Games

This one is about war : Season 3 begins airing on 31 March in the USA and the day afterwards in the UK.

HBO have released an extended version of last week's Game of Thrones trailer. This version contains a few more shots and some additional dialogue, as well as glimpses of more characters (established and new). Look out for Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr intoning the R'hllor speech and our first glimpse of the 'bear and maiden fair':

One question about the Game of Thrones TV series has reared its head with increased frequency over the last few months. That question is fairly straightforward: will we see this story end on TV before author George R.R. Martin can deliver the final novel in the series? This is a valid question. The Game of Thrones TV series began in April 2011, at roughly the same point in time that Martin was delivering the manuscript for the fifth novel in the Song of Ice and Fire book series, A Dance with Dragons . Dragons was published in July 2011 and Martin reported that he had started work on the sixth and planned-to-be penultimate novel in the series, The Winds of Winter , using roughly 200 manuscript pages' worth of material as a springboard to write the next book. Like A Dance with Dragons and A Storm of Swords before it, Martin plans for The Winds of Winter to come in at around 1,500 manuscript pages in length. Martin wrote A Storm of Swords (the third novel in the series, publish...

Eight of the ten episode titles for Season 3 of Game of Thrones have been announced. These are as follows (with airdate and writer/director information): Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr 301: Valar Dohaeris Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Daniel Minahan Airdate: 31 March 302: Dark Wings, Dark Words Written by Vanessa Taylor Directed by Daniel Minahan Airdate: 7 April 303: Walk of Punishment Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Airdate: 14 April 304: And Now His Watch is Ended Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alex Graves Airdate: 21 April 305: Kissed by Fire Written by Bryan Cogman Directed by Alex Graves Airdate: 28 April 306: tbc Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alik Sakharov Airdate: 5 May 307: The Bear and the Maiden Fair Written by George R.R. Martin Directed by Michelle MacLaren Airdate: 12 May 308: tbc Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Michelle MacLaren Airdate: 19 ...

HBO have finally released a 'proper' trailer for Season 3 of Game of Thrones : The trailer has a lot of great bits in it, but my favourites were our first proper look at Dragonstone in the daylight: And this shot of Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) climbing the Wall is quite impressive: Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly has reported that the second season has sold more than 241,000 copies on its first day on sale in the USA, a 44% increase on the first season. More than 350,000 episodes were also bought from digital vendors, more than twice that of the first season. This bodes well for the Season 4 renewal (which is expected after the first few episodes of Season 3 airs, but pre-production has already started).

George R.R. Martin has signed a two-year development deal with HBO. The deal includes extending his 'executive producer' credit on Game of Thrones for another two seasons and also gives HBO exclusive rights to any TV show ideas he creates in that time. "So, Tyrion and Bronn bromance series?" Development deals, out of favour in Hollywood during the financial crisis, have recently come back into vogue. J.J. Abrams has such a deal in place, allowing him to develop or produce new shows for several networks (two pilots based on his ideas have been greenlit for later this year). Abrams's deal allows him to develop TV projects whilst working elsewhere: he has been working full-time on his second Star Trek movie for the past eighteen months or so, and is about to plough into working full-time on Star Wars: Episode VII for anything up to three years. On that basis, fears that this deal will delay The Winds of Winter (the sixth and currently-planned-to-be-penultimate S...

I decided to roll all of my normal 'looking ahead' posts into one this year. It's a bit late, so January is missing from these lists and thus it's a list looking forwards to the next eleven months, rather than twelve. Books 2013 looks set to be an interesting year. At the more literary end of the spectrum we have new novels by Graham Joyce and Christopher Priest (two novels in three years is, by his standards, astonishingly productive). At the diametric opposite end of the scale we have Raymond E. Feist's last-ever Riftwar novel, which is being published to a reception of stone-cold indifference by most SFF readers. Inbetween we have the ongoing re-release of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series (set to expand by four volumes this year) and the resumption of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, which reaches its ninth and penultimate volume. Neil Gaiman also presents us with his first adult-oriented, full-length novel in eight years, which should ...

In an interview with Empire Online to publicise his new TV show, The Following , James Purefoy has confirmed that he will not be appearing in Game of Thrones due to lingering annoyance with HBO over how they ended Rome , and that his co-star Kevin McKidd is of a similar mind. According to Purefoy, he and McKidd decided on this commitment over lunch: McKidd and I had lunch the other day, and I said to him, "Have you been asked to do Game Of Thrones?" And he said, "I'd never do it. Because they stole our fucking show." He worked out that if Rome had run for the entire seven seasons that it should have run, we would only have finished it last year. And he feels that HBO did Game of Thrones instead of us, so they stole our show. I kind of agree with him. I won't be doing Game Of Thrones, even if they ask me. Context: James Purefoy played Mark Antony on HBO's Rome , with McKidd playing the role of Lucius Vorenus. Rome ran for two seasons, airing in 20...

HBO have released another promo video for the third season of Game of Thrones . This one is a general look at Season 3 from the actors and producers, and features glimpses of new characters and actors:

This is slightly different, showing the three-eyed crow flying across 'our' world to herald the arrival of Season 3 of Game of Thrones (which debuts on 31 March). We likely won't see the first 'proper' trailer, featuring a decent amount of new footage, until next month, but there's another behind-the-scenes featurette airing in the States on HBO next week.

