Book 3 (Storm of Swords) probably ranks with Book 1 (Game of Thrones) in a tie for my favorites of the series (note: I have only read up to book three thus far). The plot stays fairly tight throughout, the twists and turns are relatively fair to the reader without being too obvious and Martin is refreshingly comfortable with killing off a major character or two when it works for the story.

Also I enjoyed the tapestry of this world that Martin is creating. We are learning more and more about legends of the Night’s Watch, the bizarre customs of the eastern realms, and the evil of the Others.

In fact, although I’ve said previously that Martin has written too many story lines into his saga, I must commend him for keeping each one moving forward. This is something that few writers seem to be able to do. For example: Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series, became seriously bogged down by his multiplying plot lines. So much so that after over 10 books his once promising fantasy series is still unfinished and not projected to be until three more books are released. With Jordan, it got to the point that each character would take up enough of each book that nothing would happen for 900 pages.

Fortunately, Martin keeps his tale in control.

Sagan fortsätter…
Jag funderar om man kan läsa en av berättelserna i A Storm of Swords i ett svep, och (tillfälligt) hoppa över de andra? Just nu tycker jag att Aryas historia är så spännande att jag nästan inte står ut att vänta på fortsättningen när jag läser om Davos, Tyrion, Danys, Catelyn, Jaime, Sansa, Jon, Samwell, ja till och med min lille favorit Bran.
(Detta är tredje delen efter den här och den här.
UPPDATERING: Detta är skådisarna i den kommande HBO-serien.
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Those were encouraging words to read by George R.R. Martin, author of the highly (highly, highly) anticipated novel A Dance With Dragons. And not necessarily because there’s some real progress being made on the book (for me, it’s simply done when it’s done and I’ve plenty on my plate to enjoy until that day) but because Jon Snow has become my favorite character in the series and I’m not quite as caught up as others as of yet so I’m encouraged to learn that Jon is…well…and that there’s so much more yet to come. This is A Song of Ice and Fire after all, so perhaps you can understand my fears as I progress.

Anyhow, here’s the rest of what GRRM had to say about his work on the latest installment:

Finished a Jon Snow chapter, and have just passed the 1100 page (manuscript pages, the page count in the final printed book will be different) mark on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. That’s counting only finished chapters in something close to final form. I have considerably more in partials, fragments, and roughs. Even with just the finished portions, DANCE is now longer than A FEAST FOR CROWS and A GAME OF THRONES, and I’m closing in on A CLASH OF KINGS. I do hope I can wrap things up before I approach the 1521 page length of A STORM OF SWORDS. Making a new run at the Meereenese knot, but maybe not tomorrow. I think I’ll hang around at the Wall a bit longer, and maybe visit Winterfell.

So a while ago HBO bought the rights to one of my favorite books series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, to turn it into a TV series, A Game of Thrones. Basically each book would be one season. It hasn’t been picked up yet, it shoots the pilot in October so we will find out hopefully around then if it does, but I really hope it will be! It is a great story and which lends itself, in my opinion, very well to TV. I think this comes from Martin’s background in TV writing.

(all of the currently published books in the series, there are going to be 7 in all)

HBO apparently is looking for a replacement for Rome. I think this would be perfect, it has the same sort of feel to it in terms of intrigue, drama, etc. and it would be around the same scale in terms of budget.

Lately every few weeks there has been more information coming out about it, mostly in regards to casting. So far the cast is AMAZING! Sean Bean, Jennifer Ehle (she plays Lizzy Bennet in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice – my favorite adaptation of it), Peter Dinklage (from The Station Agent, another great movie) are all in lead roles with Thomas McCarthy directing (director of The Station Agent). It also has Harry Lloyd, Will Scarlet from BBC’s Robin Hood, a guilty pleasure of mine, cast in it.

I am getting super excited, because it just keeps getting better and better. I cannot wait to see the complete cast list, and then hopefully the actual show.

Please HBO!

(While I am asking for things, GRRM please finish A Dance With Dragons! 5 years between books is plenty long, don’t make us wait more.)

I’ve found it hard to start a blog for a variety of reasons. One of them is an inability to shake the uncomfortable feeling that my musings and whims will be of little interest to anyone else. It’s not clear to me why what I write on my own time would matter in any way. I’m not an expert on anything in particular; my life, in fact, seems dedicated to become a jack of all trades (but not enough trades to become an expert at being a jack of all trades). If I can’t offer a unique, special perspective on..a topic… why would anyone (other than my relatives) want to read this?

