[BOOK SPOILERS]Articles in SFX Magazine & SciFiNow

[Werthead]

Given that everyone from TIME Magazine to The Guardian was running articles on GoT before the pilot was even made, it's a bit bemusing that Europe's biggest-selling SFF magazine, SFX, has until now not run any articles of any kind on the series (though, bizarrely, the considerably lower-profile Camelot had a big feature a couple of months back). The latest issue - #206, on sale today in the UK - doesn't have a feature as such, just a two-page spread in the news section, but at least it's a start.

Mostly it's Benioff and Weiss saying the same things they've been saying in many articles recently: it's gritty, the magic quotient is low, HBO was the only place to do it etc. The pictures are also all ones we've seen before.

There are a couple of interesting tidbits that are new, however:

Sean Bean: "One of my friends gets stabbed in the eye, and I just stand and see that, then I have to fight this man. It just erupts out of nowhere, there's just a flashpoint and it's very messy. I think an audience will be very interested."

Weiss: "There were lots of people in the costume and art department who were just on 24/7 dirt patrol, covering things in filth and coming up with new ways to make things look filthy."

Benioff on fan reactions: "95% of it will be positive, even though I will focus on the one or two people complaining about something! But if we make a show that George loves and that we love, then we feel like most of the fans will love it too."

GRRM also says that he only has two books left to write: "Two books are not written, but I know the ultimate destination." He also seems more positive that The Pointy End will be the name of his episode. "I wrote Episode 8 of this season. The Pointy End is the title of that episode, adapted from the book."

[SpaceChampion]

Sounds like Jory loses the eye.

I wonder if they don't kill him there, and wait until The Pointy End episode to off him. I presume that episode is the one in which Arya has to escape the Tower of the Hand, and sees dead Northmen everywhere.

[Padraig]

Very possible SpaceChampion. You'd still have some of the emotion from the first encounter and more later.

[Jack Sparrow]

I suspect that, if it is the Jaime scene (which it sounds like), the guy will probably get stabbed far enough into his eye that it will be fatal.

[Leofric]

Sounds like Jory loses the eye.

I wonder if they don't kill him there, and wait until The Pointy End episode to off him. I presume that episode is the one in which Arya has to escape the Tower of the Hand, and sees dead Northmen everywhere.

Taking the next step, not that I want to see this:

If Jory survives Jaime, then (unless he's too hurt) he gets sent with Lord Beric after Gregor. Ned sent Jory's replacement Captain of the Guard to lead the Winterfell men going with Beric. Meaning Jory could potentially replace Harwin in the Brotherhood without Banners and meet up with Arya again.

[Renasko]

GRRM also says that he only has two books left to write: "Two books are not written, but I know the ultimate destination."

So, DwD's is written? Heh.

[Padraig]

No. I'm pretty sure if Jory survives Jaime he will die later on. As you say, his injuries are probably too serious to go after Gregor. I'd expect us to get an emotional Jory death scene either way. Harwin isn't a big enough rule to plan that way for anyhow.

OTOH, given Ned gets injured, i'm thinking that Jory will die during the Jaime ambush. Mightn't work that well if both get serious injuries.

[Werthead]

So, DwD's is written? Heh.

It was an odd way of saying it, especially since, given the lead-time for print information to appear, I assume the SFX team were working off the press tour information, either from the TCA (they have an LA correspondent) or from the press visit in Belfast, so a fair few weeks ago. I took it to mean that GRRM believes that ADWD is so close to being done that he doesn't include it in the count of unfinished books, which we knew from the news of the last few weeks anyway.

[Yoadm]

It was an odd way of saying it, especially since, given the lead-time for print information to appear, I assume the SFX team were working off the press tour information, either from the TCA (they have an LA correspondent) or from the press visit in Belfast, so a fair few weeks ago. I took it to mean that GRRM believes that ADWD is so close to being done that he doesn't include it in the count of unfinished books, which we knew from the news of the last few weeks anyway.

So, what do you estimate are the chances for an announcment by GRRM in the next few days? It might be a silly question but I've spent the last five years waiting for the book :).

[Horza]

I have quantified this possibility using my Shaposhnikov-Vidravasanava Objective Book Completionometer and using all available data there is an 19.31125 milliquant posibility Martin will announce the completion of A Dance With Dragons in the next fifty-seven minutes.

[Anatole Kuragin]

Or there are just 6 books now.

[Jons_Ghost]

Maybe he'll announce the new book when the TV series starts to air, for maximum publicity.

[Padraig]

Maybe he'll announce the new book when the TV series starts to air, for maximum publicity.

No. Best not try to deduce when he will announce the book based on publicity. He will announce the book when he is finished. It will get a huge amount of publicity at anytime.

[Brude]

So, DwD's is written? Heh.

I seriously think he's down to the finishing touches on the last chapter or two. That's just inferring from where he supposedly was about two months ago and these statements. He may even be into revisions and proofing however much isn't yet locked (was that just those final 5 chapters or maybe a bit more).

So if it's written and not all proofed, that could mean it's sort of in a nether-state between finished and not-finished.

