A DANCE WITH DRAGONS - GRRM's US tour

[Parris]

Hey folks,

the good people of Bantam Spectra have put up on suduvu.com a detailed list of the various stops on George's summer tour celebrating the release of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

There's a lot of information on their GRRM Tour page, with plenty of links to each stop on the tour, so you can check and double check the information you need to know about the tour in general, and get specific information about the policies and requirements each store has put in the place for George's appearance.

Yes, each store may have some modifications to the general rules due to their unique space and layout, because of the time period George will be in the store, because of public safety requirements, because they have a lease with a landlord that requires them to be open for specific hours, no more, no less, just to name a few of the issues each store has to deal with when planning a major event with a popular author.

I urge you to check the suduvu site now, and check the venue that you're planning on going to as to have as much knowledge as possible so you'll know what you'll be dealing with. Then check again a few days before the scheduled event to make sure there have been no changes to the time of the event, if the store has 'sold out' of tickets or passes or whatever criteria they're using to allow people into the event, or other changes that may affect your ability to attend, and to ensure you know what's going to happen when you get to the venue.

Please bookmark the suduvu page GRRM's ADwD tour so you can check it easily. Pass it along to friends and fellow readers who are going to one of George's events, post it to your local fan groups sites, put it up on your LJ, or Face Book or what ever social media you use. We want as many people as possible to know what the details of the tour stops are so that they'll attend the events knowing what the rules are, they'll know where to find out more information, and they'll enjoy themselves while at the events, even the big ones.

As we've said several times before, these events are NOT the proper venue to bring in your entire GRRM collection to have George sign. This tour is focused on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, and secondarily, the other titles in the ASoI&F series. If you want to get George's chop on your vast collection from many sources, the best place to do so is at conventions where George (always) does at least one signing session. Most conventions do not have a commercial interest in getting you to buy more books, well, the dealers want you to buy more stuff, and they'll have a pretty broad range of common and rare GRRM materials they'd be happy to sell you before you get into the autographing line on a Saturday of a 3 day convention.

Thanks so much for everyone's support and understanding, this tour is on a entirely different level than anything George has done before, and we're all in uncharted territory, but at least we got plenty of friends to meet along the way, George intends to enjoy the ride, and do his best to help give everyone a good experience during each and every stop on the tour. But he can't do it alone, and we need your help as much as we need the help of the people of each book store and venue that is hosting George. So come with good spirits, enjoy the experience, make a new friend while standing in line, or join up with the usual suspects for a beer and some chow after you get through the line.

and most of all, I hope you have a good time, at the signing, and when you settle down in your comfy chair and, finally, start Dancing with those damn dragons.

Love, :grouphug:

Parris

[Bronn Stone]

Thanks so much for everyone's support and understanding, this tour is on a entirely different level than anything George has done before, and we're all in uncharted territory, but at least we got plenty of friends to meet along the way, George intends to enjoy the ride, and do his best to help give everyone a good experience during each and every stop on the tour. But he can't do it alone, and we need your help as much as we need the help of the people of each book store and venue that is hosting George. So come with good spirits, enjoy the experience, make a new friend while standing in line, or join up with the usual suspects for a beer and some chow after you get through the line.

Those of us who've been on this ride for a long time have always dreamed of AND dreaded the day the rest of the world discovered just how awesome ASOIAF is. Let us know how we can help. Even if it involves stepping back and giving the next wave their day in the sun, if that is what must be.

[Stunts]

This is so so true Bronn.

I remember my non fantasy loving friends turning their noses up at my suggestions and now those turned up noses are buried deep in GoT barely coming up for air and food.

:thumbsup:

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Will there be additional dates after August, perhaps in the spring? Unfortunately I can't make it to any o those venues and would still love a chance to meet George and get my copy signed.

[Parris]

Those of us who've been on this ride for a long time have always dreamed of AND dreaded the day the rest of the world discovered just how awesome ASOIAF is. Let us know how we can help. Even if it involves stepping back and giving the next wave their day in the sun, if that is what must be.

The 'secret' of ASoI&F has had a long run, hasn't it? I'm glad we've had more than a decade of being part of so many circles of people, in so many countries, where George was certainly respected, but we got to be fairly normal and have fun right out in public with readers and good folks. I hope some things don't changes radically. I hope we'll still have the pleasure and privilege of hanging out with the Bros, sitting in the comfy chairs at the room party at conventions, going out for a meal at a con with 20 Bros. All of those experiences have made the last decade one hell of a lot of fun for us.

As to 'stepping back', I don't know, I think I hope that the Bros do continue to go to stand-alone events like the book tours. It gives everyone a chance to enjoy the experience of the events, and the seasoning of more experienced GRRM fans amongst the newer, younger readers could be a good thing.

We'll always have memories and tall tales to share with one another, and fandom, particularly BwB fandom, is a very self-selecting group. Most of the newer readers, especially those who started reading because of the HBO series, are not likely to know anything about fandom, nor would be interested in going to the kind of old-fashioned conventions like WorldCon or regionals like BosKone and ConQuest. So we may just have to consider fandom 'classic' cons as a refuge from the big events and media hoopla that surrounds SDCC and the like.

[Parris]

Will there be additional dates after August, perhaps in the spring? Unfortunately I can't make it to any o those venues and would still love a chance to meet George and get my copy signed.

At this time, there are no plans to extend the US tour. There are no plans for a UK/European/Australian/Canadian tour. George's already scheduled appearances are updated on his own website: www.georgerrmartin.com

I don't know where you live, but you might want to check out what conventions George has listed for the next couple of years, see if you can attend one of those conventions. Many larger cons offer a one day membership, if you can only attend for a day. (I add the warning that sometimes a convention schedules George's panels/signings/readings for different days, and since programming plans can change for a variety of reasons, you'd have to be really sure that the day you go to a con in hopes of seeing George, it's the day of his panels/readings/signings that you want to attend). We're always at WorldCon, so check out the locations of the next WorldCons at: http://worldcon.org/ . There are several bids in place for WorldCons in the future, and you can find a listing of current bids at: http://worldcon.org/bids/ .

Hope that helps and you'll get a chance to get some books signed by George within the next year or two.