Werthead's page

Recently, I have gotten my hands on a copy of Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader, and plan on eventually getting Deathwatch, and I'm definitely thinking about coming up with a game to run. However, I don't play the tabletop game (I don't have the money for all those minis), and so I figured that I will pick up some of the 40K novels and get some knowledge of the universe that way. Well, I have finished reading the Eisenhorn Omnibus and am currently reading the Ravenor Omnibus, and I was wondering if there were any other 40K novels that others can recommend to get into the history, feel, and mythos of the 40K universe.

You're definitely on the right track. Rogue traders, although they are not the focus of the books, do play an important role in both trilogies (Sholto Unwerth has awesome comedy value, if less competent than the other traders), and obviously the Inquisitors are the focus of the books. In fact, the way both Eisenhorn and Ravenor run their teams is very RPG PC party-esque, and should provide plenty of inspiration and ideas. The Deathwatch chapter even shows up briefly in the first Eisenhorn novel.

As for others, it's difficult to say. If you want to run a game involving any kind of large-scale military conflict, such as a crusade, then checking out the GAUNT'S GHOSTS omnibuses could be an idea. The HORUS HERESY series could also be good for getting some background on the setting, although the events of the Heresy are more than 10,000 years in the past of the WH40K universe and probably won't impact on events in the campaign (any more than the an SF campaign set five thousand years in the future shouldn't involve back-references to the building of the Pyramids ;-) ). If you want to use the DEATHWATCH book to run a more traditional Space Marine shoot 'em up campaign, Graeme McNeill's ULTRAMARINES omnibuses might be worth a look, although you might get abuse about the 's murfs' ;-)

Also look out for the ULTRAMARINES CGI movie, which should be out next month on DVD, which might be good inspiration. Also the DAWN OF WAR RTS computer game, which is six years old so should run on most PCs and gives a good sense of the atmosphere of the 40K universe.

The Twelve Colonies have been fighting amongst themselves for some time, some in civil wars and some fighting one another, which is why each colony has its own military.

CAPRICA is almost certainly toast. The last couple of episodes got 700,000 viewers, which is poor even on SyFy, about half of what BSG itself was getting in its final season (and even that was regarded as catastrophically low). The final decision will be made by 15 November. If CAPRICA returns, I suspect it will be 10 episodes purely to wrap up the show and fill a scheduling gap until BLOOD AND CHROME debuts in late 2011/early 2012.

As for the chronology, CAPRICA begins 58 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies (in the BSG pilot mini-series). The First Cylon War begins 6 years later and lasts for 12 years, ending 40 years before the Fall.

So BLOOD AND CHROME begins 10 years into the war, which is 16 years after the events of CAPRICA Season 1 and 42 years before the BSG pilot movie.

I believe the idea is that Bill Adama is 10 in CAPRICA, will be 26 in BLOOD AND CHROME (not 'just into his twenties', that's just SyFy mucking up his age) and is about 68 when BSG itself begins and 72 when it finishes. Given the Colonials have longer lifespans than us and better medical facilities, that's not too much of a stretch.

I have the new book but haven't had a chance to play it. I have to say I really like it, but there are certainly some design decisions I'm not sure I like. Mostly I would have preferred a game that more closely matched the tabletop system. Space Marines in Deathwatch are modeled after the novel protagonists instead of the TT. So they are not only more powerful than say, an imperial guardsman, but they are several magnitudes more powerful.

The arguments over how powerful a Space Marine is versus an Imperial Guardsmen have gone on for some time, but the general setting information states that one Marine should be worth 100 ordinary humans (Imperial Guardsmen). The tabletop game doesn't really follow that (and DAWN OF WAR I doesn't, whilst DAWN OF WAR II does), whilst the novels suggest a ration of more like 1:10.

Generally speaking, a Space Marine (bioengineered super-warrior with state-of-the-art power armour and whose basic weapon is what isn't far off being a high-velocity railgun) is certainly several orders of magnitude more capable a warrior than an Imperial Guardsman (guy with a cheap laser gun). If this was D&D 3E, playing a Space Marine right off the bat would be the equivalent of starting at Level 10 and proceeding straight up into Epic Level.

I'm interested in the game. The Deathwatch themselves are the order detached to work alongside the Inquisition (IIRC) and are depicted in the EISENHORN novels as being more specialised and less mindlessly combat-oriented than some of the other chapters, with a lot more RP potential.

This year I made it my project to delve into the WARHAMMER 40,000 universe of novels, starting with the prolific Dan Abnett. To date I've read seventeen of his books: the first eleven GAUNT'S GHOSTS novels, the EISENHORN TRILOGY and I'm now on the final book of the RAVENOR TRILOGY. Having previously had very mixed experiences with tie-in books, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the quality of these novels is very high. Reviews of all of these books can be found here.

My overview of the books so far:

Gaunt's Ghosts
Consciously Sharpe in space, following a detachment of the Imperial Guard (the Tanith 1st and Only, specialising in espionage and special operations) as they fight as part of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, an attempt by the Imperium to reclaim an entire sector from the clutches of Chaos. Notable for a very large cast of characters, shocking deaths and the author constantly finding new ways of telling war stories.

The series is divided into four 'arcs' or storylines, the first three of which are collected in omnibus:

ARC I: THE FOUNDING
The world of Tanith is destroyed by the forces of Chaos on eve of the founding, the commissioning of an Imperial Guard detachment from the planetary population. Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt controversially evacuates the Tanith 1st from the planet rather than stand and fight (and die). In these first three books the Tanith Ghosts come together as a cohesive unit, finally achieving fame in the epic Battle of Vervunhive.

1: First and Only (1999)
2: Ghostmaker (2000)
3: Necropolis (2000)

ARC II: THE SAINT
The Sabbat Worlds Crusade bogs down in hard fighting and it seems that only a miracle can break the deadlock. When the miracle takes place, the Tanith 1st become directly involved in events.

4: Honour Guard (2001)
5: The Guns of Tanith (2002)
6: Straight Silver (2002)
7: Sabbat Martyr (2003)

ARC III: THE LOST
A detachment of the Tanith 1st is send undercover on the planet Gereon, a world lost to Chaos for years. Whilst their mission is a success, the returning soldiers find themselves lost and ill-at-ease amongst their comrades, and their recovery will be long and hard-fought.

8: Traitor General (2004)
9: His Last Command (2005)
10: The Armour of Contempt (2006)
11: Only in Death (2007)

ARC IV: THE VICTORY
After fifteen years on the front lines, the Tanith 1st are finally relieved and given reach-echelon duties on Balhaut. But after two years of inaction, they are chomping at the bit to return to combat, especially as the war enters its deadliest phase so far.

12: Blood Pact (2009)
13: Salvation Reach (coming in 2011)

There are also several spin-off books:

Double Eagle (stand-alone novel focusing on a Guard aerial squadron)
The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (companion book)
Titanicus (stand-alone novel focusing on a Titan legion)
Sabbat Worlds (short story collection)

Eisenhorn
This trilogy (set 400 years earlier than the GHOSTS books and half a galaxy away) follows the misadventures of Imperial Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, an 'orthodox' Inquisitor utterly opposed to the forces of Chaos. Eisenhorn becomes more 'flexible' as he is forced to use more and more extreme measures to defeat his foes, but risks corruption along the way. This trilogy is notable for its smaller scale than the massive wars of the GHOSTS books, its first-person perspective and its much more thorough examination of 'normal' life for ordinary citizens in the WH40K setting, as well as the lives of rogue traders and Inquisitors.

