George R.R. Martin update

Jet City Comics, the new comic-publishing imprint of Amazon, have picked up the reprint rights to George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg graphic novellas. They will be reprinting The Hedge Knight on 5 November 2013 and The Sworn Sword on 21 January 2014. Random House will also be getting the gang back together to produce a new comic book adaptation of The Mystery Knight, for publication later in 2014.

In addition, HarperCollins Voyager in the UK have announced they will be publishing a British edition of Dangerous Women in December. This book will contain a new Song of Ice and Fire novella, The Princess and the Queen, about the civil war known as the Dance of Dragons. Martin is still hoping to publish The World of Ice and Fire in Spring 2014, though officially its release date remains November 2014.

No news on the Big One, unfortunately. The last word on the book from the start of the year was that it was about a quarter done and Martin had either completed or put aside all other projects (including the fourth Dunk and Egg story) to focus on it, later remarking he was making 'rapid progress' against the threat of HBO bearing down and catching up with him. Recent casting announcements for Season 4 of Game of Thrones seem to confirm that rather more of the Feast for Crows and Dance with Dragons storylines will be featured than first thought, meaning that they will likely reach Winds of Winter material by 2016, if not the end of the 2015 season.

GAME OF THRONES beats DOCTOR WHO to a Hugo Award

In a surprise result, Game of Thrones proved victorious at Worldcon at the weekend. It seized the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form), an award that traditionally goes to Doctor Who. Doctor Who has won the award in six of the previous seven years (missing out in 2009 only to Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) and was widely expected to win again this year.

Doctor Who's failure to win can be ascribed to a lower number of episodes overall, the fact that those episodes were largely awful, or to the radical increase in the popularity of Game of Thrones, which has swelled to become one of the biggest shows on television (whilst Who has been in a modest ratings decline in the UK). Whilst the second season of Thrones did not win as much critical approval as the first (or third), it was still well-regarded. The episode that won, Blackwater, is also widely-acknowledged as the finest episode of the series to date.

George R.R. Martin wrote the episode that won the award, making this his sixth Hugo Award overall and the third for A Song of Ice and Fire, following the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1997 for Blood of the Dragon and the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) for Season 1 of Game of Thrones (shared with the writers and producers) last year. George R.R. Martin accepted the award along with Rory McCann, who plays Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane in the TV series.

GAME OF THRONES deleted scene unveiled

HBO has released a deleted scene from the third season of Game of Thrones via YouTube as a (very early) preview of the third season DVD/Blu-Ray set. The scene, taken from early in the season, features a conversation where the disgraced Grand Maester Pycelle tries to convinced Lord Tywin Lannister to restore him to the King's small council.

The season will be released on home media on 18 February 2014.

Dothraki place names for THE LANDS OF ICE AND FIRE

Last year's Lands of Ice and Fire introduced a large amount of new territory and new names to the geography of A Song of Ice and Fire. However, many of these new names were Dothraki, and no translation was provided. David Petersen, the creator of the Dothraki language for the Game of Thrones TV series, has now provided some translated names for these locations. Note that these are not 100% canon until confirmed by George R.R. Martin. They also show a distinct lack of imagination on the part of the Dothraki in naming places: what's wrong with 'City of Rainbows' or 'City of Adequate Nightlife and Cheap Parking'?

Adakhakileki: Eater of Skins.
Ifeqevron: A Dothraki term for a deadly forest spider.
Krazaaj Has (formerly Ghardaq): Sharp Mountain
Krazaaj Zasqa: White Mountains (the Dothraki name for the Bone Mountains).
Vaes Aresak (Ibbish): City of Cowards.
Vaes Athjikhari* (Sallosh): City of Sickness.
Vaes Diaf (Hazdahn No): City of Skulls.
Vaes Dothraki: City of Riders.
Vaes Efe: City of Shackles.
Vaes Graddakh (Sarys): City of Waste.
Vaes Jini (Yinishar): City of Female Goats.
Vaes Khadokh (Essaria): City of Corpses.
Vaes Khewo (Sarnath): City of Worms.
Vaes Leisi: City of Ghosts.
Vaes Leqse (Gornath): City of Rats.
Vaes Mejhah: City of Whores.
Vaes Orvik: City of Whips.
Vaes Qosar: City of Spiders.
Vaes Shirosi: City of Scorpions.
Vaes Tolorro: City of Bones.
Vojjor Samui** (Kasath): City of Broken Gods.
Yalli Qamayi (Sathar): City of Wailing Children.

