Sep 11, 2010

The Song of Ice and Fire - Best Links

George R.R. Martin official website, including his well liked "Not a blog".

Charming illustrations by M.Luisa Giliberti.

Westeros, the "A song of ice and fire' domain.

Winter is coming, your source of rumors about HBO's Game of Thrones.

A Game of Thrones
: A Song of Ice and Fire NWN2 Persistent World

Sep 8, 2010

The Song of Ice and Fire - House Baratheon

Looking for Dance with Dragons? Just check this post 

Do you remember the last S.I.F post? This is King Robert's House Baratheon:
Melissandre-Stannis-Robert-Renly-the shadow










The death of Robert Baratheon has thrown the house of the king into disarray. Although the daring and bold warrior he once was had vanished in a haze of wine and women, he alone held the other ambitious lords of House Baratheon in check and solidified the house’s place among kings. With Robert's death however, three kings of House Baratheon emerged to claim the Iron Throne: Joffrey, a child born of Lannister incest but raised as Robert’s own; Stannis, Robert’s cold, hard brother who chafes at the bonds of his castle at Dragonstone; and finally Renly, the carelessly charming younger brother who pooled the strength of Storm’s End and Highgarden, and cultivated the allegiances of the lords of the south. Each of these claims to the throne fractured the house into competing allegiances — Joffrey to the Lannister bird whispering in his ear, Stannis to his pride and the priestess of a new god, and Renly to himself and the roses of Highgarden (extract from http://gameofthrones.net/).

King Robert Baratheon will be played by Mark Addy who has also starred in the Flintstones, as Fred, the Full Monty or Robin Hood's Friar Tuck. Not too...royal, is he?



Jack Gleeson will be spoiled and sadistic Prince Joffrey Baratheon, Robert's son and heir by Cersei Lannister. There's a reason he's not in the southparked version of the family but you'll have to read the first book to discover it.



Stannis Baratheon: is the elder of Robert Baratheon's younger brothers. A brooding, humorless man known for a hard and unyielding sense of justice, he is obsessed with slights real and imagined. After the death of Robert, he styled himself king of the Seven Kingdoms as Robert's heir, though he has difficulty getting support for his claim. He has a cold relationship with his wife, Lady Selyse of House Florent, and they have one daughter, Shireen, a sad little girl bearing a disfigurement from an ailment. When Robert died, Stannis claimed the Iron Throne as Robert's heir, however most of the Baratheon bannermen followed his more charismatic brother when Renly also claimed the throne. Stannis converted to the R'hllor faith, seeking only the power that Melisandre promised would follow, and prepared for war. I haven't been able to discover yet who's to play Stannis for HBO.



Melisandre d'Assai: Lady Melisandre of Asshai is a priestess of R'hllor in service to Stannis Baratheon. She is a beautiful woman, always dressed in red, with a heart-shaped face and red eyes. Great heat emanates from her body. She displays numerous magical abilities that seem to come from her devotion to R'hllor. Though she has a smooth, controlled, and often friendly disposition, many people feel intimidated or threatened by her presence.



Renly Baratheon: was the younger brother of Robert and Stannis Baratheon. He ruled as Lord of Storm's End, and served as Master of Laws on Robert's small council. He is a handsome and charismatic man, winning friends easily, but also strikes some people as frivolous. After Robert's death, Renly declared himself king. Through his charisma and familiarity with the Baratheon bannermen, he managed to win support from many houses, despite his brother having the better claim. Renly also won the support of the Tyrells through a secret love affair with Loras and a marriage to Margaery.

He spent a great deal of time moving slowly through the south, gaining support and men while waiting for the right moment to strike. He hosted tournaments for his men while the Lannisters and Starks wore each other down.

Sep 4, 2010

Neal Stephenson: The Mongoliad... 2.0?


The Mongoliad is an experimental fiction project of the Subutai Corporation, released in 2010 (5 chapters). Stephenson is the guiding force of the project, in which he is joined by colleagues including Greg Bear.At the project's core is a narrative of adventure fiction following the exploits of a small group of fighters and mystics in medieval Europe around the time of the Mongol conquests. In a departure from conventional fiction, much of the content of The Mongoliad will be in forms other than text, not bound to any single medium and not in the service of the central narrative. Once the project develops momentum, the Corporation envisages fans of the work to contribute, expanding and enriching the narrative and the fictional universe in which it takes place. This is what they say at the official site:

Our story unfolds in weekly installments over the course of a year. We've planned out a true epic—the last great epic of the middle ages, in fact--and written a fine chunk of the tale, but much depends on you. We’re hoping you’ll ultimately interact with our artists and writers and share in the story’s creation.

When we can, we'll include extra tidbits of art, video, music and history. Those extras will be made available to premium subscribers, an excellent value--less than the price of a hardback book for a year's worth of story and mixed-media entertainment. We’ll soon be taking subscriptions for app delivery to some of the most popular mobile devices and are working hard to add more.

$6 a six months subscription and 10$ the hole year will put each week a chapter in your iPad, SmartPhone, eBook reader.

Best known by his cyberpunk and postcyberpunk novels, Stephenson is also the author of
- The Big U (1984)
- Zodiac (1988)
- Snow Crash (1992)
- Interface (1994)
- The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995) – Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1996; Nebula, Campbell and Clarke Awards nominee,
- The Cobweb (1996) with J. Frederick George, as "Stephen Bury"
- Cryptonomicon (1999) – Locus SF Award winner, 2000; Hugo and Clarke Awards nominee, 2000
- Quicksilver (2003), volume I:The Baroque Cycle – Clarke Award winner, 2004; Locus SF Award nominee, 2004
- The Confusion (2004), volume II:The Baroque Cycle and winner 2005 Locus Award
- The System of the World (2004), volume III:The Baroque Cycle – Locus SF winner, 2005; Prometheus Award winner, 2005; Clarke Award nominee, 2005
- Anathem (2008)

Are we assiting to the birth of the first novel 2.0?

Sep 2, 2010

Tolkien's Tombstone

JRR Tolkien died on September 2, 1973. Tolkien’s tombstone at Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, bears the following inscription:



The Tale of Beren and Lúthien is the story of the love and adventures of the mortal Man Beren and the immortal Elf-maiden Lúthien, as told in several works of J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place during the First Age of Middle-earth, about 6500 years before the events of his most famous book, The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wrote several versions of their story, the latest written in The Silmarillion. Beren and Lúthien are also mentioned in The Lord of the Rings and they share one of the more beautiful love stories ever written and one dearly cherished by Tolkien.

He died as he lived.

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