Another problem in starting a blog is my inability to maintain things. I have been shockingly fortunate in my birth, having been born in the United States in the late 20th century to intelligent, middle class parents that get along famously and hail from two stable family trees almost completely free of genetic defects (the only flaw, seemingly, being a propensity toward startlingly poor vision); despite all this, I appear to have inherited my fathers predilection to start new projects, disciplines, practices, exercises and routines and then abandon them… routinely. I bought the New York Times’ Book of Knowledge, with the intention of reading 10 pages every day and thus gaining reams of useful knowledge or, at the very least, a competitive edge at Bistro 33’s Trivia Night (bringing me ever closer to my goal of weekly $75 gift cards and, hence, free calamari and Blue Moon). It sits, pristine, almost completely undisturbed, on the top of a bookshelf at the sit of my bed. 

I can only hope that The Dummie’s Guide to XHTML, which occupies the space next to it both corporeally and temporally, provides stimulating conversation. 

As you have hopefully surmised by now, I have overcome these self-inflicted problems I had with blogging for the time being. One hopes that I’ll be able to keep it that way and post stories constantly. 

Things you can expect: freelance journalism, the occasional short story, more than a few sports rants, a movie review or two, posts detailing my plans for George RR Martin if he doesn’t finish his book series in the term of his natural life (or mine) and a whole bunch of who knows what. Maybe even some pictures if I’m feeling fancy. 

The news is out – thanks to George R.R. Martin’s Not a Blog:

Sean Bean is to play Lord Eddard Stark in the HBO series of A Game of Thrones. Bean played Boromir beautifully in Lord of the Rings.

Mark Addy of A Knight’s Tale will play Robert Baratheon

More casting news over at GRRM’s blog – and loads of excitement here and at Voyager world wide! They haven’t yet cast Daenerys, Cersei and Jaime, or the Winter is Coming brood (the Starks) … so you can still dream of your ideal cast!

I need to ease into this entry, much the way I need to ease into my chair for the next few days, so I’m going to start with the lighter fare…

Part I: Life Outside the Theatre, or: Life’s OUTSIDE the Theatre?!

Half Price Books comes through once again

Stopped by HPB this past Saturday before heading to Sunset for my weekly two-show workout. I’ve got a nice little routine in place for every time I visit. First I hit up the clearance section, then head over to the children’s books, then Plays and Poetry, non-fiction end caps, and a then the CD bargain racks. To each their own, but this system’s the one that keeps me going. Picked up five neat-o selections the other day, and because I know you’re just as interested in hearing what they were as I am in hearing how they sound…

1. Mrs. Fun: “They Are Not A Trio,” feat. kd lang and Milwaukee’s own Flora Coker
   It’s been a while since I’ve been to Summerfest, so I imagine/hope Mrs. Fun is still part of the lineup there. Acid jazz isn’t generally my genre of choice, but I have to say I do always enjoy watching and listening to these women perform. And they draw the best audiences! I see from their website that they were involved somehow in Phranc’s “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (‘89) but does anyone know in what capacity they worked together? Phranc. Can you imagine? Gosh– how fun! How– how Mrs. Fun… She’s a life lover, you know.
2. Loreena McKennitt: “Live in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts” (05/94)
   Every time I listen to McKennitt I think of this family I babysat for when I was in high school as every time I went over I’d pop in the mom’s “Book of Secrets” cd. The oldest boy was friends with my brother and he and his siblings were all geniuses, the children of creative genius parents. The mother covered about 40% of their home’s floorspace in extravagantly luscious trompe l’oeil paintings that made you want to stick to the carpet to ensure her work would last longer. That family made me happy, just knowing people like them were around.
3. Jem: “Finally Woken”
   Got to see what she’s all about, and I figure a better way to start’s with the older stuff before fame entered the picture in quite such a potentially influential way.
4. k.d. lang and the reclines: “Angel With A Lariat”
   Don’t know a darn thing about this one, just know I enjoyed “All You Can Eat” an awful lot and this disc was only a buck.
5. Luscious Jackson: “Natural Ingredients”
   With cover art that screams “1994!” I can only imagine this album will chuck (Taylor) me back into a desire to pair a small print floral dress with Docs and a cardigan. That was such a comfier time. Can we go back to that? Please?
6. Nelly Furtado: “Whoa, Nelly!”
   This is an absolutely fantastic and fun album. Every track is at the very least enjoyable, and at the most downright super great. Too bad she got all trashy when the money started rolling in. *shrugs* At least we’ll always have “Whoa, Nelly!”

I also picked up a book of Spanish literature of the 1700s – 1900s. It’s great because the intros and biographies are in English, but the texts are in their original Spanish, and I’ve been looking (casually) for something like this for a while now. So yay for that.

*nom nom nom*

Okay– but have you tried the California Topper? OMG, fellows. Oh. Em. Gee.

Sun and Stars

I’m rereading the first four Ice and Fire books in preparation for the eventual release of “A Dance of Dragons.” (No rush, George. Didn’t mean anything pressing by “eventual.” You take your time. Do it right. Release it around my birthday in March and I totally owe you a Coke.) It’s amazing to catch all these tiny details, these character subtleties, this second time around. I love- or hate- everyone even more upon rereading their stories and am even more excited than I was before about book 5 coming out. If you are even remotely a sci-fi fan, a fantasy fan, a historical fiction fan, a regular fiction fan, able to string letters together to form words: Read George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series. Amazing books. You will not be disappointed.