* Apparently a typo; the correct name is Vaes Athjhikhari.
** Apparently another typo; the correct name is Vojjor Samvi.

GAME OF THRONES poised to become HBO's biggest-ever show

HBO has updated it's information on the third season of Game of Thrones. More detailed figures reveal that the show averaged 14.2 million American viewers over the course of Season 3 over all platforms, up from the previous rough estimate of 13.6 million. This means that Game of Thrones is a stone's throw away from eclipsing the 14.4 million average that The Sopranos enjoyed over its run. This would make Game of Thrones the biggest-ever show on the network, and there is also some speculation that, combined with international viewership (Game of Thrones is already the most-sold show in HBO's history) and DVD and Blu-Ray sales, the show might already hold that title.

Combined with the recent renewing of True Blood for a seventh season (the record for a dramatic show on the network; Oz and The Sopranos both only managed six seasons, but split one apiece into two seasons for effectively seven), this raises hopes that Game of Thrones will be able to complete it's planned eight-season run on the channel.

Season 4 of Game of Thrones is currently filming, with shooting expected to move from Iceland to Croatia shortly. Season 4 will begin airing in March or April 2014. Season 3 will be released on home media on 18 February 2014.

A sneak peek at the Dance of Dragons

Thanks to Tor.com, both a sneak peek and a review of the new George R.R. Martin Song of Ice and Fire novella is now available. The Princess and the Queen is a maester's account of the Dance of Dragons, the brutal civil war that took place between differing branches of the Targaryen family approximately 170 years before the events of A Game of Thrones. This civil war almost wiped out the Targaryen family and most of its dragons (the few surviving dragons died a few years after the war).

Rhaenyra Targaryen, the titular princess of the story.

The Princess and the Queen will be published in the Dangerous Women anthology, due out in December this year. At 33,000 words it's the longest story in the collection and clocks in at rather more than a tenth of the length of A Game of Thrones itself. It's a condensed version of a much longer story that Martin plans to publish in a collection - working title 'The GRRMarillion' - once A Song of Ice and Fire is fully completed. The World of Ice and Fire (due next year) will draw on both in its own account of the Dance of Dragons.

Martin is currently working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth and (hopefully) penultimate volume of A Song of Ice and Fire itself. In recent interviews he has said he is writing quickly, but not fast enough to give any indication of a release date.

GAME OF THRONES finds its Mace Tyrell (plus a general series update)

George R.R. Martin has confirmed the casting of another role for the upcoming fourth season of Game of Thrones.

Roger Ashton-Griffiths is a veteran character actor of dual British and Canadian nationality. He began acting on screen in the early 1980s, winning a role in Terry Gilliam's cult classic Brazil in 1985. He later appeared in such TV shows as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Ivanhoe (alongside Thrones's Ciaran Hinds and James Cosmo) and Martin Chuzzlewit, and films such as The Madness of King George and Gangs of New York. More recently he has appeared in The Brothers Grimm, Torchwood and The Colour of Magic. He also visited the court of Henry VIII twice in 2009, playing Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant and then Sir John Hutton, Henry's envoy to Anne of Cleeves's father, in Season 3 of The Tudors.

In Thrones Ashton-Griffiths is playing the role of Mace Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, ruler of the Reach and Warden of the South. He is the son of Olenna Tyrell, the 'Queen of Thorns' (Diana Rigg) - who refers to him cheerfully as an 'oaf' - and the father of Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and Loras (Finn Jones). During Robert's Rebellion, Mace Tyrell remained loyal to the Mad King and had his armies besiege Storm's End, almost starving Stannis Baratheon and his garrison to death before they were resupplied by Davos Seaworth. Mace appears to be a bumbling fool, but is cannier than he looks. He surrounds himself with able advisers like the outstanding general Randyll Tarly, the diplomatic Mathis Rowan and the admiral Paxter Redwyne and then takes the credit for their accomplishments. He is obsessed with getting a child or grandchild onto the Iron Throne at all costs.


