Yes, it's true.

Yes, this is the Big News that I have been hinting at.

No, the Big News was not the pizza crawl, or the delivery of the new WILD CARDS book, though of course I'm excited about those as well.

VARIETY broke the story this morning. Instead of rehashing what they said, let me just point all of you toward:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

I've already gotten close to a hundred emails this morning, just off the VARIETY article. I expect that number will have swollen to several hundred before the day is out. I appreciate all the good wishes and congratulations, but I am NOT going to be able to respond to all of you individually.

I will be making my own announcement on my news page, of course, and that may answer some of your questions, but I haven't actually written it yet, so please be patient.

I appreciate all the casting suggestions too, but guys, you're getting way way WAY ahead of yourselves. Developing a television series is a long and time-consuming process, and we're just getting started here. We only closed the deal a couple of days ago.

I will do my best to keep everyone informed as the project progresses, but this is not something you will be telling TIVO to record next week.

This might be a great time to subscribe to HBO, however. Regardless of what happens with A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, HBO still has the best shows on television, shows like DEADWOOD, THE WIRE, and THE SOPRANOS that stand head and shoulders above anything on the networks. The second season of ROME just started last Sunday, and it's fabulous; the look of it, the writing, the directing, the acting, all of it is first rate. That's why I have been saying for years that HBO was the perfect place for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.