SpaceChampion

GGK does an Ask Me Anything on Reddit.

Kay knows what he's doing. Melodrama is a tool like any other used in fiction, but too many seem to think it is a derogatory slur. He knows it is melodrama and wants it so. He's not interested in small events. He's exploring the large ones, turning points in history that are heightened and given meaning by arranging a tableau of emotion. Most of his novels use history for find those events, except in Fionavar he used myth. I don't think "it shows it's age" or is silly; melodrama is an old tool, and timeless, and that's what he wants his work to be.

Yes, you'll probaby be fine.

Excerpt for Children of Earth & Sky released today on tor:

Surprised this isn't related to the previous two books.  I would like to see Kay tackle the Mongol invasion of eastern Europe. -- hell, let them invade all of Europe.

Hmm it sounded more like a complete insertion of another author's unrelated book synopsis rather than anything Kay wrote. But you're saying some part of it is actually true?

Stephen Colbert takes over as host of a Public Access talk show in Monroe, Michigan. He does the local news, settles a Yelp argument, and interviews a few guests, including local rapper Eminem.

This one's a little different messed up! -- A prank where a fake brother-sister couple calling themselves Jaime and Cersei try to sublet a room in their apartment.

No word anywhere I checked.

From the Bright Weavings facebook wall:

This is pretty much why the internet exists to provide us with: pure terror.

Not youtube, but also hilarious. 50 Cent dubbed over Jehovah's Witnesses trying to get deaf people to stop masturbating.

It was released in China, apparently well reviewed, and actress Zhang Ziyi bought an option for producing a film version. I vaguely remember seeing a video of Kay in China reading from Under Heaven too. (The video of recorded by his son, a budding filmmaker himself.)

Amazon UK has the publisher as ROC, so I guess Penguin is publishing it in all the english-speaking countries itself.

Nice chapter. I can't believe I missed this thread two years ago. Ned didn't travel to any distant Keep. IIRC it was right outside Winterfell, at a place traditional for that sort of thing. I kind of prefer the hanging version, but whatever. You guys are over-analyzing. I was kind of hoping somewhere somewhen we'd get a Dolorous Edd short story where the wightified Slynt on the end of the rope wakes up with blue eyes and struggles to climb up it to attack. Edd, taking a turn at the top of the Wall that night, would amuse himself throwing lamp oil down on Slynt and trying to light it.

My first choice would be GRRM as a wight or an Other. Second choice would be to be at table feasting and drinking with Tyrion, his favorite character. For later in the season it would be cool to see GRRM as someone revived from death by Thoros. Then zombie GRRM would get up off the table where his corpse was laid, and pick up a book and finish writing his book "DANCE OF THE DRAGONS: A History of the Targaryens of Westeros". See, GRRM will finish the series even if he has to come back from the dead!

The five are from 1970's Canada actually, not 1980's, as far as I could tell. They were not kidnapped by Loren, they were invited as guests to celebrate the king's jubilee -- odd thing to do, I agree, but nothing to do with the war which Loren had no idea was coming. In the second book they made their own choice to return to Fionavar and participate in the war. I'm not sure how you expected to them to react to what they saw. Mental breakdowns? Screaming and running away? Become Unbelievers like Thomas Convenant? Perhaps Loren picked them (Matt Soren actually pointed them out) for being the mentally-strong sort who could handle things. Kim and Jennifer did have their mental breakdown moments, then moved past it and did what they had to do. Paul and Kim both acquired knowledge of Fionavar that prepared them. Kevin didn't especially deal well, but he focused on helping his friend deal with stuff that had nothing to do with Fionavar. Dave pushed the eject button and ended up in the one place where he was needed. They were largely observers for that first book, until they chose to be more. They were invited to do things that seemed rather innocent and harmless. Kim -> old lady wants you to visit her cottage. Paul, Kevin -> come hang out with the prince's crew and ride down south with us on this awesome prank. Jennifer -> come shopping with the light elf and hear him sing. Dave -> keep watch on a good kid and come hunting with my tribe. Innocent, harmless. I'd also say the society they encountered was not radically different. They were liberal arts students of history, art, law, mythology, etc. They must have recognized the cultural parallels with medieval periods of their own world. Seems to me they were believably able to adapt to it. Reading various GGK interviews, I can say he wrote Fionvar for a few specific reasons: 1) he wanted to overturn or subvert traditional Tolkienesque high fantasy by mixing in the mythologies of many other cultures (Greek/Roman, Celtic/British, Native American, Norse, Arabian, etc.) and treating some of them in nontraditional ways (his Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot was a unique inversion of the traditional Arthur story - doomed to repeat the love triangle as punishment for the crime of his youth); 2) to get Tolkien "out of his system" after spending a long period immersed in Middle-Earth helping edit the Simarillion; 3) and to get his feet wet writing something which he did not have to do a lot of prior research since he was familiar with those mythologies already. I love his later works, but in some ways they are less ambitious, except perhaps Tigana.