The casting of Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell confirms that the recently-cast Mark Gatiss will be playing another role. Speculation is rife on what this role will be.

Game of Thrones's fourth season began filming at the start of the month and the production is currently in Iceland, which is serving a larger role with scenes in the south also being shot there as well as material from beyond the Wall. The expanded role of Iceland may have come at the expense of Morocco, as the show appears to have dropped that location. Instead, Daenerys Targaryen's storyline will instead be filmed in Croatia, with the city of Split believed to be standing in for Meereen.

Split, Croatia

The show also recently confirmed its writing and directing line-up for the season. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will again script seven episodes, the bulk of the season. George R.R. Martin has already written his script for the second episode, and story editor Bryan Cogman is stepping up to write two episodes this season. It does not appear that producer Vanessa Taylor, who wrote episodes for the second and third seasons, will be returning this year as a writer.

For the directors, Benioff and Weiss will be co-directing the first episode. Alex Graves, who directed the extremely well-received And Now His Watch Is Ended last year (as well as another episode), is stepping up with four episodes (2-3, 8 and 10). Michelle MacLaren is returning to direct episodes 4 and 5, and Alik Sakharov will be helming episodes 6 and 7. Neil Marshall, responsible for Season 2's stand-out episode Blackwater, will be directing Episode 9, which is again expected to be a big action and effects set-piece episode. David Nutter, who helmed last year's highly-regarded Rains of Castamere episode, is taking a break for Season 4 but hopes to return for Season 5.

Producer-writer-showrunner Benioff recently said that they are fully expecting Season 4 to be the best yet, but he is having 'nightmares' about Season 5. Season 5 will likely be a combination of material from the simultaneously-occurring novels A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, which will be a complicated undertaking.

Ex-ROME actress joins GAME OF THRONES

HBO has confirmed another casting for the fourth season of Game of Thrones, which is currently shooting in Iceland.

Indira Varma is a familiar face from British television and film. Her first prominent role was as the female lead in the 1997 movie, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (in which she starred alongside Naveen Andrews from The English Patient and later Lost), but she achieved widespread notice playing the tragic character of Niobe in the first season of HBO's Rome. She also appeared in the movie Bried and Prejudie, a Bollywood-style remake of Pride and Prejudice. She has been a regular on British TV over the past decade or so, appearing in Little Britain, Torchwood, Hustle, Luther (alongside Idris Elba) and World Without End. She has also appeared in US shows such as Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Bones and Human Target. As a prominent and popular actress, Varma was the fan-favourite choice for this role.

In Game of Thrones she will be playing the role of Ellaria Sand, the paramour of Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne. Ellaria is the bastard daughter of Lord Harmen Uller of Dorne and caught Oberyn's eye due to her exotic looks. They have been together for at least fourteen years. She is the mother of Oberyn's four youngest daughters (or 'Sand Snakes'): Elia, Obella, Dorea and Loreza. Ellaria and Oberyn have not married due to Ellaria's low birth. Ellaria is surprisingly relaxed about the prospect of her lover being forced to marry someone else for the good of the realm.

HBO also recently confirmed that actor/comedian/writer Mark Gatiss (best-known for his long association with Doctor Who, as well as working with the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe on TV, radio and film) has been cast, but not in what role. The only remaining major roles to be filled for this season, according to HBO, are Styr, the wildling Magnar of Thenn, and Lord Mace Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden and the father of Margaery and Loras (and the son of Olenna).

Conquering Westeros in CRUSADER KINGS II

The Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings II is a free 'reskinning' of the original game which allows you play in Westeros instead of medieval Europe. The mod also features original artwork and music, and some comprehensive engine changes to account for how life works in the Seven Kingdoms.

PC Gamer is running a diary of a campaign in this game. Even if you're not interested in the game, it's worth a read as the player tries to play as a 'more sensible' version of Ned Stark and immeditely runs into unforseen events that cause total chaos. An entertaining read. Part 1 of the diary is here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here. Further updates to the diary will follow every Sunday until it is completed (or Ned dies, which is an occupational hazard).