1. Xenos (2001)
2. Mallaeus (2001)
3. Hereticus (2002)

Ravenor
Following the disappearance of Gregor Eisenhorn, his brilliant, disabled protege Gideon Ravenor continues his work, investigating corruption and heresy. On Eustis Majoris Ravenor and his team discover a new psi-drug, 'flects', which is causing immense problems for the people of the subsector. This trilogy differs from the EISENHORN books (which were three separate stories with some continuing subplots) in being one large story split into three books for reasons of space.

1. Ravenor (2004)
2. Ravenor Returned (2005)
3. Ravenor Rogue (2007)

Next up is Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain series, which is apparently a Flashman pastiche in the WH40K universe. I also need to start looking at the Horus Heresy series, which delves ten thousand years into the backstory of the entire WH40K setting.

Any other books and authors worth a look?

Authors China Mieville and George R.R. Martin are in the process of trying to get Facebook to remove copyrighted material from their website. Mieville has gone as far as publishing an open letter explaining his concerns:

Facebook

1601 S. California Avenue
Palo Alto
CA 94304
USA
6 October 2010

Dear Facebook People,

URGENT COMPLAINT– PLEASE READ, MORE ACTION TO FOLLOW SHORTLY

1) The short version:

At least one person, if not more, is/are impersonating me on Facebook, with (a) fake profile(s) claiming my identity. Despite me repeatedly bringing this to your attention, you have taken no action to remedy the situation. And I’m getting very annoyed.

2) The full version:

This thing you hold is called a letter. This is the third time I’ve contacted you, and I’m doing so by this antiquated method because, and I realise this may shock you so brace yourself, I have no Facebook account. Which means it is nigh-on impossible for me to get in touch with you. Kudos for your Ninja avoidance strategies.

Back when you had a button allowing me to alert you to a fake profile despite not having an account myself, I contacted you that way. I was answered with a resonant silence. Subsequently, when the problem persisted, I hunted lengthily for, found and left a message on the phone number you go out of your way to hide. Absolutely nothing happened. So here we go again: third time’s a charm.

I am being imitated on Facebook. I believe the only reason anyone is bothering to do this is because I’m a novelist (published by Macmillan and Random House), a writer and broadcaster, with a minor public profile. I think there are one or two community pages about my stuff on Facebook – that of course is very flattering and nice of people to bother. The problem is that there is or are also pages by someone(s) purporting to be me. This is weird and creepy. What’s worse is I know for a fact that some readers, friends and colleagues are friending ‘China Miéville’ under the impression that it is me, and that others are wondering why ‘China Miéville’ refuses to respond to them. And I have no idea what dreadful things or ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes’ are being claimed as mine, nor what ‘I’ am saying.

I know lots of people enjoy being on Facebook. Great. More power to them. Vaya con Dios. Me, though: not my thing. I have absolutely no interest in it. I am not now nor have I ever been a Facebook member. Short of some weird Damascene moment, I will not ever join Facebook – and if that unlikely event occurs, I promise I’ll tell you immediately. In the meantime, though, as a matter of urgency, as a matter of courtesy, as a matter of decency, please respond to my repeated requests:

• Please delete all profiles claiming to be me (with or without the accent on the ‘é’ – last time I looked, I found one ‘China Mieville’, and one more accurately rendered).
• Please do not allow anyone else to impersonate me. I have neither time nor inclination to trawl your listings regularly to see if another bizarre liar has sprung up.
• And while you’re at it, please institute a system whereby those of us with the temerity not to sign up to your service can still contact you on these matters and actually get a [insert cuss-word] answer.

I appeal to you to honour your commitments to security and integrity. Of course as a multi-gajillion-dollar company I have absolutely no meaningful leverage over you at all. If David Fincher’s film doesn’t embarrass you, you’re hardly going to notice the plaintive whining of a geek like me. All I can do is go public. Which is my next plan.

I’m allowing a week for this letter to reach you by airmail, then three days for you to respond to me by phone or the email address provided. Then, if I’ve heard nothing, on 16 October 2010, I’ll send copies of this message to all the literary organizations and publications with which I have connections

…

some of the many books bloggers I know; and anyone else I can think of. I’ll encourage them all to publicise the matter. I’m tired of being impersonated, and I’m sick of you refusing to answer me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
China Miéville

Martin's concern is over a specific page which is reprinting his blog entries and photographs without permission. Both authors seem to be indicating that legal action will follow unless Facebook deal with the situation ASAP.

Kajehase wrote:

Bruno Kristensen wrote:

Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia would be awesome.

Especially since they're "historical novels" set in Feist's role-playing group's homebrew world.

Actually, the rights to Midkemia are owned by the guy who is running game it was based off of.

Feist had to get his permission to set the books there.

At least that is what I heard. *shrug*

Steve Abrams created Midkemia, let Feist use it and set up a publishing company called Midkemia Press in the 1980s, IIRC. They had some D&D-compatible setting books published like 'City of Jonril' and a few other things published way back in the day, but no overall coherent setting books.

Apparently Abrams and Feist want to do Midkemia as a proper RPG and setting, but only when Feist completes the 30-book Midkemia story. Which is now only two books and 2-3 years away, so we may see something after that.

Season 3 is good but MERLIN's typical inconsistency is kicking in.

Spoilerised for the benefit of American fans.

It's been announced that GAME OF THRONES will air in the UK on a brand-new channel, Sky Atlantic, which Sky are launching in the New Year. This new channel will apparently focus on 'premium' US drama and will be the home of most of HBO's shows in the UK, as well as bought-in drama from other channels such as AMC and Starz.

The first major show to air on the channel is BOARDWALK EMPIRE, which launches in March 2011 (five months after US transmission). GAME OF THRONES is expected to air in April 2011, just a few weeks after US transmission. TRUE BLOOD will remain on FX (due to a lifetime deal for the show), though Sky may be able to air re-runs at a later date. Sky have also poached MAD MEN from the BBC to air on the new channel.

The good news for existing Sky subscribers is that Sky Atlantic will air as part of the basic package, with no need to upgrade or pay out more money. There are also rumours that the new channel may air without adverts, the only way to accomodate these cable show's longer-than-normal run times.

As to the series itself, filming is now approaching the halfway point, with the emphsis switching to scenes in Winterfell and reshooting some of the scenes from the pilot with the new actors.

Nice to see some old characters, what about Glokta?

Any news from the south of the Union?

Some reports from what's going on in Styria and Gurkha, but nothing at all on Glokta. We don't even get a vague reference to him like we did in BEST SERVED COLD.

In the heart of the North, two great armies are converging on a small valley to hit one another with bits of sharpened metal. The war chiefs and carls under Black Dow prepare to face the might of the Union under Marshal Kroy, tens of thousands of men (and a few women too) ready to kill for, well, for reasons that seemed good at the time but now escape them.

In this war, heroes are needed. Unfortunately, the only heroes around are a bunch of old weathered stones at the top of a hill. Over the course of three blood-drenched days these stones will form the centre of the battle, and the centre of a storm of machinations, conspiracies and hopes for generals, soldiers, murderers and even a crotchety old wizard who has a new invention to test...

The Heroes is the fifth novel by British fantasist Joe Abercrombie, following on from the epic First Law Trilogy and the stand-alone Best Served Cold. The Heroes is another stand-alone, but certainly those who have read the previous books will get a lot more out of it, with minor, almost disposable moments from those earlier books assuming much greater importance here (especially through the successful device of a major POV and a very minor character in Best Served Cold swapping places in The Heroes). Abercrombie seems to be using these stand-alones to set up a new, bigger story further down the road and it will be intriguing to see if this indeed the case.