Matthew, James, and Joel: You have to live the life of a SOIaF character for a year. Who do you choose and why?

Part II: The Remaining 94% of Last Weekend

Phoolish Liaisons

Jane the Phoole came to the show on Friday night and let me tell you: I was ecstatic. I heard from a fellow actor that she was in the audience that night and I was instantly aflutter with nerves and excitement and– well and worry! You’ve got to be at the top of your game when Milwaukee’s official jester is present!

I look forward to seeing her every year at the Bristol Ren Faire, so it was a real treat to see her at Sunset– sans the usual regalia, no less. She said she enjoyed the show, which is either a wonderful review for us, or a moment of great acting from a great actress, because she was entirely believable when she said it. So good for us or kudos to her. Either way somebody still wins.

Bore me once, shame on you. Bore me twice…

“It is a hopeless endeavour to attract people to a theatre unless they can be first brought to believe that they will never get in.” Charles Dickens in “Nicholas Nickelby”

An interesting quote, that, given the fact that the four people in Sunday’s 2pm front row LEFT after the first intermission. I guess when people realize they can get into a theatre they may be faced with the prospect that they have no desire to remain there. Actually, I had no desire for three of those four to remain either so perhaps it’s just as well.

First there was an older couple on the end of the row, featuring a grumpy looking woman with an expression that’d curdle gasoline, and a man who kept sprawling out to find the best position in which to GO TO SLEEP during the performance. If you don’t like comedies. folks, don’t waste your time or money on attending them. No one will mind if you’re not there. In fact, most would probably prefer it that way, yourselves included.

Then there was a couple in their early 20s in the middle of the row. The girl was smiling and laughing throughout the first act, but her boyfriend could barely bring himself to remove his chin from his hand as boredom with our antics ate away at his soul. I know none of you ladies would ever leave something you’d already paid for and were enjoying just because your boyfriend was a humorless Philistine, but this poor young woman did exactly that. Take care, sister. This promises to be one pointless sacrifice among many, I fear…

“Ruth Arnell sat on a wall…”

Because people leaving at intermission should not be an event in itself but rather a hirbinger of greater ills to come, I proceed with caution as I dive into the rest of Saturday’s rather distressing 5pm show.

So first the light board reboots itself at the top of Act II just as the intermission music fades and the curtain opens. No lights, no sound, no action. Just… darkness. Darkness and actors stranded on stage in that darkness with no clue what’s going on, forced to stay in character and improvise as nothing continues to happen. That, ladies and gentlemen is what we call the “joy of live theatre.” It is also what we call “a real drag.” No matter– these things happen. The show must go on! And eventually– it did.

And then Act III hit.

All in all it was fine, and to tell you the truth I don’t think a darn thing happened for most of the act that anyone not involved in the show would’ve noticed. A key prop malfunctioned, cutting short a rather involved and quite comical bit, but again: who’d know?

Things are moving along just fine from then on until about 5 minutes before the end of the show when I’m on the upper mezzanine of the set and I accidentally catch my earring on my finger and hurl it down onto the stage floor below. An annoying, and clearly unintentional, attention grabber from the action in front of me, but again: these things happen.

Immediately thereafter I’m supposed to run down a flight of stairs in 3 1/2″ heels to talk to another character. This is something I’ve been doing for a month down these same stairs, with this same actor, in these same shoes. But for some reason… For some reason this one time my right foot- my dominant foot for crying out loud!- slips in my shoe and I crash onto the stairs, landing hard on a rear end not nearly as padded as I’d thought, before sliding down four stairs to the sound of gasps from the little old ladies in the audience.

And let me tell ya, folks: That fall hurt more than my pride. I finished the scene and then burst into tears as soon as the set door closed behind me. Ain’t no pain like a pain in the ass. Luckily Jenny was there to literally *run* to me, throw her arms around my shoulders, and offer the kind of sweet, tender encouragement that only the awesomest among us can offer. She’s a gem, that Jenny Ko. A diamond in the rough.

The tears eventually subsided, the 8pm show came and went (awesomely, I might add), and much to my delight there doesn’t appear to be any swelling. (Leave it alone…) Still quite a lot of pain, though, as it’s tough for something to heal when you keep sitting on it. Work especially is a real bear as every time I go to get up from my desk I end up spending about a minute wincing and rising at odd angles a few degrees at a time, hoping that either no one is noticing or that they’re all doing me the embarrassed courtesy of pretending not to see. I’ll take what I can get.

Vlog Update

Finally! Geez louise. You know– I’d intended to make this video a good month ago but just never got around to it. I wanted to make a couple, make them kind of informative, include pictures from rehearsals, get footage of people involved with the show talking about why in the world they’d voluntarily get involved with something like this. Yeah. You see how that didn’t happen?