Robert Jordan bigging up A GAME OF THRONES in 1997

This is a cool find, courtesy of Terez. It's a letter from the late Robert Jordan to George R.R. Martin's editor, Anne Groell, requesting a signed copy of A Game of Thrones. The letter is dated 6 March 1997, after Thrones came out in hardcover (August 1996) but before its paperback publication.

Click to embiggen.

It also features an interesting statement from Jordan regarding series length:

"I see in Locus that George says he no longer thinks he can finish the story in a trilogy. Good. Not that his story will be any longer, but that he isn't going to try shoe-horning his story into the form everybody seems to say such stories must follow. Writing what you want to write, in the way you want to write it, isn't easy when people are telling you that you can't do it that way because it it isn't done that way. He apparently is as lucky as I am in having a publisher and editor who are willing to go against the flow."

GRRM has said many times that he credits the early success of A Game of Thrones in paperback to Jordan's cover quote and, a bit later, people picking up Legends to read Jordan's short story New Spring, also reading The Hedge Knight and then picking up the novels. An interesting insight into Jordan's opinion of Martin (and for the reverse, Martin penned a memorial for Jordan when he died in 2007).

Neil Marshall returns to direct GAME OF THRONES

Neil Marshall will be returning to direct the final episode of Game of Thrones's fourth season, according to Empire Online.

Marshall directed the penultimate episode of Season 2, Blackwater, which was very well-received (and is probably the most critically-acclaimed episode of the show to date). Marshall is known for his feature film work, having directed films including The Descent, Dog Soldiers and Centurion.

Warning: spoilers under the cut for those who have not read the books.




The Empire article confirms that the final episode of Season 4 will focus on the massive Battle of the Wall, when forty thousand wildling warriors under the command of Mance Rayder and Tormund Giantsbane launch a full-scale assault on the Wall at Castle Black. Jon Snow and the few hundred surviving Night's Watch troops from Mormont's ranging lead a desperate defence against the assault.

Previously, writer-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had indicated that the Battle of the Wall, the second major battle sequence in the TV series (since the first in the books, the Battle of the Green Fork, was cut from the first season) would be at least on a similar scale to the Blackwater, if not larger and more expensive. More intriguingly, given that the Battle of the Wall happens some time before the conclusion of Jon Snow's storyline in A Storm of Swords, this indicates that his storyline is either being significantly changed, or material from the third book will continue to be used as late as the fifth season, which seems a curious choice.

It also bucks the trend established in the first three seasons of having the major season-climaxing moment happening in the ninth episode, with tenth being quieter and more reflective. Whilst fans can likely guess that major events will happen in episode nine (particularly in the King's Landing storyline) as well, this is the first time that a Game of Thrones season will got out on such a massive bang.

Update: It appears that the Empire report, although broadly accurate, got a few things wrong. Some are speculating this to mean that Marshall is indeed directing (this has not been disputed) but it may not be the finale.

Maps for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE

It's been confirmed that the map artist for The World of Ice and Fire is Michael Gellatly. Gellatly has set up a new website and posted some teaser images for his work on World, though only bits of maps or heavily obscured images for copyright reasons.

Copyright Michael Gellatly

We're still hearing that The World of Ice and Fire may be released in April or May of 2014 to tie in with the fourth season of Game of Thrones. However, until this is confirmed the official date remains November 2014.

GAME OF THRONES finds its Red Viper

HBO has confirmed the casting of the most eagerly-awaited new character in the fourth season of Game of Thrones.

Pedro Pascal is a Chilean actor who has been working in American television and film for some time. He appeared in the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fourth season and has since had guest spots on Without a Trace, Law and Order, Nurse Jackie and The Good Wife. He has also appeared in the movies Burning Bridges, The Adjustment Bureau and The Fall of Sam Axe, the TV movie spin-off prequel of Burn Notice.

Pascal will be playing the role of Prince Oberyn Martell, popularly known as the Red Viper. Oberyn is the younger brother of Prince Doran Martell, the ruler of Dorne, the southern-most part of the Seven Kingdoms. Dorne was the last of the Seven Kingdoms to fall under the rule of King's Landing, only a century before the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings, and did so through peaceful alliance rather than conquest. Because of this, the Dornish enjoy greater autonomy than any other part of the nation, including being able to style themselves as princes and princesses rather than lords and ladies.