Back to the present, The Heroes is the first major fantasy release of 2011, and it looks like the new year is already off to a cracking start. The Heroes chronicles a huge battle, one of the largest in history, between the Northmen and the Union, and unfolds in a tight timeline of less than a week (the three days of the battle, plus a few before and a few after). The titular 'Heroes' are a bunch of stones atop a hill in the centre of the battlefield, but there is a lot of wordplay and some interesting commentary on what it means to be a hero, especially given many of the characters' cynicism. Abercrombie has no truck with 'sides' here, and in fact the exact reasons for the war are never entirely spelled out, aside from some hints it might be about territory and others that it might be part of the ongoing cold war between Bayaz and his Gurkish enemies and their respective allies. On both sides there are 'good' (or at least not-as-bad-as-the-rest) guys and bad guys, and the good guys are shown to sometimes do bad things and vice versa (even Black Dow gets a couple of semi-sympathetic moments).

There are several central POV characters. Prince Calder, son of King Bethod whom Black Dow deposed (via Ninefingers) in the trilogy, is a military coward but a born conspirator and strategist (at least in his own mind) who is keen to get his father's throne back. Curnden Craw is a trusted War Chief, a 'straight edge' known for his honesty and his honour, neither of which is doing him much good on the battlefield. Beck is a fresh recruit, the son of a famous Named Man, eager to make his own name on the battlefield. Corporal Tunny is a Union soldier who is the last into the breach and the first into the loot, who has completely perfected the art of making a rout look like a tactical withdrawal. Finree dan Brock, the daughter of Marshal Kroy, is eager to regain her husband's honour and fortune after his father betrayed the Union in war. Finally, Bremer dan Gorst, the former bodyguard of the King disgraced after failing to protect the royal personage during an incident in Styria, is keen for revenge and redemption.

These stories entwine around one another, with other characters popping into the story (Bayaz, First of the Magi, is bemusingly interested in the battle, whilst Caul Shivers and the Dogman have their parts to play) as it unfolds. This is a book less about the over-arching plot, which is somewhat vague and will possibly become clearer in future books, than it is about the characters and the changes they go through as a result of the battle and the politics surrounding it.

So this is a character-focused epic war story, if that isn't a contradiction in terms. The battle and mayhem are depicted with all the blood, swearing, cynicism and involuntary bowel movements we have come to expect from Abercrombie. Despite the author's scepticism over maps, we get a nice series of illustrations depicting the battlefield as it changes from day to day, which helps visualise the various locations and their relationships to one another. The worldbuilding also steps up a notch, with a sense of time passing (it's nearly a decade since the start of the trilogy at this point) and even some technological (and culinary) evolution and innovation. There's also the continued sense of a stormcloud over the horizon as Bayaz and his enemies continue to skirmish with one another, using proxies to fight on their behalf until some future conflagration is unleashed in full force.

Criticisms? Well, Abercrombie is evolving as a writer, developing a more varied prose style with some nice descriptive touches (even if they are being applied to a soldier's first encounter with the horror of field latrines), but he isn't exactly turning into China Mieville here. If you didn't like the previous four books, there's nothing in The Heroes that will change your mind. However, the improvements and the tighter focus may sway those more on the fence about the earlier books. Fans of the earlier books keen for more information about certain characters from earlier volumes may also be disappointed by the lack of overt information given here on their fates (although there is a whisper of an interesting clue of a possibility that is tantalising). Oh, and disappointingly/thankfully (delete as appropriate) Abercrombie has failed to include one of his trademark terrible sex scenes.

The Heroes (*****) is Joe Abercrombie doing what he does best but better than ever before: gritty, violent, morally ambiguous and darkly funny fantasy with a streak of intelligent cynicism. The book will be published on 20 January 2011 in the UK and 7 February 2011 in the USA.

Possible logo.

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister.

An absolute metric ton of images taken from the previews and behind-the-scenes clips.

Some interesting tidbits from the last month and a half or so of shooting:

They are filming out of order, with the first month of shooting concentrating on Episodes 3-5, including the Hand's Tourney scene (which had over 200 extras present) and several meetings of the King's small council. Some additional footage set at the Wall, featuring Jon Snow's integration into the Night's Watch, has also been filmed, along with several scenes involving Daenerys Targaryen and her adventures on the eastern continent.

Contrary to earlier reports, which suggested that only Dany's scenes would be filmed in Malta and everything else in Northern Ireland, there will be a mixture of scenes spread across the two locations. More of Dany's material will be filmed in Northern Ireland (particularly her scenes crossing the Dothraki Sea and in Vaes Dothrak) whilst some of the Maltese locations will stand in for exterior filming of the city of King's Landing.

A great deal of attention is being paid to fine detail. A shot of Grand Maester Pycelle's desk reveals scrolls bearing the names of previous Targaryen kings (even down to the fact that King Aegon IV left off the honorific 'King of the Rhoynar' due to his dislike of the Dornish), whilst King Robert's crown has a stag motif to reflect the Baratheon heraldic symbol. Eddard's small council seat has the symbol of a hand imprinted on it, whilst Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish wears a small clasp in the shape of a mockingbird.

New trailer and behind-the-scenes featurette.

Looking good. Especially encouraging to see Sean Bean being so positive and upbeat about the project.

Book 2: Century of the Soldier

(containing The Iron Wars, The Second Empire and Ships From the West)

A great clash of civilisations is underway. From the east and north come the Merduks of Ostrabar, having overthrown the Holy City of Aekir and now prosecuting the invasion of Torunna. Stymied before the guns of Ormann D~%*, the Merduks have now outflanked the fortress through a seaborne invasion and threaten to destroy its defenders from the rear. From the west an army of the Fimbrian Republic marches to Torunna's relief, but the ultimate fate of the kingdom rests in the hands of a lowly cavalry colonel and his ragtag troops.

The heretic kings Abeleyn of Hebrion and Mark of Astarac have regained their thrones and thrown back the forces of the Himerian Church, but a greater danger is now unveiled as a single ragged ship flees out of the Great Western Ocean, bearing stories of madness and death in a new and untamed land.

Century of the Soldier collects together the latter three volumes of Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God series: The Iron Wars (1999), The Second Empire (2000) and Ships From the West (2002), and concludes the series in a strong, if not flawless, manner.

The structure of this omnibus is different to that of the first. The Iron Wars and The Second Empire form one long narrative as the Ramusian and Merduk armies clash for dominance of eastern Normannia, civil conflict breaks out within the Ramusian Church over certain revelations about its origins and as Abeleyn battles to hold his throne, whilst Ships From the West is effectively a sequel to the rest of the series, set seventeen years further down the line when the threat glimpsed during Richard Hawkwood's adventures is finally unleashed in full fury. The success of this structure has been hotly debated over the years, with a general feeling that Ships From the West is not as strong a conclusion as may be wished.

Before reaching that point, the third and fourth books are a triumph. Whilst writing them Kearney took part in massive American Civil War re-enactments in the USA and this informs the writing of the several huge battle sequences in these volumes, among the most impressively-described ever achieved in the epic fantasy subgenre (the Battle of the North More, the King's Battle and the conflagration at Armagedir vastly outstrip any of the battles in A Song of Ice and Fire or the Malazan series in their vividness). Yet Kearney is implacable in his refusal to glorify warfare. It is depicted as brutal and horrific, particularly a jaw-dropping sequence in the fourth volume when Kearney nails the problems faced by commanders when a small Torunnan force has to stand by outside a town being sacked by a large enemy formation whilst awaiting reinforcements. It's a horrible and disturbing scene, dropped in as an ugly reality check amongst the impressive cavalry charges and roaring artillery exchanges, and works very well.

His character-building is also impressive, with Corfe becoming a particularly well-realised figure. His extremely rapid rise from ensign to colonel and to higher rank is on the fast side (although, that said, Napoleon's rise from artilleryman to general was fairly meteoric as well) but in the context of the story it is plausible. The notion of a man stripped of all the things that connects him to the world save his abilities in war becoming a great general is a familiar one, backed up here by a tragedy which the reader is aware of long before the characters, leading to a powerful conclusion that should feel contrived, but doesn't thanks to the circumstances that leads the characters to that point.

