GRRM Signing Boston (Burlington) MA

[Bahimiron]

In line now. I think. It's just sort of a mass of people cordoned by caution tape. Hot people. it needs to stay cloudy. A woman came out to assure us that Martin was on schedule. Which is comforting. He'll be here in time. In four and a half hours.

I've got a window ac in my car I just picked up and was going to install when I got home. Man, that just seems tempting.

So anyone else here?

[Bahimiron]

George showed up, got big applause and disappeared into the bathroom.

Back out. Saying some words, says he'll answer some questions.

Is currently explaining what took so long. The story we all know. Some on his writing process. Sometimes writes several of the same pov chapters in a row.

Lots of people are recording this so more complete synopses will be available, doubtless.

Comments that he knew it would annoy people to move his most popular characters out of FFC but that he didn't realize just HOW annoyed people would get.

Made a quip about his bit at the end of AFFC about the next book being along in a year. "it took longer than I thought, but here we are in 2007 and dance is out!"

References the chapbook with the first three Dany chapters from 2005 and that it offers insight as to how much the book has changed since then.

Some jokes about football. Shouts of "go pats!" from some in the crowd, getting laughs. Oh, Boston.

Actively not promising TWOW next year. Hopes it won't take as long as AFFC and ADWD. But "no promises" and "there are lots of other good books". Promotes Abraham, lynch and rothfuss.

A dude directly across from me looks like the undertaker's ugly brother. He never smiles. I'm saying right now that if something awful happens, he probably did it.

Lauds for Gwendolyn Christie. Says a half dozen other roles have been cast but he can't talk about them yet.

They're going to start filming next season. As executive producer he writes one episode per season. Says he'd like to write more than one, but that we'd get to wait twenty years for TWOW rather than the six for ADWD.

[Bahimiron]

Question: still seen books and favorite character? Favorite is Tyrion but he loves them all, even the slimeballs. Still aiming for seven books but no promises.

Q: any potential future for syrio forel? Martin gives no comment.

Q: aging up of characters in the show. the prime reason was Dany, since it was felt they couldn't show a thirteen year old girl going through what she goes through. Real medieval culture had no adolescence so he goes with that in the books. Modern society doesn't go with that, so while a married thirteen year old having sex is fine in a book, but moving to tv would necessitate either removal of sex scenes or aging her. In the UK an adult actor can't portray an underage character in sexual situations legally. So by upping her age they ended up upping other kids' ages.

The other factor being that casting child actors is harder than casting teenage and young adult actors. Kid actors recite words but don't act much or else try overact and overemote.

Jokes about why he never wrote a rickon pov. I have an inner child but it's not that young.

Q: what f HBO catches up? They won't catch up! "I have a big head start."

Q: any pov characters in chastely rock? Yes, maybe in TWOW.

Q: the first two books were big and written fast, was that a creative spurt? Parts of acok were in AGOT, so he cut it off and when AGOT was published a lot of acok was written. Admits that asos was written quickly.

Moved a Sansa chapter to TWOW because it was a beginning of a plot so worked better in a new book.

Q: how are you dealing with the crush of fandom? "ask me at the end of this signing". 1500 people here, big but not as big as the 2000 in Slovenia. AFFC had the first really scary signings for him. Mentions his rules to keep the line moving. We know em all thanks to parris above.

Four people in Slovenia fainted.

Q: what's it like having your books translated to tv? "it's been great for me!" since he worked in tv for so long he knows what to expect realistically from an adaption.

Q: what would you name your direwolf? Dpends on personality. Has a cat named asha.

Getting to signing.

[ladyarya]

thanks for the update! standing in line behind the building and no one has a clue what's going on in there!!

[All-For-HotPie]

Wow, 1500.... Thats a staggering amount of folks

[Xray the Enforcer]

Thanks for all of that, Bahimiron. Interesting. I'll be curious to hear how long the signing lasts, as that will help us gauge what to expect for Thursday. :)

[Ran]

Thanks, Bahimrion! Much appreciated!

[Bahimiron]

Whoops. Sorry about various typos up there. I was posting from my phone. Worst offender appears to be an iPhone autocorrect of Casterly Rock into Chastely Rock. That... that's not accurate in so many ways.