Oberyn is a skilled warrior and famed for his slow-burning temper. He was close to his and Doran's younger sister, Elia, who was married to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. At the end of Robert's Rebellion, during the Sack of King's Landing, Elia and her two children were brutally murdered by Lannister troops, with the blame popularly falling on the shoulders of Gregor Clegane, the Mountain. After the rebellion, Dorne pursued a policy of isolation until Prince Doran accepted Tyrion Lannister's suggestion that Doran's son Trystane should marry Myrcelle Baratheon (Myrcella departed for Dorne in Season 2).

HBO has also confirmed that it is casting Ellaria Sand, Oberyn's paramour, and also the role of Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, father to Margaery and Loras Tyrell and the son of Olenna Tyrell. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the characters of Janos Slynt, Alliser Thorne, Lysa Arryn and Rorge will be returning to the show in Season 4 after considerable absences.

Season 4 of Game of Thrones starts shooting in about two weeks and is expected to start airing in March or April 2014.

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episodes 6-10

The second half of the third season of Game of Thrones is more inconsistent than the first. After the strongest five-episode run in the history of the series (seven, if you count the last two episodes of Season 2), the show suddenly screeches into fillersville and some of the worst excesses of Season 2 come back to haunt the viewer: characters wheel-spinning for episodes on end and lots of characters tramping around Northern Irish woods and vaguely hoping it looks like they are thousands of miles apart from one another.

The Climb is the weakest episode of the season, though it still has some very strong moments such as the barbed confrontation between Olenna Tyrell and Tywin Lannister. Diana Rigg and Charles Dance bring their all to this scene of courtesy and threats and it pays off very well. The actual Wall-climbing sequences are visually hugely impressive, amongst the best things the show has ever done, but the saccharine final image and the uncharacteristically awful CGI in the final shot let down the hard work elsewhere. Aiden Gillen, whose performance as Littlefinger has been underwhelming throughout the whole series so far, gets a rare opportunity to shine in the role during his closing monologue, which is one of the more disturbing scenes the series has done. However, in the middle we have a whole load of random scenes thrown together to see what sticks, and it doesn't really work.

George R.R. Martin has written the two best episodes of the whole show so far, so it's a bit disappointing that The Bear and the Maiden Fair does not rank on the same level. It's solid, and certainly a welcome improvement on The Climb, but it lacks the oomph of his other episodes. The stand-out scene of the episode, Jaime Lannister's Big Damn Hero moment, was even moved over from another episode. Dany's confrontation with the Yunkish envoy is also very good (with some exceptional dragon CGI). Theon's appearance may be one torture scene too many for people (but fortunately the last one of the season), although it does confirm what the novels only later vaguely infer. Gendry standing in for Edric Storm is also a good example of a change from the books that is economical and makes sense, though the route Melisandre takes him to get back to Dragonstone - going hundreds of miles out of their way to King's Landing - does not.

Second Sons is also pretty decent, with the titular mercenaries being well-introduced. Ed Skrein nails Daario's arrogance and it's good they dropped his flamboyant appearance from the books (one of the more unconvincing elements in the books is Daenerys falling for a blue-haired ponce), although I'm not sure going for the long-haired pretty boy look was a viable replacement. Tyrion's wedding is a suitably grim affair, the Dragonstone scenes are very well-done (Liam Cunningham is killing it this year as Davos) and the long-awaited 'Sam the Slayer' scene is handled well.

The Rains of Castamere is the most talked-about episode of TV drama this year, and it's easy to see why. The build-up to the infamous Red Wedding is handled well, with some great tonal variations (especially due to David Bradley's superb performance as the loathsome Walder Frey) and a late-building sense of dread. The concluding ten minutes is one of the best sequences in the history of the show, with Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden and Michael McElhatton all delivering stand-out performances. Both Jon and (thankfully) Bran's stories also suddenly kick into high gear. We also get a great action sequence as three of Dany's retainers storm the gates of Yunkai to great effect. Whilst it's not quite as well-paced and measured as And Now His Watch is Ended, it's not far off and of course the final scene is even more powerful and impressive.