A bigger problem in these two volumes is that events in the west take not so much of a back seat as an extended vacation, with Hawkwood and Murad's appearances reduced to mere cameos despite the gravity of the new threat from the west. However, this does resolutely focus the narrative on Corfe's story, to its benefit.

The final volume of the series has been criticised over the years for a number of reasons (most stringently by the author himself), and Kearney has addressed some of these issues through around 5,000 words of new material and rewrites. The fates of several characters left unresolved in the original book are now made clearer (most notably Avila and Abeleyn) and there are some tweaks here and there which clarify certain points. However, the biggest problem with the book, namely the extreme rapidity of the passage of events and the rushed feeling of the book (despite their short lengths by epic fantasy standards, the previous four books never felt rushed, whilst the fifth does), remains an issue, as does a potential plot hole regarding the fact that the enemy's Achilles heel as been extremely well-known since the first volume but is not militarily exploited until quite late in the day here, despite the seventeen years of preperation for the conflict.

That said, whilst the fifth book does not fulfil its true potential, it is also hardly a disaster of the same magnitude as Greg Keyes' The Born Queen (which wrecked the series almost beyond redemption) or Alan Campbell's God of Clocks (which rendered the entire trilogy pointless). The character and story arcs are brought to satisfying, if exceptionally bloody, conclusions and there is a dark irony in the conclusion which is still grimly amusing.

Century of the Soldier (****½) is an epic fantasy book about war, the reasons for it, what it costs people and the fact that its resolution is rarely just or dramatic. The final volume remains a little undercooked, although Kearney's rewrites do alleviate some of the issues, but overall this is a worthy conclusion to the story begun in the first omnibus. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

Entertainingly, after the Sibel Kekilli discussion it appears that actual proper hardcore porn star Sahara Knite (Google with discretion!) has been cast in a minor role in the series. The exact role is unknown, but information hints it might be for a role at Chataya's (the high-class brothel where some of the action, so to speak, in the first two books/seasons goes down, also so to speak) or it could be a role in Daenerys' storyline, possibly Jhiqi (her other handmaiden, Irri, has been cast already).

Also slightly randomly, British guitarist Wilko Johnson, well-known on the British blues scene and a former member of Dr. Feelgood and later the Blockheads, has been cast as Ser Ilyn Payne, the King's headsman.

And it's already been renewed for a second season before the first even airs.

EDIT: Apparently it hasn't been officially renewed yet, but they've had strong discussions on it.

Agreed, this series can stand beside these epics. And it is finished! Althought the ending feels a little bit rushed. Kearney once stated that he wants to rewrite the ending as he had to finish it in a hurry to meet the deadline.

Happily, he's gotten his wish. The second omnibus contains the rewritten version of the fifth and final book with more focus on the ending. I haven't read it yet so I'm not sure how successful it's been.

Book 1: Hawkwood and the Kings

(containing Hawkwood's Voyage and The Heretic Kings)

The continent of Normannia is dominated by the five great Monarchies of God, five kingdoms and myriad duchies and principalities united in the worship of the Word of God as revealed by the holy messenger, Saint Ramusio. But now, five centuries after Ramusio's passing, that union is fracturing. The Merduks of the east have taken the Holy City of Aekir and put it to the sword and the flame. The Kingdom of Torunna stands open to their armies, with only a scant defence being mounted at the fortress of Ormann D~&#. But rather than reinforce Torunna, the Church is instead sending its Knights Militant into the other kingdoms, determined to root out heretics and burn them at the stake.

In Hebrion King Abeleyn, determined to reassert the secular rule of kings over that of the Church, sets his will against that of Prelate Himerius, who is determined to continue the burnings of heretics, magic-users and shapeshifters. As part of these intrigues, Abeleyn authorises his cousin Lord Murad to outfit an expedition across the Great Western Ocean in search of a new landmass rumoured to exist there. Captain Richard Hawkwood is commissioned to lead this expedition, but once to sea it becomes clear that someone, or something, is determined to see it fail. For his part, with the Fall of Aekir and the apparent death of the High Pontiff, Himerius is determined to rise to high office and see the entire continent ordered to his design.

As the Merduk armies dash themselves against the walls of Ormann D+!$, a young cavalry officer, Corfe, last survivor of the Aekir garrison, emerges as a canny warleader who may hold the key to saving Torunna and Normannia. For in his party from Aekir is an old man who claims to be the High Pontiff Macrobius, and the revelation of his survival will splinter the continent in two and unleash turmoil and strife the likes of which have not been seen in centuries.

Hawkwood and the Kings is an omnibus edition containing the first two volumes of Paul Kearney's classic Monarchies of God series, Hawkwood's Voyage (1995) and The Heretic Kings (1996). Long out of print, this reissue is a very welcome move from Solaris. If it wasn't for poor sales (despite heavy critical acclaim), this series would be mentioned in the same breath as A Song of Ice and Fire and The Malazan Book of the Fallen as one of the strongest epic fantasy series of the past fifteen years.

Kearney's writing style, which comes across somewhere between Martin, David Gemmell and Bernard Cornwell, is brutal and direct. This is not a pleasant world and all of the characters are flawed individuals developed with complex motivations. Lord Murad, for example, is initially portrayed as an antagonist but by the end of the book he has gained more of the reader's sympathy, whilst our erstwhile heroes Hawkwood and Corfe both have plenty of negative traits (Hawkwood treats his wife badly, whilst Corfe fled Aekir rather than stand and fight). In this sense the series withstands comparison to A Song of Ice and Fire, although the (relatively) slim page count-per-volume means that the series cannot build up the same kind of unstoppable momentum. Still, the complex politics and characterisation will appeal to fans of that work.

An area which Kearney could have badly fumbled is in his treatment of his source material. The Fall of Aekir is modelled after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, with the Merduks standing in (fairly obviously from the name) for the Ottoman Turks and hence Muslims. Kearney avoids this by showing the Merduks to have honourable generals and soldiers amongst their ranks even as their leaders are shown to be a mixture of the corrupt and the competent. He could have tipped this in the other direction with the Ramusian Church, a clear stand-in for Christianity, portrayed too villainously, but solves this by adding sympathetic POV characters within the Church's ranks (particularly Albec and Avila), showing the internal dissent and strife that have driven some in the Church to the current extremism.

Kearney handles the politics, characters and religious material deftly and also delivers great battles, whether on land or at sea. More common now, Monarchies was unusual when it was published in being set further up the technological ladder than most epic fantasies, with gunpowder, arquebuses, culverins and mortars being the weapons of choice. Fans of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books or C.S. Forrester and Patrick O'Brien will be very happy with Kearney's depiction of combat, the life of a soldier and life at sea. Those readers tired of interminable thousand-page epic fantasy novels will also find Kearney's laser-like story focus and relentless pace refreshing.

Hawkwood and the Kings (*****) is epic fantasy at its very best, combining strongly-realised characters with epic battles, complex politics and a compelling storyline. This new edition will hopefully lead to a resurgence of interest in this over-neglected series. The omnibus is available now in the UK and USA from Solaris Books.

I thought it was a pretty strong ending to the series.

I teamed up with several other bloggers to interview Peter F. Hamilton here.

I thought it was a strong ending, maybe his best ending to a multi-volume series to date. I was disappointed that a lot of characters seemed to end up sitting out half the action, but that did make it more straightforward.

Myself and Pat from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and Mark from the Walker of Worlds blog have interviewed Peter F. Hamilton here.

Trailer.

Voice acting: good.

CGI: a bit pants. The DAWN OF WAR intro cinematic from six years ago was far more impressive. Hopefully they're still working on it.