Despite telling us we wouldn't have any time with Martin, he did encourage us to ask a quick question or say a few words to him when we got up there while he was signing. On my turn I told him that the world was ready for Armageddon Rag 2 which got a laugh from him. He thanked me for being one of the twelve people who bought Armageddon Rag. Such an underrated book!

For anyone wondering about his future stops, he did sign my Kindle. I'd brought a Sharpie in case he only had pens but he actually had a paint pen. Like most signings as you approached Martin a B&N employee took your stuff when you were one or two places back so they could smoothly pass them to him. Martin didn't seem to find signing my Kindle to be weird at all, though one of the B&N reps told me I should go buy a Nook. (Sorry lady.)

Overall it was a great experience, though I donno if I'll do it again on a mid-July afternoon. I've never even done seven hours in line for concert tickets. Even though I had to get home, I was glad he talked to us for a while, though I did feel bad for a lot of folks who got stuck outside while he talked. I got there at like 1 and I think most people who got there an hour or so after me got to see him speak, but there were a LOT of people outside after they'd let the first two batches of people in to see him talk.

Also, I've got a terrifying sunburn on my arms and ears. I don't look forward to tomorrow.

I did manage to pass the time by reading a quarter or so of the book, though!

Edit: Oh, neat! I got picked up on the front page! (Minor quibble about the spelling of my handle, but it's all good!)

[Stark White Blk Untruth]

great stuff Bahimiron, makes us feel included; there's a wonderful radio interview in Boston with GRRM:

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/07/12/grrm

[All-For-HotPie]

Thanks Bahimiron! The info makes me a little jealous that I didn't come down, and a little grateful too if that makes any sense

[Parris]

On my turn I told him that the world was ready for Armageddon Rag 2 which got a laugh from him. He thanked me for being one of the twelve people who bought Armageddon Rag. Such an underrated book!

and one of my favorites because I got to play a lot of great music to inspire him and to choose lyrics for the headers of each chapter, and, of course, the dedication...

Overall it was a great experience, though I donno if I'll do it again on a mid-July afternoon. I've never even done seven hours in line for concert tickets.

In the decades before the internet, I camped out in the parking lot of the Washington Capitol Center for as much as 3 days for tickets to see Led Zep and Springsteen, I can assure you, 7 hours is a breeze! But good on ya for hanging in there!

Also, I've got a terrifying sunburn on my arms and ears. I don't look forward to tomorrow.

Slather regularly with aloe vera gel and if you can find the type with added lidocaine, that's even better - cool bath with some baking soda will help. Rinse well. Take an aspirin or other fever-reducer. For several days, you need to keep using the aloe vera gel, then switch to a skin moisturizer to reduce the over-all damage to your skin. Believe me, of this malady, I know too well your suffering...

Thanks so much for this report - I'm astounded at the number of people who came to the signing. I guess that's why I still haven't heard from George tonight - he's still at the bookstore with 200 more people in line!

[ladyarya]

They won't let him sign iPads either ... I tried. I saw a few kindles/ereaders/nooks, but the B&N reps said the iPad was a "personal item" so he couldn't sign it. Booooo.

[PatEllis15]

Anyone know where the 1500 number came from? Did B&N do a head count? The implication I read elsewhere was that there were 1500 people when George arrived. I was within 30 people of the "end of the line" when George arrived out back. However, TONS of folks showed up after that. By the tie I snaked around to the corner, the end of the line was at about the same place as when George arrived!

If the 1500 was estimated at the time George arrived, then it was far north of that number...

Pat E

[Fastia]

Thank you for the information on the discussion inside, Bahimiron! I drove down from Maine to go and I was one of the people waiting outside who had no clue what was going on so I really appreciate the summary.

I wish I'd known he encouraged people to say something to him when he was signing. I noticed nobody was when I got my books signed and they were trying to go so quickly that I thought maybe it had been discouraged so I only said "Hi" and "Thanks for signing my books." I'd wanted to tell him I loved the series so much that I arranged to go in to work for half a day and convinced my husband to drive down from Maine to see him!