[Jons_Ghost]

No. Best not try to deduce when he will announce the book based on publicity. He will announce the book when he is finished. It will get a huge amount of publicity at anytime.

no yourself! I'm just saying, there are people out there who haven't read the books, and seeing the show will be their first exposure to it. When they fall in love with it they'll immediately look to see what books are out and rush to get them, hence the re-releases of the old books with TV series tie-in book covers. I used to be one of these people, especially with LOTR and Potter, and i'm actually thrilled to have actually discovered these books before any hint of the TV series had started!

[Ryan E]

I suspect that, if it is the Jaime scene (which it sounds like), the guy will probably get stabbed far enough into his eye that it will be fatal.

Agree completely. Stabbed in the eye means "stabbed through the eye", as in fatally.

[Werthead]

More coverage in the UK's second-biggest SFF magazine, SciFiNow.

The new issue, #51, has two articles on the series. The first is headlining the news section and again features some of the same, traditional responses the writers and actors have been giving out in other interviews. A few different things though (and there's a lot more in the magazine: this is a bigger article than the SFX one):

Bean on GoT versus Lord of the Rings: "It was a trilogy of films, it was a while ago, and it dealt with different issues. I think this is different, this is a kind of edgier piece in the sense that there is more brutality, more incest, more betrayal and sex. So it's very edgy."

Weiss on having a huge budget: "It has to be, just because of the nature of what we are doing. The castles and the costumes all have to be designed from scratch and there's a huge visual effects element, and horses and fighting. Those are things that take time and cost money. You don't normally see that on television."

Benioff on downplaying the use of CGI: "We didn't want to showcase what a computer can design, we want to showcase what our actual carpenters have built. There are exceptions: we can't build an 800-foot wall of ice, so that has to be CGI, but with only a few exceptions, that's what we did and the sets were gorgeous."

Bean on his character: "All the characters that George has written are very complex, so you are not struggling to find things to add to the character because they are already there in the book. I think a lot of the stuff you get offered these days, the characters tend to be very one-dimensional."

Benioff on Bean: "Sean has that ability that when you turn the character on him, you can hold it on him in close-up for 45 seconds for that dialogue, and you wouldn't be bored because there's so much going on there."

Martin on fan reactions to the books: "One of the things I am proudest of about these books is that the characters I have created are very grey, so I see very different reactions to them which is great: people debating whether they like Daenerys or they don't like Daenerys: is she a good person, is she a bad person? I don't know, you judge that. That's the way we debate about real people: no-one ever questions whether Sauron was misunderstood."

The article writer: "There are currently four books in the series, with a fifth one due for release next year, and two more in the pipeline." I wouldn't read too much in that though ;)

There's also a mini-article following on from the main one which makes an important claim: that Game of Thrones is hugely important to the future of genre television. The writer points out that in a few years we've gone from the glory years of Lost being hugely successful, BSG getting massive acclaim and "Heroes wasn't completely appalling," to almost nothing (the failures of FlashForward and StarGate Universe are mentioned, the rocky performance of V and Fringe is alluded to). "The truth is the success of Game of Thrones is extremely important to the future of genre television - far more important than the success of True Blood or The Walking Dead." The writer points out those two shows are surfing the zeitgeist of vampires and zombies, whilst epic fantasy on television does not exist. If Thrones is a success, it will open the possibility of other fantasy properties making it to the big or small screen.

"The modern TV audience, one well-versed in high-end TV drama like The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, have never seen mature fantasy like Game of Thrones before."

But that's not all! There's also a smaller article in the book section speculating on how Thrones will affect the book sales, drawing on data showing the massive boost in sales that the book of Boardwalk Empire and the complete graphic novel collection of The Walking Dead received after their TV series debuted. Their conclusion is that the books should do very well indeed, helped by the Voyager TV tie-in edition due for launch on 31 March (ten days later than previously announced; either they got it wrong or Voyager has changed the date).

Finally, that's only what was in this issue. The Next Month page reveals that the next issue, on sale 16 March, will feature much bigger interviews and features with the cast and crew of 'the TV event of the year'.

So, er, SciFiNow > SFX when it comes to coverage, by quite a wide margin.

[Ran]

Sounds like a terrific piece. Doesn't seem like SciFiNow posts much of their content on the web -- I don't suppose they've an e-book venture, eh?

In any case, good stuff. Those remarks from Benioff sound quite familiar, very much along the lines of what he told reporters in Belfast when I was there. I'm not really sure how successful GoT will be to "save" genre on TV, OTOH. What works for a $45 million, 10 episode show isn't necessarily going to work for a 22 ep, $45 million show. They're right about the vampire-and-zombie craze being a bit of a wave, though (though in TB's specific case, I think there's more to it, namely the full-on embrace of sleaze and titillation).

[Sheep the Evicted]

Bean on his character: "All the characters that George has written are very complex, so you are not struggling to find things to add to the character because they are already there in the book. I think a lot of the stuff you get offered these days, the characters tend to be very one-dimensional."

....so he takes a unique and complex character and turns them into noble fantasy badass no.324534 ?

[Giant of Lannister]

Belfast Telegraph quotes from the SFX article - "Sean Bean has 'disturbing' take on Belfast-made Game of Thrones series'. Unsurprisingly, they go down the sensationalist route.

Also - they finish the 'article' with .... "Game Of Thrones will be screened in April 17 on the Sky Atlantic channel. "

- but until this is confirmed, I'm just assuming the Belfast Telegraph is just plain getting their facts wrong.