OT: Sword of Truth coming to television Fall 2008

[S.R. Krol]

Agrajag said:
Song of Ice and Fire should probably be turned into a TV series, not a movie. There's just way too much content to be contained by movies.

That's what's happening with it. HBO is turning it into a series, not a movie, so it should get a decent treatment. You'll still lose stuff, but that's always going to happen, but it will definitely be better than trying to abridge it down to 2-3 hours.

[Tuidjy]

I cannot see a series being faithful to Song of Fire and Ice. Too much stuff - too
many viewpoints and plot lines, too many major characters dropping off like flies,
and way too much 'War is Hell' lately. I suspect the author is an anti-Iraq-war
activist, judging from his latest two books.

[DrPraetorious]

And another character went blind, so he must be agitating for vitamin A supplements in the third world, the hippy.

"A Feast for Crows" was the provisional title for novel #4 back during the Clinton administration. You think that if not for Iraq it would've been full of fluffy bunnies?

I don't think the current military environment is what shapes his plotlines.

[S.R. Krol]

Tuidjy said:
I cannot see a series being faithful to Song of Fire and Ice. Too much stuff - too
many viewpoints and plot lines, too many major characters dropping off like flies,
and way too much 'War is Hell' lately. I suspect the author is an anti-Iraq-war
activist, judging from his latest two books.

Hmm, I never got that vibe. Only 'A Feast For Crows' came out post-Iraq, and since the entire series began way back in what, '99 or so, I'm thinking he's probably had a plan from the beginning and stuck with it. Now, if you're talking about his works outside the Fire and Ice series that he has recently released I haven't read them, so I can't comment on those.

[Agrajag]

I don't think his message is "war is hell". It's more like "people are hell".

[Cerlin]

I think Martin just likes killing of lots of characters. But I think like real life, heroes and people die. Many other series people go through amazingly dangerous events and dont die. Which is contrary to real life. Hell Europe during the similar period (medieval, w/o magic even )and there was widespread death, mortality rate, and you had a great chance to never survive your first battle, and this of course affected kings too.
So even though his books annoy me I still like him, actually saw his book signing too. He is a smart man, even if i think he just makes up some of his choices just to shock people.

[thejeff]

Of course people go through amazingly dangerous events in real life and don't die in real life. More do die, of course. That's why they're called "dangerous events".

The general assumption in any kind of heroic fiction is that you're writing about the ones that made it, not the ones who died along the way. They're in the stories, because they're the ones who succeeded.

Anyway, my impression of Martin isn't real life, it's the other extreme from the standard happy fantasy stereotype: No good deed goes unpunished. Any trust is rewarded with betrayal, etc.

[Cerlin]

Oh I would agree that he is totally jaded. but I mean not many people represent that perspective. It is definitely fresh.

[Velusion]

Cerlin said:
Oh I would agree that he is totally jaded. but I mean not many people represent that perspective. It is definitely fresh.

That is true to an extent... be we do learn that even villains who we started despising in the beginning have the capability to change into something better (Jamie) and that sometimes good deeds can be rewarded (John).

I think the violence and bad things that happen in the series is just shocking because most fantasy fans aren't used to that sort of thing... so it's harder to see the good things that do happen.

[Endoperez]

BigandScary said:
What I want to see is a movie of David Gemmel's "Legend"

YES! Even as a book, it felt more like there was an epic movie being played in my head. And the fact that Druss is old, and his axe unpossessed, and the battle is taking its toll, and he still beats everyone up just makes the skin crawl in your back.