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book, book club, fantasy, george r.r. martin, song of fire and ice
book, book club, fantasy, george r.r. martin, song of fire and ice #020 - The S&L Podcast: Here There Be Dragons
Posted on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 11:06PM
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 11:06PM While we're kicking off reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, we're also proud to announce we're going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta to do a live episode of Sword and Laser! We're very excited about that, especially because Veronica has been reading a book about dragons and is hoping to meet one.
WHY WE PICKED A GAME OF THRONES
Rick on May 22, 2009 at 9:22pm
I third "Game of Thrones". It is sitting on my shelf waiting for me to finish the China Mieville book I'm in the middle of. Also, for those upset with Mr. Martin's lack of new bookage, you should go read the comments by Niel Gaiman on his blog concerning exactly what George R. R. Martin is and is not to his readers.
C on May 23, 2009 at 9:39pm
Game of Thrones is fantastic, the only problem I can see with it is that anyone who reads it will be completely hooked for the rest of the series. As long as people don't mind that then it's great. I would also be interested in reading something else (as in something outside Song of Ice and Fire) by him though. Armageddon Rag is supposed to be really interesting and Fevre Dream is about vampires which is always fun. Both of those are standalone books (I think) so they might be better than starting a series?
terpkristin on May 26, 2009 at 4:10am
The reader for books 1-3 (Roy Dotrice) is great. I purchased the 4th book but haven't listened to it yet (read that one in hardcover on an import version), though John Lee is the narrarator, and some have said that they don't like him as much as they like Dotrice.
ABOUT A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, an epic fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award, and won the 1997 Locus Award. The novella Blood of the Dragon, comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel, won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
The novel lends its name to several spin-off items based on the novels, including a trading card game, board game and roleplaying game, and HBO has authorized the filming of a pilot episode based on the novels.[1]
WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING
Tom - Heretics of Dune
Veronica - Black Powder War, Book 3 in the Temeraire series (Book 1 is here)
ESSENTIAL NERD VIEWING
John Hodgman administers a nerd test to President Obama. Do you know the answers?
MOVIES
Moon - A Film By Duncan Jones; Starring Sam Rockwell.
Reader Comments (11)
The laudio levels between Veronica and Tom are way off in this podcast. In order to hear Veronica I had to turn it up and when I did Tom is REALLY LOUD.
thanks for the show guys....the Hodgeman video was great thanks for embeding it...keep up the good work guys...
I just saw Moon. It was great!
How can I see moon? Will it play in the US? When does it come out on DVD? Moon looks awesome!
Have you heard about the scifi book review podcast? He reviews an amazing amount of books, and gets really in depth with them, also rates them 1 to 5 stars. I think only Ian M. Banks's Use of Weapons got 5 stars.
http://sfbrp.com
I did get to see Moon last Sunday in NYC. It seems that it is only in limited release at this time. I see its playing in NYC and LA but not sure where else. The site does mention a more general release in July but hints that this in England.
I must say the movie is very good and the actor does a good job getting more paranoid about what is going on. You are trying to figure out what is going on while partially knowing it's not going to be all ok. Kevin Spacey as the voice of the computer does lend itself well.
I’ve tried to be patient with Mr Martin, but I can see why people are upset. If I recall the last book in this series was released about 3 YEARS late in 2005. It was only half the book which was he was supposed to deliver. Part of that was because he realized that the plan he had for skipping forward 5 years wasn't going to work. He decided to cut the story into 2 books.
4 YEARS later and we are still waiting on the other half, which was supposed to be mostly finished in 2005. In the meantime, he’s released several other non-related books. At this point I have to wonder if he’s being a perfectionist or just having trouble coming up with a story.
Fantastic series. Only drawback is if you start to feel for a character or love him or her, Martin will take his life or come very close. Re the audiobooks, Roy Dotrice passed away, hence John Lee. They are all worth having. I'm all for giving Martin time, but Robert Jordan died. (if he'd had a competent editor it would have been done before that)
I'm new to the podcast and you think you guys are great!
I'm about halfway through Thrones. There's some pretty harsh scenes, and not much magic; I have a feeling Veronica won't like it.
Yes, This is one of the greatest stories I have read. You guys will love this.
Just wait until you get to the third book, that one is by far the best in the series so far and you will be blown away. This series is like crack, Be prepared to be HOOKED!!!!!
If anyone is interested in hearing from Mr. Martin he has a website:
http://www.georgerrmartin.com
He has a section call "Not a Blog" which covers a little bit of everything (football, his latest journeys, miniatures, etc.) and occasionally A Dance With Dragons update. I have had the opportunity to attend one of his readings and later his Q&A session. For those not happy with his pace he prefers to release quality not quantity he apologizes that things may come out slow but he wants to be happy with the product.
HBO is in the process of creating a Rome type series based on his series "A Song of Fire and Ice" http://grrm.livejournal.com/84893.html