STARCRAFT 2 is an immensely conservative game. If it had been released in its current format in 2002 or 2003 or so, it would have been more timely and gotten a lot more acclaim for being ahead of the curve with regards to the RPG-like bridging sections between missions and so forth. As it stands, it feels like SC2 has borrowed all the best bits of DAWN OF WAR (the RPG stuff is more than slightly reminiscent of DoW 2) and other RTS games to emerge in the intervening years and bolted them to the SC1 engine (but redone in pseudo-3D).

There's nothing wrong with that as far as it goes: the game is fun and enjoyable. The story is cheesy as hell, and way too close to WARCRAFT 3 for comfort (Chris Metzen badly needs some new inspiration), but it performs its job of giving you reasons to blow stuff up. It is very much a mild evolution of the game, however, even milder than STARCRAFT 1 which was pretty conservative even when it was released back in 1998.

The most telling problem with the game from my POV and those of my online co-players was that we spent months playing SC1 on LAN when it came out and periodically revisited it for years afterwards. After just a week of SC2 we got bored and were dragged back into COMPANY OF HEROES by a new update to the splendid EASTERN FRONT mod, and haven't thought about playing SC2 again since. We've played that game enough in the past, and wanted something more than the same thing with slightly prettier graphics.

The producers of the new JUDGE DREDD movie have confirmed that they have cast Karl 'Eomer/Dr. McCoy' Urban as the titular lawman. The film, due to start shooting in the autumn in South Africa, is the second attempt to bring the franchise to the big screen, following on from the 1995 attempt starring Sylvester Stallone.

The new film's director is Pete Travis, whose record is undistinguished (VANTAGE POINT and ENDGAME). More encouragingly the script is by Alex Garland and a lot of the effects/production team working on the film are veterans of DISTRICT 9. DREDD creator John Wagner has given the new script his blessing, stating it is much closer to his vision for Dredd. In accordance with that vision, Dredd will not remove his helmet in the new film.

The new film, which inevitably will be shot in 3D, is due to hit cinemas in 2012.

An assassin in white murders the King of Alethkar, an act commissioned by the enigmatic Parshendi tribesmen of the east. In response the Alethi armies meet those of the Parshendi in battle on the Shattered Plains, a vast landscape of plateaus separated by dark chasms. Progress is slow and gruelling, and Dalinar, the murdered king's brother, adopts a siege strategy to wear down the enemy through attrition.

Meanwhile, Kaladin, a former soldier disgraced and sold into slavery, arrives on the Shattered Plains as a bridgeman, a role designed to help carry and place the immense mobile bridges which carry the Alethi army into battle. Mistreated by his masters, Kaladin begins to burn with the need for freedom and vengeance, and finds like-minded men amongst his fellows.

In distant Kharbranth a woman named Shallan seeks a missing princess, hoping to become her protege and study under the most famous heretic on all of Roshar. But Shallan's quest disguises another, less honourable cause.

These three stories become entwined with the ancient legends of the Knights Radiant and the Voidbringers they fought against. The world of Roshar and the wider cosmere beyond lie in danger from an ancient force, and the key to understanding the nature of that threat lies with a man who can walk amongst the worlds...

There's no faulting the ambition of this novel. The publisher and the author have set out their stall quite clearly: they want the ten-volume Stormlight Archive series to be the next dominant epic fantasy series, replacing the soon-to-finish Wheel of Time sequence. The publishing marketing spiel has cranked up to support this effort, drawing comparisons with Tolkien and Frank Herbert which are more than slightly hyperbolic. Yet The Way of Kings manages to weather these pronouncements to stand on its own merits as one of the best epic fantasy releases of this year.

The Way of Kings is Brandon Sanderson's finest novel to date, showing a remarkable and satisfying maturing and evolution of his craft. Sanderson is a student of epic fantasy who's made it his business to test the limits of the subgenre and take a mass audience with him, and The Way of Kings raises this skill to new heights. Roshar isn't another generic fantasyland, but a dangerous and alien world wracked by devastating tempests which the normal business of humanity takes place in the lulls between the storms. In his previous books Sanderson has used his worlds as effective background locations, but in The Way of Kings the world itself comes to life satisfyingly, becoming a vivid location which the reader ends up wanting to know more about.

Characterisation is an area where Sanderson takes a significant step forward in quality. His characters in The Way of Kings are considerably more flawed and more real than those in Mistborn or Elantris, but he also avoids turning them into grim, grey ciphers. These characters are given motivations and rationales for what they do which make sense, and then evolve satisfyingly over the course of the book. It has to be said that of the three major protagonists Shallan is the one who is not developed very satisfyingly in this way until the very end of the book, when her last three or four chapters transform the reader's understanding of her character and motives in a very impressive manner.

Sanderson has a strong reputation as the creator of impressive magic systems, so it's rather surprising that The Way of Kings pulls back on the magical side of things. There's an excellent opening sequence depicting the assassination which is slightly reminiscent of Nightcrawler's attack on the White House in X2 and is as impressive, but otherwise actual feats of magic are somewhat few and far between in the book (although there is a fair amount of use of magical artifacts such as fabrials and Shardblades), although with plenty of hints that these will form a bigger part of the story in subsequent volumes.

Another surprise is that Sanderson makes a bold move in this volume by putting some of the common mythology of his universe into the centre of the plot: Hoid, the Shards of Adonalsium, the Shadesmar and other elements which have been hinted at in Elantris, Warbreaker and the Mistborn series are here brought into somewhat sharper relief (although foreknowledge of those earlier novels is not required) and followers of this shared-universe element of Sanderson's work will have plenty more to chew on as a result of this book.

On the downside, Sanderson does adopt an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach with the book, and uses some side-plots purely to establish elements which will have no resolution until much later, and as a result there are a few side-stories which simply have no apparent reason for being in this novel (most notably the scenes set on the Purelake). In addition, to achieve greater resonance and carry out more impressive worldbuilding, Sanderson has had to sacrifice the thunderous pace that made the first Mistborn novel very enjoyable, the result being a book which is a good 150-200 pages longer than it strictly needs to be with some repetition of ideas and some action sequences (the chasm battles, whilst very impressive and atmospheric, do start blurring together after a while).

The Way of Kings (****½) has some minor issues, but overall is a deeper, darker and more satisfying novel than anything Sanderson has produced to date. The book will be published on 31 August 2010 in the USA and on 30 December in the UK.

I don't even know how they can afford this one, honestly. Perhaps because they shot it in Hungary (which looks astonishingly primeval) and it was a simpler time, with simpler dress, ornamentation and architecture.

The production company made the series off the cuff, as it were, and then sold it to Starz later on, as well as to a batch of European and Asian channels. If Starz funded it themselves, it would have likely been too expensive for them.

Haven't seen it yet. The book fell into the so-bad-it's-good category, lots of cheesy melodrama and heaving bosoms, so I'm not expecting huge things from it, although I hear they've upped the coverage of the civil war in the TV version which is a good thing.

I was always frustrated at th lack of any change/advancement of Voyager. By the time the series ended, that ship should have been a patchwork of different technologies, upgraded weapons, etc. Perhaps the irony would have been that they'd become like the borg.

** spoiler omitted **

That's what drove Ronald D. Moore up the wall about the show. DS9 ended so he transferred over to VOYAGER wanting to make VOYAGER more dangerous and interesting, only to find total apathy from the VOYAGER writing team and overreliance on the old TREK stand-bys of malfunctioning holodecks and technobabble solutions with the reset button pressed firmly at the end of every week. He lasted two episodes and then quit, later on using the mistakes and bad calls made by VOYAGER as a guideline of what NOT to do on BSG (although he obviously forgot the lesson about not delivering a crappy finale).