Once more unto the breach! Best Novels 1. Existence by David Brin David Brin returns after a long absence with a sweeping, state-of-the-nation take on what our lives may be like in the mid-21st Century. Strong characters and a thorough exploration of scientific and technological ideas combine for my strongest book of the year. 2. Dark Eden by Chris Beckett Beckett's second novel is difficult to describe, being a piece built more around mood and atmosphere than plot. It's the story of the descendants of an ancient starship crash who discover more about the world around them and their true history, and thus about themselves. 3. Kings of Morning by Paul Kearney Kearney conclude his exploration of Greek and Persian history through the lens of fantasy with aplomb, with flawed characters finding their destinies against the backdrop of war. 4. Railsea by China Mieville A vast world consisting of oceans of rails, with immense trains ploughing across them. A crazed and whimsical echo o...

HBO has aired a preview of the third season of Game of Thrones , which will start airing on 31 March 2013. The video gives us our first good glimpse at a number of new characters in costume and make-up (screencaps from Westeros.org ): Clive Russell as Ser Brynden 'the Blackfish' Tully, Catelyn's uncle.  Tobias Menzies as Ser Edmure Tully, Catelyn's younger brother and heir to Riverrun. Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei, a translator from Astapor. Dame Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell, the 'Queen of Thorns'. Richard Dormer as Ser Beric Donarrion (replacing David Michael Scott, who played the character in one episode of Season 1). Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed, whose father was one of Ned Stark's oldest and closest friends. Another shot of Meera, this time with her brother Jojen, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Looking pretty good so far. The promos also confirm that, after a lot of hand-wringing last season, Daenerys looks like she'll be kicking some backsi...

A teaser trailer for Season 3 of Game of Thrones . I believe the voice-over is by Tara Fitzgerald, who is playing the role of Selyse Baratheon.

Early days, so not much info so far apart from the already-confirmed airing date:   The image has a few nice features to it. The three swords are clearly a reference to it being the third season and the reason for the swords as a motif is because the season is based on A Storm of Swords (or rather, the first two-thirds of it or so). The backdrop might also be a reference to the Wall, which will figure prominently as a destination this season (at least, if it goes by the book). As for when we'll see the first footage, I'd put my money on a teaser of some kind after the finale of the third season of Boardwalk Empire , which airs in the USA on 2 December.

Will Champion, the drummer (and also occasional guitarist, bassist and singer) of Coldplay, has joined the cast for the third season of Game of Thrones . Champion will have a small role as 'a drummer'. Other details about his role are shrouded in secrecy. Champion is the fourth notable musician to work on the show. Former easy listenin' crooner Jerome Flynn has a recurring major role as Bronn whilst ex-Blockhead Wilko Johnson is Ser Ilyn Payne, of course, whilst the lead singer of Snow Patrol, Gary Lightbody, also has a cameo role in the upcoming third season.

Game of Thrones has won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long-Form) at the Hugo Awards, given out in Chicago last night. Ned Stark approves of this news. Other winners include the Doctor Who episode The Doctor's Wife , written by Neil Gaiman, for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short-Form); John Picacio for Best Professional Artist; Betsy Wollheim for Best Editor (Long-Form); and The Encyclopedia of Science-Fiction, Third Edition for Best Related Work. The Best Novel category was the toughest in some years, with George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons duking it out with James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes , Mira Grant's Deadline and China Mieville's Embassytown . However, Jo Walton's Among Others eventually took home the prize. Almost 2,000 people voted in the awards, slightly down on last year's 2,100, but considerably higher than the traditional 500-1,000 of previous years. Whilst questions remain over whether such a small number votes sho...

Mors Westford is a former knight in the service of House Lannister. For refusing to take part in the mission to kill Princess Elia Martell and her children during the Sack of King's Landing, Mors was declared a traitor. He escaped punishment by taking the black and now serves on the Wall as one of the Night's Watch's finest trackers and soldiers. When wildlings cross the Wall and hole up in the abandoned castle of Icemark, it falls to Mors to flush them out. After this mission Mors encounters a young woman on the run and discovers a labyrinth conspiracy originating in King's Landing. Meanwhile, Ser Alester Sarwyck returns home to his castle of Riverspring (near the source of the Blackwater Rush) upon learning of the death of his father. Riverspring is in danger of falling into the hands of Alester's brutal bastard half-brother, Valarr, so Alester travels to King's Landing to win the support of Queen Cersei in his attempts to succeed his father. He a...

A good while ago, an interesting app appeared on iTunes. The app was an interactive map of Westeros, the setting for the Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones TV show. Users could search for obscure locations from the books and scroll around the map. As a free app, it was pretty good, although it was very heavily based on the same art style as the official map created by HBO for the TV show. The guy who created it, one Sergey Rekuz, posted on the Westeros.org forum and, given its usability, handiness and noted non-profit-making stance, he was allowed to advertise his product. Tear's famous map of Westeros, still the definitive online map of the setting (and not at all affiliated with the iTunes app). However, a few months ago something more dubious happened. The app was expanded with several modules that had to be paid for. The first such module was a map of Essos, the continent to the east of Westeros. This was then expanded by a 'cities map' and a 'coat of...