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Maureen Ryan reports that following the completion of a pilot episode HBO has picked up George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones for a full season. The whole series, A Song of Fire and Ice which is currently at book four could be filmed at a rate of one book per season.

Series regulars in alphabetical order:

* Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon
* Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
* Sean Bean as Eddard Stark
* Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister
* Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
* Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark
* Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
* Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
* Kit Harrington as Jon Snow
* Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
* Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
* Richard Madden as Rob Stark
* Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
* Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen
* Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
* Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
* Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark

Also featuring:

* Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
* Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
* Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin

The expected airing of a ten episode season would be 2011.

Once they finish A Song of Fire and Ice, can I suggest science-fiction? The Vorkosigan books would be great.

On January 30th Cineplex will be showing a live broadcast of a National Theatre adaption of Terry Pratchett’s novel Nation. The play will be broadcast from UK live via satiellte. It’s described as:

< p class=”quote”>A parallel world, 1860. Two teenagers thrown together by a tsunami that has destroyed Mau’s village and left Daphne shipwrecked on his South Pacific island, thousands of miles from home. One wears next to nothing, the other a long white dress; neither speaks the other’s language; somehow they must learn to survive. As starving refugees gather, Daphne delivers a baby, milks a pig, brews beer and does battle with a mutineer. Mau fights cannibal Raiders, discovers the world is round and questions the reality of his tribe’s fiercely patriarchal gods. Together they come of age, overseen by a foul-mouthed parrot, as they discard old doctrine to forge a new Nation.

In a podcast fantasy author Brandon Sanderson noted that while his books were some of Tor Book’s best sellers they once sold one tenth as much of Robert Jordan’s. This week The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of the Wheel of Time reached number one on the New York Times and Publishers Weekly Best-Sellers lists, displacing "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. The book partially written by Jordan before his untimely death in 2007 and completed by Sanderson based on Jordan’s notes and materials.

The 2009 World Fantasy Award winners were announced Sunday at the World Fantasy Convention, held October 29 - November 1, 2009, in San José, California.
Some winners included:

• Lifetime Achievement: Ellen Asher & Jane Yolen
• Best Novel (tie): The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow) & Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)
• Best Novella: “If Angels Fight”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
• Best Short Story: “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)

I voted for 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss on my Hugo Ballot for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story of the Year. It lost to a hard SF story, Exhalation by Ted Chiang.

Four years after the eleventh book (plus one prequel) in the World of Time series was published and two years after its creator, Robert Jordan’s early death, Tor Books is publishing The Gathering Storm, the first of three volumes will conclude the series.

Up and coming fantasy author Brandson Sanderson was given the task by Jordan’s editor and wife, Harriet McDougal of using Jordan’s notes and some completed passages to complete the series. While Jordan believed he could complete the work in one volume, the scope of the work requires three volumes.

• Launch Party UStream.tv video
• Wot Facebook Page
• Brandson Sanderson FAQ on the book’s size and publishing in three volumes
• Interview with Brandson Sanderson and Harriet McDougal

New Line Cinema, the owners of the Lord of the Rings movies ended a potentially crippling and definitely embarrassing lawsuit situation today when it reached a settlement with HarperCollins Publishers Ltd and the trustees of the JRR Tolkien Estate over claims the two groups did not receive their entitled share of proceeds from the movies. With the lawsuit concluded New Line can go ahead with plans for a two-movie adaptation of The Hobbit, to be directed by Guillermo del Toro by produced by Peter Jackson with Fran Walsh.

The LA Times describes the lawsuit:

The lawsuit, which alleged breach of contract and fraud, claimed the heirs had not received any money under a pre-existing licensing agreement that guaranteed them 7.5% of the films' gross receipts (money that movie distributors receive after theaters keep their share of ticket sales). The rights to Tolkien's work, originally sold to United Artists in 1969, ultimately ended up with New Line. The lawsuit, which sought to terminate New Line's rights to all of Tolkien's works including "Hobbit" until the claims were resolved, was settled in the nick of time. Not only were the plaintiffs scheduled to go to trial Oct. 19, but the two "Hobbit" movies are slated to go into production next year with director Guillermo del Toro and producer Peter Jackson.

The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. Much of it will go to charity via the Tolkien’s Tolkien Trust.

In June best selling fantasy author David Eddings died at the age of 77, two years after the death of his wife and co-author of his later books, Leigh Eddings. A news release by the National Jewish Health hospital, based in Denver, Colorado details the division of his estate:

The total Eddings estate is estimated at $30 million. Mr. Eddings alma mater, Reed College, will receive two-thirds and National Jewish Health one-third. Consistent with their wishes, the Eddings's gift to National Jewish Health will be used to pioneer new approaches in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of childhood asthma. The gift to National Jewish Health was inspired by Ms. Eddings. She suffered from asthma most of her life. According to her attorney and brother-in-law, she wanted to leave money to an institution that could make a difference in the fight against childhood asthma, and chose National Jewish Health. National Jewish Health has been recognized as a world leader in the research and treatment of asthma in children and adults. Earlier today it was named the nation's #1 respiratory hospital for the 12th consecutive year by US News & World Report.

