the last forty years, and it can stand proudly up there right next to The Lord of the Rings. Where that great work is inspired by epic legends and myth, this one is more grounded in history and reality. You couldn’t count the out-and-out villains on the finger of one-hand, because they don’t exist, and while the heroes are in greater number they’re all flawed. Eddard Stark, for example, is the epitome of decency and honour but he’s unsubtle and the tasks he take on are more over-the-head than he could possibly imagine. It should be no surprise to say that in a world filled with so much grey, happy endings may be far and few, instead becoming ambiguous or even terrible. Good people die, as do bad people, and the wicked win as many victories as the good.

If you want something written in a straightforward manner, without a lot of politics, without bloody battles or frank language and sexual situations, without a huge cast of characters and more than a few POV characters whose chapters are always divided by other POVs lying in-between, then A Game of Thrones may not be for you. But if you want something that will shake you up, that will surprise you and shock you, leaving you elated and angry and sad by the page-turn, and making you think, then give it a try.

[Jadaki]

Update posted to Martin's website.

The latest news on HBO front is that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have turned in the second draft of the pilot script for A GAME OF THRONES, and their rewrite is presently being read and evaluated by the powers-that-be at HBO. In other words, it's the normal process, which is long and often slow. So far, the reports are good, and HBO seems to like what they're seeing... but no, there's no greenlight yet, A GAME OF THRONES remains a script in development, not a series in production.

The one hard bit of news is that HBO has reached agreement with the BBC for them to come in as a partner on the series... IF it goes ahead. That's very cool news, and I'm excited and pleased to have the BBC involved... but even so, we're still in the crossed fingers stage here, not the shooting-off-fireworks stage.

I get emails about the HBO adaptation of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE almost daily, by the way, so let me say a few words about that.

Look, guys and girls, I appreciate all the enthusiasm and interest, but please stop sending me your resumes, your head shots, your audition tapes. We're not hiring anyone as yet. We won't be hiring anyone for some time, most likely. And should that day arrive when the show gets the greenlight and we start looking for a cast and crew, it won't be me doing the hiring and casting. I'll visit the set from time to time, I'm sure (how often may depend on whether we're shooting in Ireland, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Rumania, or wherever), but the final decisions on these matters will be made by HBO, the BBC, the showrunners, and the director. I can't help you. Especially if you're not actually professionally involved in film and television, but are still "desperate to be involved in the show in any capacity, even just standing around in the background." I get a lot of those emails too. Those people who stand around in the background are called "extras," for what it's worth, and I'm not in charge of hiring them either. Again, we thank you for the love, but that's not how television works.

I also get a constant stream of emails asking me for news about the HBO project. Guys, that's why I have a News page on my website, and that's why I post here. When there's some news to share, I share it. Honest. No news is no news. Sometimes long periods pass when nothing is happening, or things are happening behind the scenes that even I am not aware of. Whenever there is a significant development -- like the BBC coming aboard -- I will post it here. I'm not going to try to disseminate it in individual emails to whoever happens to write that day to ask what's new with HBO.

Thanks for your patience. Thanks for your understanding. Keep your fingers crossed.

Awesome news about them getting involved with BBC on this, we could see something similar to the production of Rome once again.

[PMJackson21]

Weeeeeeeee!

GRRM's books will translate well to tv because he has done so much work previously on tv shows. I think that is one of the main reasons his dialogue and pacing is so good in the series.

It's HBO, so I shouldn't have to say this, but it better not suck...and I might picket if Warwick Davis doesn't land the part of Tyrion.

[BigDMcGee]

Wow, I missed this the first time. I haven't read the series, but my Dad's a big, big fan, and this could be an amazingly awesome series. I think the time is ripe for the definitive, brutal, dramatic Fantasy television series. And I trust HBO productions to do it right. I look forward to more updates.

[hank213]

I went to the bookstore a couple months ago and asked for a good fantasy series to start on while awaiting the next in the Feist series and they recommended these. I was instantly addicted and just finished "Feast" last week. B&N said "Dragons" is slated to come out in September.

Agree with Jadaki on the "adult oriented" aspects, some really gritty stuff in those books.

[showstopper24]

I just read that HBO has given 10 half hour shows to the people who created funnyordie.com (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Judd Apatow).

[El Guapo]

Josh any news on when? I told my buddy who has been trying to get me to read this series for years now and he went nuts. He can't wait.