Video homework: What play should I get people together to read this summer?

“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.” Edgar Bergen

… jag har börjat med A Clash of Kings, fortsättningen på George R R Martins fantastiska A Game of Thrones.
Åh! Den är ju precis så bra som ettan, hittills. Nu får jag veta vad som händer med Arya, och med Sansa, och med The Imp, och med Bran… Men 80 sidor in och ännu ingenting om Jon. Hur är det med Jon Snow?
Läser vidare. Inget slår soligt väder och en riktigt bra fantasy.
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I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to hear Peter Dinklage was cast as Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. He’s a tremendous actor. Tyrion needs a strong actor like Peter Dinklage. Outstanding! I can’t wait to hear more.

Does anyone else think that Skandar Keynes would make a good Jon Snow? I haven’t given much thought to casting until just now, and he just popped right into my head.

( Photos from IMDB )

My early endeavors in reading were largely based in the realm of epic fantasy material, a habit which I still indulge every now and then today. For some reason, I’ve always been obsessed by the idea of swords and sorcery, reading authors and books good (Tolkien) bad (anything Dragonlance ), and good at first then bad (Robert Jordan). However, there is a modern fantasy author who, I believe, stands way above his peers and completely transcends the conventions of the genre, thus accessible to a larger audience. So, I take every chance I can to try and recommend this particular series of books to anyone and everyone. I thought I would take the time in this space and explain to all what makes it the greatest fantasy produced in recent memory.

While George R.R. Martin has written horror, science fiction, short stories and edited many anthologies, his current project and most famous work is a series called “A Song of Ice and Fire.” The first book is “A Game of Thrones” and GRRM has said he expects to finish the story in seven book, with four currently published.

The name has a familiar fantasy ring to it, but his greatest strength is the way he defies the well-worn stereotypes of the genre. There are no elves or dwarfs, no righteous hero of pure heart, no wizened old wizards or epic prophecy to be fulfilled. The setting is most similar to a medieval Britain and the story can be graphic and violent as those times in human history often were. This helps give it a great authentic, historical feel that is lacking from flighty, feel-good fantasy.

His saga is a rare thing among fantasy authors as it is character-driven, with a memorable cast filling the pages. The characters are captivating because all of them possess shades of gray and undergo profound shifts with the events of the story. Many times, it’s hard to tell exactly who is the good guy or who you should be rooting for.

Beware, if you decide to read, GRRM has no qualms killing off main characters.

Part of the reason the characters are so interesting is in the specific manner in which GRRM write his chapters. Each chapter is given the title of a character and then follows that character from their point of view in third person. This allows readers to observe the story’s conflicts from various perspectives and get to know all the characters more intimately than an overarching narrative voice would allow. The effect is something similar to that achieved by gripping TV dramas, like “Lost” or “Battlestar Galactica,” which juggle several different plot threads at once and often end with cliffhangers.

Another reason to give GRRM a shot is that HBO has recognized the series’ potential and given the green light for a pilot to be produced. Casting has just gotten started for the pilot, so it still remains to be seen if HBO will actually go ahead and order a full season. I believe, like many fans, that GRRM and HBO would be a perfect fit.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s a very mature saga and many sequences or characters would have to be signified altered for a PG-13 rating. Further, the writing style of the series is a natural fit for TV given its pacing and focus on character development over epic battles. Imagine “Rome” or “Deadwood” in a medieval setting. It’s an exciting possibility and I really think HBO could do the transition from book to screen proper.

Unlike this adaptation, which I’m not excited about at all.

George R R Martin har inte mycket till övers för den verklighetsskildrande litteraturen. Han talar i egen sak förstås, men lite kul är det ändå:

Och min gamla favorit Fay Weldon berättar i en intervju på bokhora att hon gärna läser science fiction: It takes your mind off things, puts you in another world. Lite senare avslöjar hon att hon kanske ändå gillar Puffball/Röksvamp bäst av sina egna. Röksvamp var min första Weldon och jag älskade den.
Fru E har läst Weldons senaste, och Camelia har kört en hel Weldon-vecka.

