Blogging A to Z: F is for Fire

A Song of Ice and Fire to be exact. Now I know some folks in the OSR roll their eyes back in their heads at the thought of multivolume fantasy series with page counts of 1000+ per installment (and to be honest, mine do too), I find George R.R. Martin's opus to be quite a bit more compelling than most other modern fantasy series out there. It reads quite a bit more like historical fiction than fantasy with its low magic level and grim and gritty style. And yes, I'm a big fan of this intricately detailed series.

There is a pretty cool fan website out there that has been going strong for several years now. If you are a fan of the series and like to delve into the minutiae like I do, then Westeros is the place for you. Go check it out, it's worth a visit.

There have been several gaming products out there based in the land of the Seven Kingdoms. Fantasy Flight Games has been doing a great job on the boardgame front. I'm not a collectable card gamer but they have that too. I must say that I really dig the Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
 quite a bit.

Green Ronin and Guardians of Order both have created role playing games based in the series. I do have both but have not played either. I was fortunate enough to get the deluxe signed edtion of the Guardians of Order game several years ago. I participated in the original preorder and it took almost a year to get the book. I was a bit nervous, but very pleased with the final release. Apparently there were many problems plaguing Guardians of Order and they went out of business shortly after the book was released.

I've been following the Trailers for the HBO Series and I must say that never I wanted access to cable moreso than I do now. However, since I live outside the States, I'm just going to have to wait until HBO releases the series on DVD. That's OK though as I need that extra time to reread the books and get caught up again. With A Dance with Dragons to be released on July 12th (just in time for my birhtday!), I'll be otherwise occupied until the series comes out on DVD.

Comments

  1. Chris KutalikApril 7, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    I don't get the antipathy for those books in our brethren. I not only like them, I like them better than a number of the books we are supposed to like in the pulp fantasy canon.

    Tangential thought but I have often liked the best historical fiction more than your average fantasy novel, ironically because it often feels more otherworldy (the past being another country and all that) than the modern themes you frequently find in those books.

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  2. XyanthonApril 8, 2011 at 6:05 AM

    I'm not sure why that is either. Perhaps the tendency for these huge multivolume 1000+ page books has in general turned off most folks. However, I found Mr. Martin's work to be most exceptional. I guess it is a case of don't judge a book by it's cover (or size).

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