Eastercon 2012
This weekend I was at Olympus 2012, the 63rd annual convention of the British Science Fiction Association, affectionately known as Eastercon. Mostly I was there to promote my newly published novel The Alchemist of Souls, but thanks to guest of honour George R R Martin it turned into somewhat of a Game of Thrones fan-fest! I arrived around midday on Good Friday to find the convention already well underway and my book selling like hot cakes on the Angry Robot stall. I was determined to take it easy, as I had a busy schedule on Saturday, so I spent the afternoon catching up with friends and drinking as little alcohol as I could get away with (well, I could hardly refuse the champagne that Lee from AR bought to toast my book publication, could I?). I took myself off...
Read MoreWinter is coming
Yesterday (Monday 26th) was the scheduled date for filming to start on the rest of Season One of “A Game of Thrones”, HBO’s adaptation of George R R Martin’s epic fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire”. To say that I’m excited is an understatement… On a long walk to the post office yesterday, I was trying to work out why. I mean, I really enjoyed reading the first book, and I’m looking forward to the second, but I have other favourite fantasy series, including one that’s already been adapted for moving pictures – several of the Discworld novels have been thus treated. On the other hand none of my most favourite Discworld books have been adapted yet, which takes the edge off the anticipation. Also,...
Read MoreGeorge R R Martin is not your bitch
To while away a train journey yesterday, I caught up on one of my favourite podcasts, “I Should Be Writing“, which just started running again after a hiatus in May. The first new episode was live from Balticon, and unlike the regular show was a tipsy, sweary and totally hilarious session (not the the regular show isn’t entertaining, just seldom laugh-out-loud funny). The highlight was a song by John Anealio, based on a quote by Neil Gaiman, which inspired this blog post. The story’s a bit old now by internet standards, but a good story is worth retelling. That’s what we do, right? A fan of George R R Martin wrote to Gaiman asking if Martin owed it to him, the reader, to finish his epic fantasy series “A Song of Ice and...
Read MoreA Game of Ebooks
Over the last few days I’ve been sorting out my writing den and shaking my head over the number of books and the inadequacy of my shelves to contain them all. Thus when it came to ordering a novel that I wanted to read – Gail Z Martin’s “The Summoner” – I decided to save space with an ebook. Should be easy enough, I thought… OK, so finding an ebook edition of “The Summoner” was easy enough, but of course it’s always hard to buy just one book. I found myself looking at the very tempting package of George R R Martin’s “A Game of Thrones” and “A Clash of Kings” for the same price as one volume. How could I resist? I’ve been meaning to read “A Song of Ice and...
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