Den innehåller allt: klanstrider, vänskap, svek och lojaliteter, underdogs som slår sig fram, ädlingar och starka kvinnor, kärlekshistorier och otäcka döda väsen och ett intrigspel värdigt de romerska kejsarna. Plus svärd och hästar och vargar. Precis vad jag ville ha.
Mest handlar det om huset Stark. Eddard som motvilligt blir kungens hand, kung Robert som är en gammal god vän till honom och skulle blivit hans svåger men istället är gift med den elaka och ambitiösa Cersei. Catelyn, Eddards hustru, som kommer från en gammal krigarätt och vill hämnas en attack på ett av hennes barn. Av barnen Stark är Arya, den vilda flickan, och Bran, den klättrande pojken, mina favoriter. Och så Jon förstås, Eddards son utom äktenskapet som inte får heta Stark utan Snow som alla bastarder i landet. (Bilden föreställer Jon Snow och hans varg Ghost. Alla Stark-barnen har en varg, historien om hur de fick dem är underbar.)
Men persongalleriet stannar inte där, vi får också följa Daenerys Targaryen, flickan som blir drottning hos ett vilt ociviliserat fiendefolk, och Tyrion Lannister, drottning Cerseis bror som är dvärg och inte så väl sedd i sin egen familj. Rösterna berättar sina egna och gemensamma historier om vartannat, och det är mycket skickligt gjort. Så där så att man känner sympati och förstår varför någon agerar som den gör, och hoppas att det ska gå bra, trots att man i kapitlet innan hejade lika mycket på nån annan som är en fiende med helt andra intressen.
A game of thrones är en saga från lägereldarnas tid, som att läsa Sagan om ringen för första gången. Jag längtar redan efter de andra delarna och blir bekymrad över att George R R Martin kanske inte orkar gå i mål med sju delar. Starks familjemotto är Winter is coming, och det är även namnet på en blogg som håller koll på hur det går med tv-versionen av Game of thrones.
Jo, och så innehåller boken kartor över rikena och personförteckningar över de olika släkterna. Sånt gillar jag.
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http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-important-are-age-and-appearance.html

Poll and discussion on age and appearance of actors versus characters – specifically for the most anticipated HBO series EVER (in my lifetime ) – A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM!

Hej!

Jag såg nyligen att rollspelet till George RR Martins romansvit A song of ice and fire har kommit! Själva böckerna är väldigt bra och väl förankrade i en trovärdig värld. Green Ronin ligger bakom initiativet.

Någon som har prövat? Länk här.

/karl

Two years ago, after the demise of Guardians of Order, George R.R. Martin made the exciting announcement that Green Ronin would be publishing his new “A Song of Ice and Fire” RPG…

Now, finally, after a long wait, Green Ronin have announced that “A Song of Ice and Fire” has gone to print!

(Ed – Opinion: Woo-Hoo! I can’t wait… I already have a lovely shiney special edition of the d20 / tri-stat “Game of Thrones” RPG from Guardians of Order but I’m keen to see what Green Ronin do with the setting as I think they do a great job with dark settings. The quick start rules which have been available for a while look pretty good!)

I’ve already written about Olympos, and I still think it’s cool. Especially now that I’ve gotten to the last 100 pages, things are really stirring up. But I’ve grown convinced that this book was rushed to release, instead of being reviewed and, in parts, rewritten.

One bit that was especially silly is on page 648 in my book, in the middle of a Hockenberry chapter where he’s having a conversation with the moravecs:

“Great,” I say. “What’s chameleon cloth?”

“An active-stealth camouflage polymer,” says the general. “Blah blah blah, roughly the same material that your Mars ship was coated in, blah blah blah”

“The gods saw us and shot our Mars ship out of orbit”, I say.

D’oh! Simmons is clearly confusing Hockenberry with Mahnmut, the moravec who first went to Mars. Not that they’re so hard to confuse, they’re pretty much the same character, only with different backgrounds. Not much character development going on in this book, they’re all variations on the scales of good/evil and young/old.

Anyway, poor quality control and predictable characters aren’t enough to keep me from enjoying this, there’s still plenty of good writing and intrigue to keep me interested. It’s always sad to see a follow-up to an amazing book being not-so-amazing, but I’d still say Olympos is an essential read for anyone whom Ilium left wanting to know what the fuck it was all about.

Oh, and if you think a book makes me angry, you should check out Finish the Book, George, a blog that finally gives a voice to every ASOIAF nerd who’s sick of waiting for book five in the series. It’s quite amusing

George R. R. Martin reports here on his LJ and here on his website that Green Ronin have released the Wild Cards RPG campaign setting for Mutants and Masterminds. Pretty cool news (although I’m a little more anxious about A Song of Ice and Fire news) and definitely something I’m interested in having a look at! The weasel will try and get hold of a copy and put up a little review here but if any of you get hold of a copy first why don’t you email us and let us know what you think!

For now – I’m off to read the Song of Ice and Fire quick start rules (also from Green Ronin) which you can download here.

The first post of a series, studying the writing techniques that I’m lacking.

Someday I’ll write about the similarities between the different forms of art. This is not that day, but I’d like to point out something. The premise of animation is that when a person is shown similar drawings quickly in sequence, their mind will connect the events and perceive movement. One could write a trip in the car from one place to another, and follow it by having the character get out of their vehicle, go to the door, let him/herself in, have a snack, watch the tv. Or you could cut from the car to the tv, and discover that by implication nothing is lost.

