Games

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

Bantam Books have released more info about The World of Ice and Fire , the companion guide to A Song of Ice and Fire . The book is due for publication on 29 October 2013 and will be 288 pages in length. They have also published several sample pages from the book. The blurb: With all new history and material from the maester himself, The World of Ice and Fire is a must have for both long-time fans, new readers, and viewers of the HBO series, Game of Thrones . This lavish, fully illustrated, full-colour book will be the comprehensive guide to the mega-bestselling world that George R.R. Martin has established in his Ice and Fire books. This will be the comprehensive guide to all things Game of Thrones and beyond. From the pre-history to the coming of the First Men, through the reign of the Targaryen kings and Robert's Rebellion, this guide-co-written by George R.R. Martin and the immensely knowledgeable founders and keepers of the www.westeros.org site-will tell se...

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).

Not very far, but Martin confirms that, in the wake of the new deal, he is actively discussing Dunk and Egg with HBO and will be pitching a Tuf Voyaging TV series to them as well (note he doesn't say to HBO, but the recent deal means it really has to be to HBO). He also suggests Conleth Hill (Varys in GoT ) could make an excellent Haviland Tuf, and rules himself out from having any role on the new I, Claudius TV series. No word on a possibly Ron Donachie-starring version of Fevre Dream , unfortunately. Martin's comments do confirm earlier supposition that the deal will be used - at least in part - to explore his existing, non-optioned franchises. Update : Martin has confirmed that a movie version of Fevre Dream is in the works, with a 'name' director interested in the project. However, nothing has been signed yet. The Wild Cards franchise is currently being worked on as a movie collaboration between SyFy and Universal, with Melinda Snodgrass having just deliver...

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...

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.

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.

Okay, this is going to be a bit of a non-review because you probably already know if you are going to be getting this or not. Basically, it's a collection of full-colour maps of Westeros and Essos, the two continents which form the setting for the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin. Either you're going to go, "Hey, awesome! I'm all in!" or be running away screaming for fear of being infected with Nerditis. The map collection comes in a smart but somewhat non-durable folder. Don't put anything on top of it for long, as it really cannot support much in the way of weight. There's a single pull-out piece of paper with marketing speak on it (more or less the same as the blurb on the back ) and that's it for any kind of textual accompaniment. Those familiar with John Howe's excellent Tolkien maps, or the maps accompanying Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, will likely find this disappointing as those maps were accompanied by small bo...

The Lands of Ice and Fire , a companion volume to A Song of Ice and Fire comprising a dozen large poster maps, is now available in the USA. Its official UK release date is 8 November, but don't be surprised to see some early copies slipping onto shelves before that date. Qarth and the Jade Gates, featuring the hitherto-unmentioned island of Great Moraq. The forested region just to the east is the kingdom of Yi Ti. The map collection features the first canon-for-the-books maps of eastern Essos, including the Jade Sea region. These maps introduce a whole host of new locations to the world of Westeros and Essos, some of which may be referenced in future books.

The Lands of Ice and Fire - a collection of poster maps depicting the world of A Song of Ice and Fire - will be published next week. io9 have released some more sneak peeks of the collection, including our first-ever canon glimpse of Asshai and the Shadow Lands: Readers of the books know that Asshai is a highly mysterious city located in the far south-eastern corner of the explored world, on the eastern shores of the Jade Sea, five thousand or more miles from Westeros. Beyond Asshai lies the even more enigmatic 'Shadow Lands', the home of mysterious people who always go masked in public (such as Daenerys's sometimes-ally Quaithe). Asshai was first mentioned in A Game of Thrones (published in 1996), but this is the first time it's been officially depicted visually in any form.

The Lands of Ice and Fire - a tie-in map book for A Song of Ice and Fire - arrives at the end of October and the final cover art for the book has been unveiled: Nothing too surprising, with a map of Westeros and some heraldic symbols forming the front cover to the book (though clearly the Tyrells and Martells annoyed someone).

The Wild Cards series is being relaunched in the UK by Gollancz with all-new cover artwork. Wild Cards will be released in November, followed by Aces High the following month. The third book, Jokers Wild , will be released in March 2013. The series will then jump to the newer volumes, with Inside Straight coming out in June 2013. Sales will determine if the other earlier books in the series will be reprinted at a later date. I must admit, these covers are quite nice. They're not Michael Komarck, but there's some nice understatement to them (er, giant dinosaur aside) and good use of the card motif. It will be interesting to see the covers for the later books.

Locus has published its publication list from now until next summer, revealing some interesting information: Expect the new Dunk and Egg story in 2013. George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois's anthology Dangerous Women , including the fourth Dunk and Egg Song of Ice and Fire prequel novella, is now listed for release in May 2013. Amazon Germany is reporting that the book collecting all four Dunk 'n' Egg novellas into one volume will come out in May 2014. Whilst we have to take that with a grain of salt, that does tie in with the new story having a 12-month exclusivity contract before it can be reprinted anywhere else. The same list confirms that the third Dagger and Coin novel by Daniel Abraham will be called The Tyrant's Law and that both it and Ken Scholes's long-awaited Requiem will be out in June 2013. Meanwhile, Pat Rothfuss has sold a new fantasy trilogy to DAW Books. Despite speculation that this might be the rumoured sequel series to The Kingkiller Chr...

From readings at two conventions, George R.R. Martin has revealed the full story of Aegon the Conqueror's invasion of Westeros and the subjugation of the Seven Kingdoms. This material (not yet 100% finalised) will form a small part of The World of Ice and Fire , due out in late 2013.   Rhaenys, Aegon and Visenya Targaryen, with their swords Blackfyre and Dark Sister. Before the Doom The Valyrian Freehold expanded into the western coastal reaches of Essos some two centuries before the Doom. They colonised the island of Dragonstone in the Narrow Sea, establishing a stronghold there (presumably from which they could trade with the Seven Kingdoms). The Freehold was ruled by the Lords Freeholder, powerful noble families. The most powerful of these were the Dragonlords, those families which controlled and rode dragons in battle. The Targaryens were Dragonlords, but far from the most powerful. Dragonstone, the island stronghold of the Targaryens. Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria, L...