Video Games Based On George Martin’s ‘Song of Ice & Fire’ Coming Soon

The rights to develop videogames based on George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire novels have been acquired by a French developer called Cyanide Studio. Currently, the only games based on Martin’s fantasy world of political intrigue and backstabbing are a collectible card game and a board game. You can see the visuals in the above screenshot.

Cyanide Studio is best known for horse racing, rugby, and cycling management games. But they also have their share of fantasy cred after getting sued for making a fantasy sports management games called Chaos League. The folks at Games Workshop who have their own Warhammer-themed fantasy sports management game called Blood Bowl took the issue to court. As part of the settlement, Cyanide gets to has to make an official Blood Bowl game, which is due out later this year.

No details are available about what sort of Song of Fire and Ice game they’ll make, but with a television series in development at HBO, this could be the next His Dark Materials. Ha ha, just kidding. I meant to say Lord of the Rings.

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‘A Game of Thrones’ TV Pilot Adds Cast Member, Director

On last week’s Slice of SciFi, we brought you news that filming on the pilot for “A Song of Fire and Ice: A Game Of Thrones” would begin later this year in Ireland.

Now comes word on who will direct the pilot and one of the lead actors for the series.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, actor Peter Dinklage has been cast in the pivotal role of Tyrion, the Queen’s brother who is treated as an outsier because of his size. Dinklage has worked in genre-related shows on television before, notably CBS’s “Threshhold” a few seasons ago.

Dinklage will be reuniting with his director from “The Station Agent,” Tom McCarthy for the series’ pilot.

“Thrones” is slated to film in the third quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in what the country’s First Minister Peter Robinson hails as “the first TV production of such vast size and scale that has been filmed in Northern Ireland.”

Book Review: The Great Book Of Amber by Roger Zelazny

The ten volumes of the Chronicles Of Amber were published between 1970 and 1991, comprising Roger Zelazny’s most famous work. Roger Zelazny died in 1995 at the age of 58, but in the time that he was here, he produced a body of work that will stand the test of time for generations to come. The Chronicles Of Amber, in my opinion, was his crowning achievement and a testament to his power to create poetic prose that rivals the classics. “The Great Book Of Amber”, published by Avon Books, contains the complete Amber Chronicles, volumes 1-10.

Amber is the one true world, all others beings shadows of Amber itself. Each member of the royal family of Amber has the power to manipulate “Shadow”, creating and traveling through alternate realities. The story begins with one such family member, Prince Corwin, as he tries to regain his memory, find out who is after him, and fight to gain control of Amber itself.

Zelazny brings a wealth of depth and believability to the characters. Several brothers and sisters, each with alliances and feuds among themselves, create the ultimate dysfunctional family. For all intents and purposes, the family members are immortal, with their sire Oberon literally a god who created Amber and everything around it.

Each family member has a deck of cards, called “Trump Cards”. Each card contains a portrait of a family member. The cards allow communication with anyone on the card that they are holding at the time. The cards also allow direct passage from where the holder of the card is located, to the location of the person on the card. They are used frequently during the series and are essential to the plot since traveling through “Shadow” leaves out the possibility of any other form of communication between the royal family.

As we get to know Corwin, he wakes in a hospital bed on Earth in the 20th Century with no memory of who he is or how he got there in the first place. As he slowly regains his memory over time, we are introduced to his past and to each character involved in his life, whether enemy or ally. We find out how “Shadow” is controlled, manipulated, and used by these god-like beings. The descriptions on the page come alive as Corwin walks, drives, or travels on horseback, slowly changing his surroundings piece by piece, thus literally traveling through dimensions to get from one world to another.

The alliances forged and broken by Corwin with his brothers and sisters leads to an ultimate showdown with Amber as the prize. Zelazny places every detail where it needs to be and paces his epic with just the right amount of tension, action, humor, politics, and sadness.

“The Great Book Of Amber” is not just a great read, it’s an experience that needs to be savored. I try to read the series every few years and have recommended it to many people along the way. Amber is a complete world, with history, people, places, and a level of detail and vividness that has not shown its age even after all these years. If you enjoy reading epic fantasy and aren’t afraid of a little modern technology thrown in for good measure, then I highly recommend Roger Zelazny’s “The Great Book Of Amber” to add to your reading pile.

Published by Avon Books
Paperback
1258 Pages
Review by JR Todd Read more

Richard Morgan — THE STEEL REMAINS Coming Soon

SubterraneanPress.com has an announcement about a very cool book coming out soon.  I’m very much looking forward to it..

We’re on the verge of releasing one of the most acclaimed and controversial fantasies of recent years.

As Richard K. Morgan writes of his new novel, The Steel Remains: “If you had to–really had to–kill someone, which way would you rather they made you do it? With a pistol, or with an axe?