Possibly the best writer I know of to use subtlety is Patrick O’Brian, author of ‘Master and Commander’ and its sequels (also known as the Aubrey-Maturin novels). This is also one of the reasons I highly encourage people to read other genres– O’Brian wrote in historical fiction, and is one of the masters I greatly admire. His books are written in a very old-fashioned style that makes for heavy reading, but they’re rich in description, believability, characterization, world-building, and subtlety.

I first noticed this subtlety on entering and exiting doors. A character within a room will be speaking. Instead of narrating that they were interrupted by a knock on the door, the character will give permission to enter mid-paragraph, and finish his thought. By the end of the (almost poetic) speech, someone new will be in the room, ready to change the subject or inform the POV characters of something. In the same vein, the characters once were having a discussion while preparing to practice (one plays a violin, the other a cello), and in the middle of the cello player’s speech he says something along the lines of, ‘when you have finished with my rosin- my rosin, I say-’ and I can just picture the other holding the rosin between his thick, square fingers, running it along his tightened bow and nodding to his prickly friend. Or there’s a dinner where a character will announce, ‘the wine stands before you’ to a dining companion, and the next thing you know, he’s refilling his own glass.

Of course, O’Brian has his own drawbacks. Sometimes it’s daunting to start his books, because in order to fully enjoy them, one needs a dictionary on one side and an atlas on the other. Some things he explains about the ships by informing the doctor, who can’t retain anything about sailing, and some things just aren’t mentioned. ‘Firing grape’, for instance, by which it is assumed that the reader knows about grape shot, or they are intellectual enough to go look it up. The target audience consists of educated, bright people, and he doesn’t lower standards.

This is coupled with a strong recommendation. Go read the Aubrey-Maturin series.

If O’Brian is the master of subtlety in logistics and world-building, I think that my next favorite is the infamous George R. R. Martin, not in setting or action, but in his characterization. Martin’s characters are incredible in their diversity and their depth, and I think that his secret is the depth in which he develops them, then proceeds to reveal only pieces relevant to the story at the time. We can see that there’s more that he’s not telling us, we can tell through the multiple narratives that things don’t quite line up with what we know, and the difference is intriguing.

Any other tricks that I’ve missed? Authors strong in this trait that I should read?

Todavía no sé porqué “Fire” y no “Ice and Fire” ¿por qué habrán dejado la otra mitad fuera del título? Me imagino que será que querían una sola palabra, como “Roma” y “Deadwood“. También se podría decir que según la teoría de los opuestos, una cosa lleva implícita su opuesto, sin necesidad de explicitarlo.

Me recordó a este pasaje del cuento de Jorge Luis Borges, “El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan” (1941)

¿Cómo se explica usted esa voluntaria omisión?
»Propuse varias soluciones; todas, insuficientes. Las discutimos; al fin, Stepheri Albert me dijo:
»-En una adivinanza cuyo tema es el ajedrez ¿cuál es la única palabra prohibida?
»Reflexioné un momento y repuse:
»-La palabra ajedrez.
»-Precisamente -dijo Albert-, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan es una enorme adivinanza, o parábola, cuyo tema es el tiempo; esa causa recóndita le prohíbe la mención de su nombre. Omitir siempre una palabra, recurrir a metáforas ineptas y a perífrasis evidentes, es quizá el modo más enfático de indicarla. Es el modo tortuoso que prefirió, en cada uno de los meandros de su infatigable novela, el oblicuo Ts’ui Pên. He confrontado centenares de manuscritos, he corregido los errores que la negligencia de los copistas ha introducido, he conjeturado el plan de ese caos, he restablecido, he creído restablecer el orden primordial, he traducido la obra entera: me consta que no emplea una sola vez la palabra tiempo. La explicación es obvia: El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan es una imagen incompleta, pero no falsa, del universo tal como lo concebía Ts’ui Pên. A diferencia de Newton y de Schopenhauer, su antepasado no creía en un tiempo uniforme, absoluto. Creía en infinitas series de tiempos, en una red creciente y vertiginosa de tiempos divergentes, convergentes y paralelos. Esa trama de tiempos que se aproximan, se bifurcan, se cortan o que secularmente se ignoran, abarca todas las posibilidades. No existimos en la mayoría de esos tiempos; en algunos existe usted y no yo; en otros, yo, no usted; en otros, los dos. En éste, que un favorable azar me depara, usted ha llegado a mi casa; en otro, usted, al atravesar el jardín, me ha encontrado muerto; en otro, yo digo estas mismas palabras, pero soy un error, un fantasma.

La noticia de que HBO, hará una serie, cada libro una temporada, ya tiene un año al menos, y varias cosas ya se saben, pero una cosa nueva para mí es que dicen que GRRM terminará la serie para el 2011, que no es tanto tiempo dado lo que esperamos por ADwD, y lo quetardó la serie de Harry Potter, que como ya terminó nadie habla de que el primer libro fue publicado el milenio pasado (1997). GRRM publicó “Juego de Tronos” en 1996, podríamos decir que lleva más tiempo, pero creo no no se puede comparar el nivel de complejidad de una serie con la otra.