(via Locus Online)

Locus Online reported that the winners 2008 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for shorter fiction where announced by the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet organizers, to be held July 10 - 12, 2009 in Lawrence, Kansas.
Campbell Award results were a tie:

• 1st (tie) Song of Times, Ian MacLeod
• 1st (tie) Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
• 3rd The Philosopher's Apprentice, James Morrow

Sturgeon Award results were:

• 1st "The Ray Gun: A Love Story," James Alan Gardner


• 2nd "Memory Dog," Kathleen Ann Goonan


• 3rd "The Tear," Ian McDonald

Previously Locus also announced the winners of their in house Locus Awards, voted on by Locus readers. Winners included:

• Science Fiction Novel: Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow)
• Fantasy Novel: Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
• First Novel: Singularity's Ring, Paul Melko (Tor)
• Young-Adult Book: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury)
• Short Story: "Exhalation", Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)

Interestingly Little Brother, Anathem and The Graveyard Book are all nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards in the best novel category. The Campbell and Sturgeon Awards are voted on by a jury of writers and experts while the Locus Awards are by fans. Does this tilt the field to Anathem or The Graveyard Book?

Locus Online reports that best selling fantasy author David Eddings, 77, died June 2, 2009 at home in Carson City, Nevada.

David Eddings’ first novel was High Hunt published in 193. Starting in the 1980’s with his wife as an initially unaccredited co-author he wrote several series of best selling fantasy series, mostly centering on gods, magic gems and somewhat dumb and whiny farm boys and princesses.

David Eddings’ wife and co-author, Leigh Eddings died in February 2007.

I read all of the Belgariad, Malloreon, The Elenium and The Tamuli series. The Belgariad and Malloreon combo was a good simplistic if a bit repetitive fantasy but the Elenium was the best overall as Eddings adding a number of more sophisticated political elements. The Tamuli suffered from being very similar to the Belgariad, and Malloreon, as different gods and their magic gems faced off. This continued theme lead me to stop reading Eddings’ books part way through his final series, The Dreamers.

Overall, if a young teen has finished Harry Potter and you think Tolkien is too complex, the Belgariad can be very good choice.

Update: Coverage at Random House's (parent of his publisher Del Rey Books)Suvudu.

Locus Online has announced the top five finalists in each category of the 2009 Locus Awards which will be presented during the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 26-27, 2009. The finalists include:

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
• Matter, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK)
• City at the End of Time, Greg Bear (Gollancz, Del Rey)
• Marsbound, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
• Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow)
• Saturn's Children, Charles Stross (Orbit, Ace)

YOUNG-ADULT NOVEL
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury)
• Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Knopf)
• Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK, HarperCollins)
• Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (Tor)

Some of these books are widely popular, Anathem, Saturn’s Children, Little Brother, The Graveyard Book and Zoe’s Tale make up the ballot for Best Novel in the 2009 Hugo Awards.

I tried to read but quickly gave up on Matter, City at the End of Time and could not finish Anathem. I have read The Graveyard Book and I am planning to read Saturn's Children and Little Brother in advance of the Hugo Award voting. Like all Pratchett's, I will read Nation, which just won the L.A. Times Book Award.

Tor has announced their plans and release date for the conclusion of the Wheel of Time series. The final book, “A Memory of Light” will be released in three volumes with the first, A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm scheduled for November 3, 2009.

Following Robert Jordan's death in 2007 fantasy author Brandon Sanderson worked to complete the book based on Jordan’s notes. Sanderson has a lengthy blog posting describing how the size of the final book went from an estimated 200,000 words to 800,000 words as he reread the whole series and determined what was needed to tie it together. Like The Lord of the Rings the split between volumes is at climax point in the story rather than the split between viewpoints used by George R.R. Martin in A Feast for Crows and the upcoming A Dance with Dragon.

Sanderson also outlined the schedule of the next two books:

I've got a lot of writing left to do--four to six months worth, I'd guess. By these estimates, we'll have another book ready to go to press, then, in February next year. That means a fall 2010 release. And if things continue as they have, the third book (none of which is written right now) would come out summer 2011 at the earliest. And I guess that's what I'm trying to show you with all of this: No matter how the book is split, cut, or divided, the last portion wouldn't come out until 2011.

The blog Winter is Coming which is following the HBO treatment of George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel A Game of Thrones is reporting that the script for the pilot episode has been leaked. Looking at the few first pages of the PDF it looks to be closely based on the first few chapters of the novel.

An earlier post includes a review:

The first episode remains faithful to the source material, but not stubbornly so. Scenes exist in the script that don't take place in the book. Some of this is for convenience--there's only sixty minutes to cram in all the details we need. Other changes take advantage of the visual medium that is television. Lots of dialogue and internal thoughts are omitted in favor of knowing looks and sidelong glances. It's subtle, but effective.

The goal is to turn each of the five or more published and unpublished novels in the series into one year’s worth of television episodes.

Tor.com is hosting a group read (introductory post, index) of the Wheel of Time saga which will cover first eleven books in time for the fall publication of A Memory of Light, which is the last book in the saga. A Memory of Light is being written by Brandon Sanderson based on notes by Wheel of Time author Robert Jordan following Jordan’s death.

Due to the huge size of the Wheel of Time, the bi-weekly posts every Tuesday and Friday, will cover roughly 8-10 chapters per post, or one book per month.

The 2008 World Fantasy Awards were announced Sunday, November 2nd at the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, Alberta. Best Novel was Ysabel by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay.

I really liked Tigana and Song for Arbonne but was not able to get into his earlier Fionavar Tapestry and I found his later works to be too "real world" so I did not read Ysabel. I'm still not sure if I will.