My partner in crime Gardner Dozois is cleaning out his house in scenic Philadelphia, and he just send me two big boxes of OLD MARS and OLD VENUS hardcovers, all signed.
I've added my own illegible scrawl to the title pages, to go with his.
Since Gardner and I live two thousand miles apart, getting a copy of one of our anthologies signed by both of us is not easy. So here's your chance.


Matching copies of OLD MARS and OLD VENUS signed by both editors can be purchased (while the supply lasts, which may not be long) from the Jean Cocteau bookstore, at:
http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/
Lots of other autographed books are available from the same site, of course, including titles by Diana Gabaldon, Ellen Datlow, Lisa See, Carrie Vaughn. Junot Diaz, Lev Grossman, Dennis Lehane, and that George R.R. Martin guy.
- Current Location:Santa Fe
- Current Mood:
pleased
Comments
(B) When I am a contributor, I usually sign on the page where my story begins -- unless the reader is trying to collect the sigs of all the contributors on the title page, in which case I will comply and sign with the rest.
There are also some obsessive collectors out there who want three signatures on an anthology: on the title page, on the table of contents, and on the page where the story begins. I have done this in the past, but no longer. The lines are too long. One signature per book should suffice.
Gratitude for your work, mr. Martin.
The days of simple, cheap (if slow) sea mail are long gone, alas.
We've...run into a bit of a problem which I realize you really aren't at much liberty to discuss.
Starting with the episode "Hardhome", the TV writers have started openly referring to the White Walker leader as "the Night King". Back in Season 4 the online guide also briefly listed him as "The Night's King" but was hastily taken down, apparently a leak. The online guide now calls him "The Night King".
Everyone in the media is now assuming that this "Night King" is the SAME character as the legendary "Night's King" fought by Joramun 8,000 years ago. I'm concerned if it's just a TITLE, like "Storm King", so there can be more than one - given that it was said the Night's King was killed.
Now I want to ask "are these indeed the same character?" but I know you probably won't reveal upcoming book material. Better phrasing might be "is it appropriate to treat these as one character on a single article on the wiki, or should we split it into two articles? Or at least two sections on the same article?"
Well, you probably can't answer that as of yet.
One thing I do hope you CAN answer: Benioff and Weiss, the online guide, and even the actor Ross Mullan who plays one of the other White Walkers, CONSISTENTLY refer to him as "The Night King" - without a possessive "S". So my question is, is there *any* significance to that distinction, or can the two terms be used interchangeably?
Side question we've having trouble with on the wiki: in episode 9, Mace Tyrell refers to "Maegor the Third", and clearly describes him as a king of the Seven Kingdoms. There are three possibilities: 1 - the actor flubbed the line and meant "Maegor the Cruel", 2 - the script intentionally wrote Mace making a mistake, trying to depict him as a bumbling fool getting his facts wrong, or 3 - the writers intentionally wanted to introduce TWO separate kings onto the Iron Throne. Given that we have a full listing of kings that is difficult.
Some over on the wiki are arguing that yes, we should treat this as that a "King Maegor III" existed in the TV continuity" - either that Benioff and Weiss intentionally invented him, or, the belief that he automatically gets created due to a script error (sort of like in Seinfeld, saying that the "Moops" must exist because "Moors" got misprinted on a Trivial Pursuit card).
I would have just assumed it was an error. Can you confirm via contacts if "Maegor III" was an error? (Either in or out of universe?)
Thank you for your time.
These changes were simplifications, however. The books are very complex, but the practical limits of a television series call for a bit more simplicity. Dropping a king or two accomplishes that.
ADDING kings, however, would be a step in the opposite direction, which is why I think "Maegor III" had to be a mistake. And not one that was in the scripts, I would guess. Bryan Cogman, who is the Keeper of the Continuity on the series, knows the names of the Targaryen kings as well as I do.
Of course, it could also be a subtle bit of characterization, as you suggest, intended to show that Mace is an idiot who does not know his Westerosi history. (Not a mistake that Book Mace would make, but the character in the show combines Mace with Harys Swyft, and actually seems more like the latter).
All this, of course, is surmise on my part. You would have to ask David or Dan or Bryan for a more definitive answer.
In the book canon, of course, there has only been only King Maegor, the reputation of Maegor the Cruel being so black. England has had only one King John, for much the same reasons. (Prince Aerion Brightflame did name his son Maegor, but that was meant as a provocation, and in any case the boy never sat the Iron Throne).
As for the Night's King (the form I prefer), in the books he is a legendary figure, akin to Lann the Clever and Brandon the Builder, and no more likely to have survived to the present day than they have.
If I do one, next thing I know I'm doing a hundred.
2 weeks ago, the anthology "Knight of the seven kingdoms" came out from a different publisher than the usual one,here in Greece. The edition is trade paperback and of neat quality. In case you collect foreign editions of your works, please contact us to send you one as a gift.
I know that your program is full and heavy, but I really hope that at some point we would see you in a festival or convention in Greece. The organizers here maybe a little slow on the subject of sending invitations to people worth coming, but trust me when I say that here there are a lot of people that love your works. A really big, but scattered,fan base. Greece is a great place for vacation! Excuse my English in case of mistakes.
Best regards,
Alex and Marianna
I have no further comment at this time.