I'm running a four-year-old single core AMD 3700+ with 3GB of RAM and a 512MB nVidia 8500. The game cheerfully told me that my computer is below minimum spec, but bizarrely it then proceeded to run absolutely fine with everything on Medium detail (turning shadows off helps a lot on busy missions as well) at a good speed. So the game is very forgiving of low-spec set-ups.

The only problem I have is that occasionally the graphics driver crashes, turning the screen white. I can exit out to the desktop through alt-tabbing (or hitting the Windows key) and then reboot using key commands, so it's not a massive problem, just annoying. Apparently the driver can't keep up with the information being sent through it, which nVidia are apprently working on for the next driver update.

Blakes 7 is awesome...they are doing an animated series and a new version Blakes 7.

Not so much. B7 Productions (less charitably called BS Productions by an increasingly disbelieving fanbase) have not really gotten anything off the ground and Sky recently withdrew from their production agreement for the new series, leaving it dead in the water once again.

I wonder how they would handle this if the Moon was isolated from the Earth by a world war that made travel to and from almost impossible.

This was the premise of a Joe Haldeman SF novel trilogy: WORLDS, WORLDS APART and WORLDS ENOUGH AND TIME. A monstrous solar flare wipes out most of Earth's population, leaving the Moonbase and various 'Worlds' or space stations to repopulate the planet, but this was made difficult by some survivors on Earth who still had nukes and other complications.

Actually not a bad premise for a TV series.

Those books were rejected by Straczynski as continuity along with all the other B5 novels save for To Dream in the City of Sorrows the one covering Sinclair's time between his departure from Babylon 5 and the last time we see him taking B4 into the past. As far as the rest of the novels, according to JMS it's a pick and choose as you see fit. City of Sorrows however is the only one he acknowledges as canon.

TO DREAM IN THE CITY OF SORROWS, THE SHADOW WITHIN, THE PSI CORPS TRILOGY, THE LEGIONS OF FIRE TRILOGY and THE PASSING OF THE TECHNO-MAGES TRILOGY are all regarded by JMS as canon. The initial Dell books (VOICES, CLARK'S LAW, etc) are not regarded as canon.

Wait?.. The Porn Star Sibel Kekilli? It very much looks like her....

I understand she appeared in a couple of explicit films, but I think calling her a 'porn star' is something of an exaggeration. She wasn't Traci Lords or anything like that.

Sci-fi channel took a 70s short run show that looked great when I was 12 but anemic at age 30+ and turned it into the best TV series on at the time...

Blake's 7.

It started in 1978 (like BSG), ran for four seasons, has highly memorable and classic characters, storylines and spacecraft. The biggest difference is that it had a much harder edge than any other space-based SF series to that time. Regular characters died with no forewarning, our 'heroes' principles and morality were corrupted and compromised on a regular basis and the series ended on a shocking note. The 1970s version of B7 was harder-edged and grittier than the 2000s version of BSG. I think a new version would work very well, and indeed I know that SyFy and Sky have talked about doing it as a co-production, whilst Joss Whedon cited it as an influence on FIREFLY.

SPACE: 1999 was cheesy fun. You could perhaps do a new version but you'd need to seriously change it. The idea of the Moon being blasted out of orbit and visiting a new star system each week was ludicrous in the 1970s but completely untenable today. You'd need to change the premise to maybe a malfunctioning wormhole experiment, then it would work better.

SPACE: 1999's older, less corny Gerry Anderson sister-series, UFO, is currently being remade as a feature film, due out in 2011 or 2012. UFO's structure and set-up (which directly inspired the later X-COM series of computer games) would be much more appropriate to being brought back as a regular series.

For some people, this will be the biggest casting news of the entire series to date. But, basically:

Charles Dance is Tywin Lannister.

What more to say? One of the very best British actors around is playing one of the most layered, interesting and well-developed 'villains' ever written. His scenes with Dinklage should be beyond awesome.

The pilot will air as Season 1, Episode 1, a week before Episode 2. It will not be aired separately to the rest of the series.

Interesting news. Sky One will broadcast GAME OF THRONES in the UK and the Republic of Ireland next year as part of their new deal which will see them broadcasting all HBO shows in the UK (all of their new shows and all of their old ones as their deals with other channels such as FX and the BBC run out).

On the plus side, this means they'll show the series in a good timeslot with solid publicity. Obviously on the bad side, it means a ton of people won't be able to watch it, increasing the number who download it, and it will not attract anywhere near as much media attention as when the BBC was involved.

In related news: Roy Dotrice has had health problems and sadly has had to withdraw from the production. His role of Grand Maester Pycelle has been replaced by Julian Glover, a very fine actor. GRRM reports that Dotrice was very happy with this choice, as he and Glover have worked together in the past. The production are now looking at finding another role for Dotrice, who is expected to be in recovery from his illness for the next four months. On the plus side this now means that Dotrice is possibly more likely to be able to do the DANCE WITH DRAGONS audio book.

Three further roles have been announced: Amrita Achari as Irri (one of Dany's handmaidens), Sibel Kekilli as Shae (Tyrion's love-interest, kind of) and Roxanne McKee (yes, her from HOLLYOAKS) as Doreah (another of Dany's handmaidens).

Yeah, there's no way they'll change actors between Episodes 1 and 2. First off, we know they're not doing that. HBO have already confirmed that all of Cat and Dany's scenes will be refilmed. I'm also hearing that other scenes may be reshot due to the children aging 8-9 months between the pilot and now. Secondly, no series has done that before. TRUE BLOOD's pilot had a different actress playing Tara and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER's pilot had a different Willow. Both pilots were comprehensively reshot for the series itself.

In additional news, shooting of the full series begins tomorrow :-)

Another one, this time of interest for HARRY POTTER fans:

Natalia Tena as Osha

Tena plays Nymphadora Tonks in the POTTER movies, although I understand they've cut her on-screen role down a lot from the books. In THRONES she plays Osha, a wildling warrior-woman from beyond the Wall who takes refuge in the Seven Kingdoms and befriends the Stark children (erm, kind of).

Has anyone ever seen the pilot? Anywhere?

One guy from the Televisionary blog has seen it after a friend at HBO swiped it for him. He said it was amazing (and he'd never read the books and knew nothing about it beforehand).

Unless it somehow leaks onto the Internet, we'll probably never see the pilot now. Too many roles have been recast and they're refilming just about the whole thing from scratch, one or two small scenes excepted.

An absolute ton of new casting announcements:

Jerome Flynn as Bronn
James Cosmo as Lord Commander Jeor Mormont
Francis Magee as Yoren
Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon
Megan Jones as Old Nan
Sir John Standing as Lord Jon Arryn (flashback)
Gethin Anthony as Lord Renly Baratheon
Kate Dickie as Lady Lysa Arryn
Lino Facioli as Lord Robin Arryn (renamed from Robert Arryn)
Eugene Simon as Squire Lancel Lannister
Derek Halligan as Ser Alliser Thorne
Dominic Carter as Commander Janos Slynt
Susan Brown as Septa Mordane
Josef Altin as Pyp (one of Jon Snow's friends in the Watch)
Dermot Keaney as Gared (replacing Richard Ridings from the pilot)
Brendan McCormack as Ser Vardis Egen (a knight at the Eyrie)
Emun Elliott as Marillion (the singer Cat meets at the inn)
Jefferson Hall as Ser Hugh of the Vale
Ciaran Birmingham as Mord (the jailor of the sky cells in the Eyrie)
Antonia Christophers as Mhaegen (the mother of one of Robert's bastards)
Rhodri Hawkings as Mycah (the butcher's son who befriends Arya).

Yes, that's Jerome from popular easy listenin' singing duo Robson & Jerome, which is the biggest surprise out of the lot. James Cosmo as Mormon is brilliant though, as is Francis Magee as Yoren, the sort of roles they do a lot.