Dicen que GRRM sería el co-productor ejecutivo! ¡genial! , si él está metido en la serie garantizamos que no van a destrozar a nuestros queridos y bien odiados personajes.

David Benioff y D.B. Weiss escribirán los episodios de cada temporada excepto uno que será el mismísimo GRRM quien lo escribirá!

Que van a filmar en Nueva Zelanda, ya nos lo imaginábamos por ESDLA, y en Europa también ¿será cuestión de costos, dolar vs. euro? por los castillos no parece lógico, en EE.UU., tienen la industria armada para reproducir esos escenarios sin problemas y con mejores comodidades.

Surge la típica comparación de ESDLA con CdHyF, como dicen el el artículo de variety.com, ESDLA, es bien vs. mal, en cambio CdHyF tiene personajes “imprefectos”, (imperfectamente malos, imperfectamente buenos) o como diría Jaime Lannister en AFfC, Jaime II:

“The best and the worst.” So one of us is like to live in song. “And a few who were a bit of both. Like him.”

Traducción: “Los mejores y los peores.” A si que uno de nosotros vivirá en una canción. “Y unos pocos que eran una mezcla de los dos. Como él.”

Ser Jaime Lannister hablaba con Ser Loras Tyrell sobre Ser Criston Cole, quien fuera Lord Comandante de la Guardia Real, conocido como “el Hacerreyes”. en la época del primer Viserys y el segundo Aegon.

Las palabras de GRRM:

“They tried for 50 years to make ‘Lord of the Rings’ as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three,” Martin said. “My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you’d have to choose one or two characters.”

Cita de: “http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html”

Traducción: Pasaron 50 años tratando de hacer “El Señor de los Anillos” como una película antes de que Peter Jackson exitosamente hicira tres,” dijo Martin. “Mis libros son más extensos y más complicados, y requeriría 18 películas. De lo contrario tendrían que ser seleccionados uno o dos personajes.

Fuente: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html

Unfortunately, no release date yet on this book. I am dying, dying waiting…

Un genial libro de George R. R. Martin de fantasía épica en la que se narran los acontecimientos que ocurren en el mundo fantástico de Los 7 Reinos y sus alrededores.

El libro engancha desde el primer capítulo, y tiene un desarrollo rápido donde se presentan personajes tan distintos y bien caracterizados que pronto estás totalmente enganchado a la saga…

Aunque sea de fantasía épica, otro de los alicientes según mi punto de vista de la saga, es que no se trata de otro cuentecico más sobre elfos, dragones, enanos, gnomos y humanos, en sus luchas y blablabla (al más puro estilo ESDLA, Dragonlance o Memorias de Idhún) , sino que a excepción de la presencia de dragones y algún Gnomo (pero de tamaño, no de raza), la saga pocas veces hace uso de la magia y cuando lo hace es de una forma “maligna y oscura”.

Cada capítulo narra un trozo de la historia correspondiente a un personaje, donde se narran los acontecimientos desde su punto de vista, esto provoca que sea dificilísimo clasificar a muchos personajes entre “buenos y malos” conforme avanza la historia, ya que la cantidad de traiciones, intrigas, planes secretos, conspiraciones y sorpresas que hay, hacen que todo lo que pensabas de algunos personajes se ponga patas arriba y que nada sea lo que parecía en un momento. Además la evolución de los personajes en la historia en algunos casos es asombrosa, los hechos hacen mella en los carácteres de los personajes y les inclinan hacia distintas partes a lo largo de la historia.

Así como los personajes son muy complejos y no paran de aparecer nuevos y morir otros, el mundo de la novela (ya sea el continente de Poniente o los otros dos) es gigantesco y complejo, y hace que a veces te pierdas con tantas localizaciones y descripciones minuciosas, pero con un poco de atención pronto reconoces lugares y los asocias a capítulos pasados, etc… (la ayuda de mapas también ayuda… aunque yo sólo los usé al final de Festín de Cuervos porque no se me había ocurrido xD)

El libro en general es brutal, y si algo se aprende de él es que TODO el mundo puede morir xDDD

Por si no había quedado ya claro… el libro merece muchísimo la pena…

Actualmente en español sólo están publicados 4 Libros (aunque son 5 volúmenes) y son Juego de Tronos, Choque de Reyes, Tormenta de Espadas (I y II) y Festín de Cuervos. Según tengo entendido serán en total 7 títulos. Si alguien quiere alguno, conseguí unos PDF que están bastante bien (de ahí es de donde yo los he leído, me gusta leer en el ordenador la verdad) aunque espero hacerme pronto con una versión impresa porque… es un libro que merece la pena tener.

Gracias a Klose por recomendarlo tanto xDD

La imagen de la Casa Lannister la he sacado del blog de Miguel Porto, espero que no le importe.
Una web recomendable para aclaraciones, mapas, y demás, es Ashhai.com aunque cuidado que os pueden destripar el libro.