Mhysa, the season finale, has to settle for merely being a well-written epilogue. There's an interesting feeling of melancholy as certain characters cross paths for what might be the only time in the whole series (Sam and Bran, most notably) and others take hugely significant decisions (the Dragonstone scenes avoid repetition from earlier storylines and get Stannis's story onto a different track). Other storylines are let down by the promise of more filler and wheel-spinning: Arya looks set to spend most of Season 4 yet again traipsing around the Riverlands. Pairing her with the Hound for longer than in the book is a really good idea, but I'm not sure I can take a whole season of it. The revelation of Ramsay Snow's true name and nature, and Theon's final capitulation to his will is a terrific scene (though it doesn't quite justify the static nature of their story through the whole season), as is the brief ironborn sequence on Pyke. Unfortunately, another key scene - where Tywin lies the smackdown on Joffrey - is underwhelming, with none of the normally-reliable actors hitting the highs of the corresponding book scene. Some terrific and iconic dialogue, such as where Tyrion and Tywin share for a moment the horror that they may have put a new Mad King on the throne and Tywin ominously hints he won't let that come to pass, is also lost, which is a shame.

The most awkward moment of the episode is in Daenerys's storyline. After a strong and decisive start to her storyline this season, it just tails off at the end, not helped by that awkward crowd-surfing scene with its unintended-but-still-uncomfortable overtones of the great white saviour. This can be subverted by what's coming up in Daenerys's storyline, but for now it feels like a really weak way to end the season compared to the very obvious alternative option.


306: The Climb (***)
307: The Bear and the Maiden Fair (***½)
308: Second Sons (****)
309: The Rains of Castamere (*****)
310: Mhysa (****½)

Forthcoming: Season 4 of Game of Thrones will start airing in March or April of 2014. Season 3 should be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in February or March 2014.

An Unreliable World: History and Timekeeping in Westeros

Last year I contributed to the book Beyond the Wall, a collection of commentaries and essays on A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation. My essay is this week's 'Free Essay' over at Smart Pop Books, so it can be perused for free right now.

The essay discusses the often-dubious measures of time given in the series and how the ancient backstory of the books is fluid and unreliable as a result.

GAME OF THRONES Season 4 discussion

Myself, Elio from Westeros.org and Charlie Jane Anders have thrown some ideas around about how Game of Thrones' fourth season will unfold over on io9. Obviously, massive spoilers from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are included.

I may expand on some of the ideas further here, but the general thrust of the argument is that I think the show needs to start hitting some AFFC/ADWD storylines by the end of Season 4 if they are going to fit all seven books into just seven or eight seasons, whilst Elio takes the view they can be a bit more relaxed and use most of the season to address the remaining Storm of Swords material. I guess we'll find out in March 2014.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Amazon.de is listing a book for release next year called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R.R. Martin.

This is almost certainly a new (working?) title for the first Dunk and Egg compilation volume, which will collect The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight in one book. Originally the fourth story, The She-Wolves, was also part of the compilation but GRRM confirmed to fans at the recent ConQuest convention that he is holding it back until after The Winds of Winter is completed. This indicates either that the compilation will only include those three stories, or it will also be held back until after Winds and the date has not been updated on Amazon to reflect that.

Meanwhile, She-Wolves' replacement story, The Princess and the Queen (a story set at the outbreak of the Dance of Dragons), will appear in Dangerous Women in December.

Update on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE update (update)

The World of Ice and Fire - the companion volume to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels co-written by Martin and the admins of the Westeros.org website - has once again had its release date (provisionally) changed.

This time, happily, the book has been brought forwards. Originally mooted for a late 2013 release, the book was dropped back a full year to a late 2014 release. However, George R.R. Martin said at the weekend - and since confirmed by his UK publisher - that the book was now aiming for a Spring 2014 release (possibly to tie in with the start of Season 4 of Game of Thrones). Westeros.org has also issued an update, noting that the release date change is not yet final and a drop-back to late 2014 is still possible, but they are seeing if they can make Spring 2014 work as a new date.