Exactly. So welcome to the brutal world of Ringil Angeleyes, scarred hero of Gallows Gap and death-wish-furious, semi-retired warrior aristocrat. I’ve been talking a good fight about fantasy noir for a while – now I’m putting my money where my mouth is. The Steel Remains is a grubby, blood-spattered trawl through exactly how unpleasant it might be to actually have to live in the average fantasy universe. Can you do noir in a fantasy landscape? You can certainly try…”

We’ve already approved the printed but not yet bound pages for The Steel Remains, so we’re within a couple of weeks of shipping Mr. Morgan’s epic fantasy, the first of three volumes. SubPress favorite Vincent Chong has contributed one our best covers ever, along with full-color endsheets (different for the front and back of the book) and a frontispiece. The book itself is 440 pages, printed in two colors throughout, on 80# Finch paper. It’s truly going to be a spectacular production.

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BioWare Launches Dragon Age Novel

With geeks everywhere excited about BioWare’’s next big RPG project which is due out in November, Dragon Age: Origins, it is no surprise that a novel would be written based on the game. Now out in bookstores is Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, written by David Gaider who also worked on games such as Baldur’’s Gate 2.The novel will introduce readers to the world of Dragon Age and prepare them for the game to come.

Official Release:Tor Books, the largest publisher of science fiction in the world, and BioWare, are proud to announce the upcoming release of the novel Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, the thrilling prequel to Dragon Age: Origins. This gripping novel written by veteran video game developer and writer, David Gaider, will introduce the reader to the world of Dragon Age: Origins. Available in stores March 3rd 2009.

R.I.P. Philip Jose Farmer 1918-2009

My first exposure to Philip Jose Farmer was his ‘World Of Tiers’ series, followed by ‘Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life’, and I’ve enjoyed reading his works ever since. To me, his work is very easy to read and I can click with his characters right away. I’m glad he chose to become an author otherwise the world would have missed a great talent.

From his official website:
Philip José Farmer passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning.

He will be missed greatly by his wife Bette, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and countless fans around the world.

January 26, 1918 - February 25, 2009. R.I.P.

We love you Phil.

Legend Of The Seeker Episodes Now On Hulu

Legend Of The Seeker, the Sam Raimi/Rob Tapert production is now available on Hulu. Episodes 1-7 are available to watch now for free (ad supported of course). Note that episodes 1 and 2 are combined into one episode there (Prophecy/Destiny).

Millions of readers the world over have been held spellbound by this valiant tale vividly told. Now, enter Terry Goodkind’s world, the world of The Sword of Truth. In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher’s forest sanctuary seeking help…and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence.

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed…or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One story. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

Below are episodes 1 & 2 combined for your viewing pleasure. Read more

HBO Greenlights Pilot For ‘A Game Of Thrones’ Fantasy Series

HBO has given the greenlight to film a pilot based on George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy novel series A Song of Fire and Ice. The show will be titled A Game of Thrones, named after the first novel in the series. Martin has planned seven books in the series, and the plan is to turn each book into a full season of television.

David Benioff (25th Hour, Troy), who is executive producing the series with D.B. Weiss (I Am Legend Prequel), says that “High fantasy has never been done on TV before and if anybody can do it, it’s HBO. They’ve taken tired genres and reinvented them — mobsters in The Sopranos and Westerns with Deadwood.”  While supernatural and sci-fi have boomed in recent years, it does seem extremely odd that the fantasy genre hasn’t been tried in primetime, especially considering the huge box office and critical success of the Lord of the Rings films. The only fantasy television series that comes to mind is Xena: Princess Warrior, and that was syndicated and… uh, bad.

Sure, dragons, magic, and even swords cost money (Thrones has all three), but in the last decade sci-fi television shows have pushed the boundaries in the visual effects department. The producers claim that Thrones is more character centric, and most of the action takes place off screen - a formula that has worked well for Battlestar Galactica.

Source: /film Read more

‘Wheel Of Time’ Comic Book Adaptation Hits Later This Year

Dabel Brothers Publishing has announced the acquisition of the rights to create a comic book adaptation of Robert Jordan’s hugely popular Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels, which have sold over 14 million copies in North America alone (and more than 30 million copies worldwide). The first issue of the Wheel of Time comic book series will be released in December. The individual issues will be collected in graphic novel format and distributed by Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group.

Robert Jordan was a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, who began his Wheel of Time series in 1990 with the publication of The Eye of the World. Jordan wrote eleven volumes of the series and one prequel, but died in 2007 before he was able to finish the twelfth volume. That book, A Memory of Light, will be completed by Brandon Sanderson and published by Tor Books in 2009.  The Wheel of Time is a truly epic fantasy series that spans the eternity of creation–the seven spokes of the wheel each represent a different age–and features the recurring battle the forces of light (led by the Dragon) and darkness (led by the Dark One, Shai’tan).

The Dabel Brothers published a comic adaptation of Jordan’s A New Spring in 2005 and worked closely with Robert Jordan, who provided them with extensive notes to be used in further publications, including character descriptions and other visuals. Jordan’s widow and editor, Harriet McDougal, cited that experience in announcing her decision to allow the Dabels to adapt Wheel of Time, Jordan’s magnum opus, noting, “Their work is splendid. Robert Jordan liked it enormously.”

In 2001 Wizards of the Coast published a self-contained d20 role-playing game set in The Wheel of Time universe.

Source: ICV2.com