Todavía no sé porqué “Fire” y no “Ice and Fire” ¿por qué habrán dejado la otra mitad fuera del título? Me imagino que será que querían una sola palabra, como “Roma” y “Deadwood“. También se podría decir que según la teoría de los opuestos, una cosa lleva implícita su opuesto, sin necesidad de explicitarlo.

Me recordó a este pasaje del cuento de Jorge Luis Borges, “El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan” (1941)

¿Cómo se explica usted esa voluntaria omisión?
»Propuse varias soluciones; todas, insuficientes. Las discutimos; al fin, Stepheri Albert me dijo:
»-En una adivinanza cuyo tema es el ajedrez ¿cuál es la única palabra prohibida?
»Reflexioné un momento y repuse:
»-La palabra ajedrez.
»-Precisamente -dijo Albert-, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan es una enorme adivinanza, o parábola, cuyo tema es el tiempo; esa causa recóndita le prohíbe la mención de su nombre. Omitir siempre una palabra, recurrir a metáforas ineptas y a perífrasis evidentes, es quizá el modo más enfático de indicarla. Es el modo tortuoso que prefirió, en cada uno de los meandros de su infatigable novela, el oblicuo Ts’ui Pên. He confrontado centenares de manuscritos, he corregido los errores que la negligencia de los copistas ha introducido, he conjeturado el plan de ese caos, he restablecido, he creído restablecer el orden primordial, he traducido la obra entera: me consta que no emplea una sola vez la palabra tiempo. La explicación es obvia: El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan es una imagen incompleta, pero no falsa, del universo tal como lo concebía Ts’ui Pên. A diferencia de Newton y de Schopenhauer, su antepasado no creía en un tiempo uniforme, absoluto. Creía en infinitas series de tiempos, en una red creciente y vertiginosa de tiempos divergentes, convergentes y paralelos. Esa trama de tiempos que se aproximan, se bifurcan, se cortan o que secularmente se ignoran, abarca todas las posibilidades. No existimos en la mayoría de esos tiempos; en algunos existe usted y no yo; en otros, yo, no usted; en otros, los dos. En éste, que un favorable azar me depara, usted ha llegado a mi casa; en otro, usted, al atravesar el jardín, me ha encontrado muerto; en otro, yo digo estas mismas palabras, pero soy un error, un fantasma.

La noticia de que HBO, hará una serie, cada libro una temporada, ya tiene un año al menos, y varias cosas ya se saben, pero una cosa nueva para mí es que dicen que GRRM terminará la serie para el 2011, que no es tanto tiempo dado lo que esperamos por ADwD, y lo quetardó la serie de Harry Potter, que como ya terminó nadie habla de que el primer libro fue publicado el milenio pasado (1997). GRRM publicó “Juego de Tronos” en 1996, podríamos decir que lleva más tiempo, pero creo no no se puede comparar el nivel de complejidad de una serie con la otra.

Dicen que GRRM sería el co-productor ejecutivo! ¡genial! , si él está metido en la serie garantizamos que no van a destrozar a nuestros queridos y bien odiados personajes.

David Benioff y D.B. Weiss escribirán los episodios de cada temporada excepto uno que será el mismísimo GRRM quien lo escribirá!

Que van a filmar en Nueva Zelanda, ya nos lo imaginábamos por ESDLA, y en Europa también ¿será cuestión de costos, dolar vs. euro? por los castillos no parece lógico, en EE.UU., tienen la industria armada para reproducir esos escenarios sin problemas y con mejores comodidades.

Surge la típica comparación de ESDLA con CdHyF, como dicen el el artículo de variety.com, ESDLA, es bien vs. mal, en cambio CdHyF tiene personajes “imprefectos”, (imperfectamente malos, imperfectamente buenos) o como diría Jaime Lannister en AFfC, Jaime II:

“The best and the worst.” So one of us is like to live in song. “And a few who were a bit of both. Like him.”

Traducción: “Los mejores y los peores.” A si que uno de nosotros vivirá en una canción. “Y unos pocos que eran una mezcla de los dos. Como él.”

Ser Jaime Lannister hablaba con Ser Loras Tyrell sobre Ser Criston Cole, quien fuera Lord Comandante de la Guardia Real, conocido como “el Hacerreyes”. en la época del primer Viserys y el segundo Aegon.

Las palabras de GRRM:

“They tried for 50 years to make ‘Lord of the Rings’ as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three,” Martin said. “My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you’d have to choose one or two characters.”

Cita de: “http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html”

Traducción: Pasaron 50 años tratando de hacer “El Señor de los Anillos” como una película antes de que Peter Jackson exitosamente hicira tres,” dijo Martin. “Mis libros son más extensos y más complicados, y requeriría 18 películas. De lo contrario tendrían que ser seleccionados uno o dos personajes.

Fuente: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html