In addition, George has admitted to going somewhat overboard with his plans for the book. Whilst Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia wrote the bulk of the book, it was always planned for GRRM to write a certain amount of material for it. This plan was originally for about 50,000 words, but he ended up writing - or providing - 250,000 words material and notes. Antonsson and Garcia have condensed and summarised this material for the book, whilst another chunk has been sectioned off to become the stand-alone short story The Princess and the Queen, to be published in the Dangerous Women anthology. Martin's original material has been preserved and GRRM and his publishers are musing using this material for a 'GRRM-arillion' type of book later on. This is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a detailed narrative history of Middle-earth which is more remote and removed than a novel, but not so distant, dry and academic as a bald plot summary. The 'GRRM-arillion' project will not be worked on or released before A Song of Ice and Fire itself is completed.

It appears that Tor.com has gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick and released a seriously misleading article about the book. To clarify their points, The World of Ice and Fire has always - since late 2007 when it was originally announced - been an illustrated companion book focusing on the history of Westeros and Essos. It has never been an A-Z encyclopedia. The focus and format of the book has not changed. It is not now a multi-volume affair, it's what it always was intended to be. The 'GRRM-arillion' project is a totally new and separate idea, not The World of Ice and Fire II: The Wrath of Ran. And yes, the book's official date has dropped back to November 2014, but all parties involved are trying to make Spring 2014 work as the new date.

GAME OF THRONES producer expecting seven seasons

Game of Thrones producer Frank Doelger has said that he expects the show to last for seven seasons, assuming audience figures remain strong.

Doelger was interviewed backstage at the BAFTA Awards and said the following:

"[The number of series] is being discussed as we speak. The third season was the first half of book three, season four will be the second part of book three. George RR Martin has written books four and five; six and seven are pending.

"I would hope that, if we all survive, and if the audience stays with us we’ll probably get through to seven seasons."

The potential length of the series has been much-speculated about by fans, with the need to adapt the Song of Ice and Fire novels (relatively) faithfully clashing with the realities of TV production and how long a TV audience will wait for answers and resolutions. Previously showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had spoken of 90 episodes (nine seasons), whilst Doelger's comments seem to suggest that less is more likely. Indeed, with Book 3 spanning two seasons and seven books projected, it's telling that anything less than eight seasons (assuming the remaining books can all be fitted into one season each, which is not a given) is even being considered.

At the same time, even highly successful shows like Lost have ended after just six seasons, and shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Buffy the Vampire Slayer only managed to limp to seven years with a sub-par season (or two) thrown into the mix. True Blood arguably ran out of steam after three (four if we're generous) seasons and has been running on fumes ever since. So the chances of Game of Thrones - a massively expensive and time-consuming show to make which doesn't allow its producers much (or any) time off between seasons - making it to eight or nine years without burning out seem slim, so aiming lower and writing accordingly might be the better option.

To me, this suggests that the producers are envisaging a more radical move away from the books after Season 4 (if not this season), with perhaps more focus on bringing the existing characters and storylines to a resolution rather than bringing in lots of new characters and situations. Indeed, Benioff and Weiss previously said that Season 3 will be the peak of the cast in terms of size and future seasons would feature smaller casts. That suggests that we might not be getting the hordes of new characters the later books bring in, and casts doubt on whether we'll be going to locations like Sunspear where a dozen or more new characters would need to be introduced in one hit. This may improve pacing and clarity, but could backfire if some of the other storylines (particularly in Dorne) prove critical to the overall resolution of the story and the producers have to change their minds later on.

That the show would become much less faithful of an adaptation when it hit the problematic (from a structural point of view) fourth and fifth books has largely been expected by fans, but to get to the very end of the entire storyline in just forty more episodes after this season will require more compression and rewriting of the novels' storyline than what we have seen so far. If HBO and the producers can pull it off remains to be seen.

GAME OF THRONES wins a BAFTA

Game of Thrones has won a BAFTA Award. The show won the Radio Times Audience Award, the only one of the awards to be voted for by the general public. The result was a surprise, with most watchers expecting the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony to walk off with the award, but clearly GoT's motivated fanbase was able to mobilise. However, GoT did miss out on the other award it was nominated for, Best International Programme, which instead went to its HBO sister show Girls (itself surprisingly trouncing the widely-expected winner, Homeland).

Tywin Lannister finds this victory approaching his bare minimum standards of adequacy.

GoT's trophy cabinet is rather full, with the show having already notched up multiple Golden Globes, Emmies and Hugo Awards, amongst others. Congratulations to the team for their success.