My take on Downbelow Station:

AD 2352. Humanity is divided into two factions, the Company which rules over Earth and the Sol system, and the Union, which rules over the outer colonies and worlds. In between are a narrow band of independent stations, nominally loyal to the Company but open to all traders and merchants. For years the Company and Union have been at war, but Earth's appetite for conflict is dwindling. In the end they have withdrawn practical support for their offensive fleet under Captain Mazian, leaving him a rogue agent whose goals and loyalties are suspect.

Caught in the middle of these turbulent times is Pell Station, circling the planet Downbelow in the Tau Ceti system. The closest independent station to Earth, it is a logical place for refugees from the warzone to flee to, straining resources to the limit. The Konstantin family which controls Pell Station struggles against the competing demands of Mazian's fleet, the refugees, the station's existing complement and the Company, and must also guard against infiltration from the Union, whose vast resources are finally gaining the upper hand in the conflict.

Downbelow Station was originally published in 1981, winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel the following year. It seems to be regarded as the best entry-point for Cherryh's Alliance-Union setting, a vast future history spanning centuries of mankind's expansion into space and its division between different factions, and the various conflicts it faces. The setting encompasses several dozen novels published out of chronological order and divided into confusing sub-series, making it perhaps the serious SF counterpart to Terry Pratchett's Discworld work in being slightly daunting for newcomers. Luckily, Downbelow Station makes a solid starting point for those interested in exploring the setting.

The novel is classic space opera. An opening prologue sets out the history of humanity's expansion into space and the background of the Company Wars before we are dropped straight into the action, with the personnel of Pell Station, the mining settlement on Downbelow and the carrier Norway all struggling to handle the refugee crisis. Cherryh successfully gives the impression that this is an ongoing story and history, where we are simply dropping in to observe a crucial moment and are then pulled out again at the end. This process works quite well.

Overall, the book is solid, with some interesting characters who are drawn with depth, but where what is left unsaid about them (particularly Mazian, Mallory and Josh) is as important as what is. There's also a nice inversion of cliche, with an initial figure who appears to be the typical bureaucratic buffoon is later revealed as a more intelligent and interesting character. There is also a fair amount of ruthlessness in the book, with major characters disposed of with little forewarning, but also a reasonable amount of humanity and warmth. Cherryh has a reputation for creating interesting alien races, and whilst the native 'Downers' of Downbelow are initially simplistic, they rapidly become better-drawn as the story proceeds as their full potential emerges, even if they're not really all that 'alien'.

On the minus side, after the initial burst of action accompanying the refugee fleet's arrival, the novel takes a good 200 pages or so to fully work up to speed. During this period the book becomes bogged down in Cherryh's sometimes odd prose and dialogue structures (terse, short sentences short on description are favoured throughout). The lack of description extends to the worldbuilding and even space combat. We are given very little information on what weapons the ships use in battles (mentions of chaff suggest missiles, but we are never told that for sure), whilst the economic structure of the merchant ships and the independent stations appears under-developed. Those used to the immense, Tolkien-in-space-style SF worldbuilding of modern SF authors like Peter F. Hamilton and, to a lesser extent, Alastair Reynolds, may find the thinness of the setting somewhat unconvincing (at least at this early stage). In addition, Cherryh's use of technology is somewhat inconsistent. None of the humans use implants, there are no AIs or robots, and everyone taps commands manually into computer consoles, yet at the same time there are also sophisticated memory-altering techniques and FTL drives.

Downbelow Station (***½) is ultimately a good novel and an intriguing introduction into what could be an interesting SF setting. However, it suffers from occasionally obtuse writing and some unconvincing worldbuilding, and it certainly isn't better than The Claw of the Conciliator, The Many-Coloured Land and Little, Big (the books it trounced to win the Hugo). The novel is available now in the USA, but has no current UK edition. Imported copies are available via Amazon.

What news do you have on James Bond. I've heard nothing until now. What's going on?

The James Bond movies are now on indefinite hiatus until MGM's situation is resolved. The third Daniel Craig film, which was apparently close to going into full pre-production, is on hold until that time as well.

The situation being resolved would mean that MGM is sold to another company (unlikely, given MGM's colossal debts), MGM sells off the brand name to another studio (which they may not do, since if they somehow survive they'll want their highest-grossing film series to continue) or MGM goes bust completely and the bank forcibly sells off their assets and properties to other companies (the most likely conclusion), which may still take months or years to happen.

Officially THE HOBBIT is still in the pre-production phase, but they have to make a decision on how to handle the situation soon. THE HOBBIT is a more complicated situation as it's a co-production between MGM (who own the film rights) and New Line (who bankrolled LORD OF THE RINGS) with Warner Brothers handling the release, unlike LORD OF THE RINGS where New Line simply did everything. However, since MGM are not putting up all of the money, just supplying the rights, it may be easier for New Line and Warner Brothers to simply buy the rights off MGM altogether and proceed without them. There is speculation that MGM's next discussions with the bank may involve them being told to sell the HOBBIT rights to generate some cash to keep them going for a few more months (JAMES BOND is a much more formidable asset for the company, so MGM will likely be able to hang onto that franchise until the bitter end).

That decision by the bank is apparently due in a matter of weeks, so hopefully we'll get a final answer - shutdown or going into production - soon.

Sorry, book 4 was very subpar.

It lacked the action-adventure elements of Books 1-3 and the pacing was seriously screwed up, that's for sure. Some elements of the Brienne story were also redundant (the apocalyptic aftermath and its impact on the common folk was better-handled in Arya's thread in the preceding book) and there was unnecessary POV creep. We only needed Asha as a new POV among the Iron Islands (and maybe that one Victarion chapter at the end) and Arianne for Dorne. The rest were not needed, even if Areo Hotah's was one of the best-written in the series.

On the flipside, it was thematically the most coherent book in the series. It dwelt on the aftermath and ruins of war with the survivors picking over what prizes they can drag out of the rubble and what happens when certain characters get the power they have craved for the entire series. It also - vitally - begins the process of tying the Wall and Daenerys storylines closer to the Seven Kingdoms storyline, which was essential at this point in the series if there is any hope to see the series concluded in seven volumes. AFFC certainly achieved what it needed to achieve in terms of narrative goals, but compared to the preceding three books those goals were modest, making the book appear somewhat inert in comparison, even though a fair bit does actually happen if you made a list of the major events and story beats.

It is definitely the weakest book in the series, but certainly is not entirely devoid of merit.

And at times seriously felt like it was written by anyone but a perfectionist.

The book was the product of a series of severe compromises, some of which I know GRRM now regrets. The circumstances of writing this book were extremely complex (it was never meant to exist, for a start, and Martin had no plan for it in his notes; the story was supposed to pick up 5 years later in A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, completely skipping the events of AFFC, but the flashback structure needed to make that work was unsuccessful) and it was the result of Martin abandoning his usual perfectionism.

If you had a eatten an awesome hamburger and then 2 years later you had it again and it was just as good, and 2 years later you had it again and it was even bigger (one of the biggest you ever ate) and ...

This analogy is...strained. Especially as the first three burgers you ate took a lot longer than 2 years each to produce (ah, the joys of writing years and years before you start publishing).

Reading this stuff is not a mind-expanding activity. I don't leave the story thinking I've learned anything new about the human condition. I haven't been imparted some great understanding about how the world works. I've been told a really good story.

Absolutely, although the emotional charge of a really good story doesn't instantly rid a book of literary merit (and Martin delves into some interesting questions of power, authority, responsibility and personal choice as the series unfolds). It is also good to hear that Glen Cook is a good writer, as I've just had all four volumes of his series in omnibus land on my doorstep (in return for some work for the publishers).

