When I'm on nightshift I'm always a step behind, so those of you who care probably are already all over this, but yesterday was a big day for George RR Martin fans. A full official trailer for the HBO series was released, starts airing next month already!



And then on top of that a release date was finally set for A Dance of Dragons. July 12th. Not that it's actually finished or anything.

Date night! We were planning to go see Eat Pray Love but it didn't work out. So sad right? Instead we had Indian food on Whyte and then bought many books. Many books. Some form the used bookstore some from the new. And then we went to a Second Cup and read books till we got chased away by the Tango dancing. Yes, tango dancing at the SCup.
Some of my bookswag from tonight:
Marvel's adaptation of George RR Martin's Hedge Knight II- Sworn Sword. I just got the first volume from the library and it is kickass. Set in the same world as A Song of Fire and Ice, but 100 years before. Lotsa Targaryens still around.
Shit My Dad Says- I'm late to the party since I never followed him on Twitter but at least I beat the sitcom. Very funny.
A signed Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. When was he here?
Geektastic, Holly Black. We went to SDCC. Obviously we need this book.
Half Brother, Kenneth Oppel. Chimps! From the bat guy!

According to George RR Martin's blog, Not A Blog, the shooting for the pilot of A Game Of Thrones has almost wrapped! Sweet! I wonder when it will air. Not that it matters since I don't have HBO and will have to wait an extra year for it to come out on DVD. Or I guess they got that newfangled internet I can check. I hear you can see videos on it and everything!
I'm just about to start my reread of A Feast For Crows. I went on a sort of GRRM revival when I got the books for Robin and also Michelle decided to read them. You know you have the best wife ever when you can discuss whether you'd rather be the Lord of Winterfell or the Eyrie and whether Lucius Vorenus (aka Kevin McKidd) would make a good Beric Dondarrion, maybe, or possibly the Blackfish.
I feel such warmth to HBO for doing this series. Band of Brothers, Sopranos, True Blood, Rome, Deadwood . . . is there anything they can't do?

George RR Martin was in Edmonton today, doing a book signing for A Feast for Crows. Luckily he didn't do a reading since I am a few hundred pages short of finishing A Storm of Swords, which comes after A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I kind of expected the signing to be A Herd of Nerds but there was a good cross-section of society there. Martin himself is the epitome of what you would expect a fantasy writer to look like- kind of hobbity and a little wizardy too. He spoke for a bit and then answered questions. He was engaging, funny and generous with his time. His main writerly advice was that you must write, and you must finish what you write. Also he recommended you hone your craft with short stories. Oddly, he never said anything about the importance of writing many poetic odes to bears, but I know he would've had he remembered to- his own bear poem turns up repeatedly, though in fragments, in Swords:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair

A bear there was, a bear, a BEAR!
All black and brown and covered with hair

It goes on from there. It's very good. I forget what the rest of the book is about.

Sort of related, the trailer for Beowulf and Grendel is online now.