What I am intrigued by is this idea that Lovecraft is capital-L Literature in a way that Martin isn't. I see Lovecraft very much as Howard, with both authors subscribing to these ideas they would revisit in their work (Lovecraft's ideas on the limits of human knowledge and understanding and breaking those limits leads to insanity; Howard's suggestion that barbarism is the natural state of humanity and civilisation a momentary and doomed aberration), but not necessarily with huge literary explorations of their themes. Both writers wrote to entertain first.

In that way, I don't see much difference with Martin, who adopts this idea of power and responsibility and develops it, but doesn't dive deeply into its full literary ramifications (yet, with three volumes to come it remains to be seen if there is something more interesting going on there) apart from the fact that Lovecraft and Howard were formative in establishing the genre whilst Martin was writing in it when it was already mature (and even so Martin's influence on later and current speculative fiction writers is immense).

Sorry, book 4 was very subpar.

And at times seriously felt like it was written by anyone but a perfectionist.

Book 4's mixed reception is one of the likely reasons GRRM has been such an overzealous perfectionist with regards to Book 5. Book 4 was dangerously slow, risking the series spinning out of control across many unnecessary books, and Martin appears to have realised this and undertaken extremely heavy editing and rewrites to ensure Book 5 makes up for the deficiency and ensure this series is done in seven and no more.

Lovecraft is reading, real brain-wracking get-out-the-dictionary reading. GRRM is like brain candy. It's nice, but I'm not gonna remember it in twenty years.

Lovecraft has an important, formative role in the history of fantastical literature. Many of his stories remain readable and interesting today, even if you have to flip on the '1920s reading visor' to stomach some of his less savoury aspects, although you shouldn't entirely excuse them because of that. Robert E. Howard, for example, was considerably less offensive (okay, hardly a paragon of progressive writing, but Howard at least occasionally had 'good' black characters and women who did more than scream and pass out, even saving Conan a few times).

Martin is an extraordinarily powerful science fiction and horror author, however. Completely ignoring his fantasy work, Martin is widely regarded as one of the best, if not THE best, short fiction authors in the genre working in the 1970s and 1980s, with stories like SANDKINGS held up as among the best the genre has to offer (though I much prefer the considerably darker and more disturbing MEATHOUSE MAN). He then kicked off the 1980s with the last truly great, truly classic vampire novel, FEVRE DREAM (if you don't count Dan Simmons' CARRION COMFORT, which I don't as the creatures are not really vampires in the classic sense), before bringing superheroes into vogue in literature with WILD CARDS. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE - the finest secondary-world fantasy since Tolkien - is merely the culmination of a lengthy career which has seen him win numerous awards and accolades over some forty years.

The biggest casting news for some time:

Aidan Gillen is Littlefinger.

Gillen is best known as Mayor Carcetti on THE WIRE, and is playing the central role of Littlefinger, a political schemer at court whose machinations colour much of the plot of the books.

Ian McKellan is apparently close to signing on for some other films. He's been doing some stage work and not planning things too far ahead to keep himself available for the start of filming on THE HOBBIT, but can't do that indefinitely. He also reports that a 'big announcement' on the project could be forthcoming, either confirming they're going forwards with it or putting it on hold indefinitely, like JAMES BOND.

Interview here with Lena Headey. She discusses the role of Cersei and also her work on TERMINATOR.

Peter Jackson is in talks to direct, but he has attached the condition that shooting must begin before the end of 2010 (they're pretty much ready to go, with set construction underway, the exterior sets of Hobbiton prepared and so on). The MGM situation makes this complex, since Warner Brothers and New Line would have to put up 100% of the budget and might have to buy the film rights outright from MGM, which will be costly, but if it's the only way to get the film moving, they might have to do it.

The man needs an editor.

There, I said it.

He has several editors.

Laymen need to understand the relationship between editor and author is not the same as between a boss and his employee. Once a publisher signs up a book, that book is going to be published and an editor's ability to order the author around is limited. In most cases all an editor can do is advise, and if an author ignores him there's nothing they can do about it, unless they refuse to publish the book and then lay themselves open to legal action from the author.

Terry Goodkind had an editor, but famously declared that he never once listened to any advice given to him by his editor in writing his books ("Let's drop the evil chicken because it is, and let's be honest, retarded." "NO!" "Okay,"). This is why his books are unmitigated garbage. Since they sell anyway, the publisher doesn't really care.

Martin is himself a professional editor and edits his books as he proceeds before getting feedback from his publisher-editors. It's one of the reasons the books take so long to come out. OTOH, it does mean that when he says the book is done, it is really done (and not "Done bar another year of rewrites," which is the situation Pat Rothfuss is in at the moment) and will be out a few months later.

Interestingly, Martin is a big Lovecraft fan, although he's never really done a book in that vein, which is odd as he's written in almost every other SFF subgenre.

I find the love for BATTLEFIELD shown here somewhat heartwarming. It was absolutely ripped apart by the fans when it was originally broadcast, although I always liked it.

The special edition version has an alternate scene extra and I find I never run out of exclamatives when watching that special weapons dalek taking out the front gate!

There's an excellent story about how the BBC sfx guys went totally overboard on the gate explosion and set off every car and house alarm for five streets in all directions and filled the whole street with smoke. The police and firefighters turned up to see armies of Daleks advancing out of the smoke, to their bewilderment before they realised what was going on.

Apparently the last major casting news until next week:

Conan Stevens as Ser Gregor Clegane

7-foot-tall Australian Stevens is a former professional wrestler who trained in martial arts and has appeared in (and even wrote one) a string of Thai martial arts movies. He is a fan of the books and lobbied hard for the role of Gregor almost from the first day that HBO optioned the series, even auditioning for Khal Drogo despite knowing he was the wrong ethnicity just to get his face known to the casting agents. He worked very hard to get this role, so congratulations to him for that.

In the books Gregor Clegane is almost eight feet tall, the largest and most feared man in the Seven Kingdoms, a savage warrior who is less of a knight and more of a force of nature. He is a loyal bannerman of Lord Tywin Lannister, who unleashes Gregor and his terrifying band of foragers behind enemy lines during times of war, where they invariably wreck havoc. Gregor is loathed and despised by his brother, Sandor (Rory McCann).

Survival was a fairly limp way to go out.

As a story, yes, but the Doctor's final speech was brilliant:

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold! Come on, Ace - we've got work to do!"

Second Doctor: Really don't know him that well

Hmm. Difficult as many of his supposedly finest stories are incomplete, with episodes missing from the archives. Amongst the complete ones, THE WAR GAMES is probably the strongest and certainly the most important historically, introducing as it does the Time Lords and the Doctor's homeworld, and dramatically changing the format of the show (although all of those elements are only in the last episode; the preceding ten are more variable).

Battlefield. One of my favourites from the various nods to Who History, to the speech to Morgane at the end

BATTLEFIELD is very, very cheesy indeed, but also great fun if you are in the right mood, or indeed drunk. Particularly notable for the stunt guys who get carried away and start doing elaborate somersaults when hit by explosions instead of just falling over, and Jean Marsh's magnificent cliffhanger speech as the Destroyer appears: "You shall be his handmaidens...IN HELL!", followed by approximately three hours of maniacal evil laughter. Marsh is such a good actress she pulls it off anyway.

For McCoy I think I have to go for REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS, simply as, for the first time ever, the Doctor orchestates a confrontation with the Daleks as part of a pre-emptive strike (and again retconned into the Time War), even if it doesn't entirely sit easily with his reluctance elsewhere to destroy the Daleks from all space and time altogether by committing genocide. You can ignore that for the still-impressive Dalek-on-Dalek battle sequences (they pretty much blew the entire Season 25 budget on the story), and the bit where the Special Weapons Dalek trundles out and starts annihilating chunks of London with its frankly ludicrous laser-megadeath cannon.