The Fireside

Good news everyone! You can now pre-order A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms , the first three short stories ( The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight ), which take place about 100 years before A Song of Ice and Fire  Book One, A Game of Thrones, begins! There is no cover art yet, and this collection / anthology will release October 6, 2015 . It will be illustrated by Gary Gianni. The Winds of Winter is not scheduled for release this year. Bear in mind that A Dance With Dragons  was announced at the end of March, but published in July, way back in 2011. Anyway, here's the info for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms , which collects the first three prequel novellas (with more to come in future anthologies, in sets of three per collection) Taking place nearly a century before the events of  A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R. R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A Song of Ice and Fire. ...

The Hobbit: Part 3  is pretty much headed out of theaters, and should be arriving on DVD / blu-ray etc in a few months. Some web sites, such as Amazon, are offering it up as pre-orders. But, as is custom, this will * NOT * be the extended edition. I am holding out for the extended edition trilogy box set on blu-ray myself, which should come out the same day as the rest of the extended editions for Part 3 . The theatrical version will be arriving on DVD, blu-ray, 3D blu-ray and digital. As of now, there is no trilogy set. This post is to let you know that there is a better version of the film coming out a few months later - just like with The Lord of the Rings , and the first two Hobbit  films.  

Well, it's that time for year again - Beau's has announced their feBREWary 2015 lineup! Details, links etc. herein.... 

This is what I would love to see from future deluxe editions, published by Harper Collins.

It's somebody's birthday today . . . One of the most defining books of an era of fantasy now gone  (where the modern fantasy classic is A Game of Thrones  by George R.R. Martin) turns 25 today. I am of course referring to The Eye of the World  ( The Wheel of Time  Book 1). I choose to nevertheless congratulate The Wheel of Time  on being a quarter of a century old. For what it was, The Wheel of Time  was pretty good. To mark the occasion, there is no special edition of the book(s), no anniversary, illustrated etc... perhaps someday. There is some pretty attractive paperbacks being offered by TOR and Orbit, as well as the 'classic' covers. And heres' to another fantasy series, which would not have been possible without you, taking up your mantle - Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight . There is a lot of fantasy out there: A Song of Ice and Fire, Kingkiller Chronicle, The Dagger and the Coin...  but I honestly believe that Stormlight  is your  c...

Well, it's time of year again - the Oscar nominations have been announced! The Golden Globes are essentially a 'road map' to the Oscars (and the Emmys, I guess). Either way, here they are and who I would like to each category I am interested in, where applicable. 

This is the first in my series of 'what ifs' in regards to J.R.R. Tolkien, and his writing. In this first installment, I will examine, in speculative fashion, if Tolkien did not write The Hobbit, but opted to finish and publish The Fall of Arthur  in its place.....

Well, we're here at the end. I have the info for the final Wheel of Time  book in trade paperback.  The info for A Memory of Light  is: ISBN - 10: 0765337851 ISBN - 13: 9780765337856 The release date will be Oct. 27, 2015 . And of course, the details have been added to the 'main' list here:  http://insurrbution.blogspot.ca/2012/09/new-editions-for-wheel-of-time.html So That's it! This series of blog posts is now complete. If you're looking to get an attractive set of the books, you can do so by visiting the link and using the ISBN info provided to ensure everything matches. Since that this is the end for The Wheel of Time , let me direct you to Brandon Sanderson's series: Stormlight . This series looks to be the 'next' Wheel of Time . The first book, The Way of Kings , is already out in the same format as The Wheel of Time ( which has taken me about three years to blog about!) The info for The Way of Kings : ISBN - 10: 0765376679 ISBN - ...

Herein I will detail what Tolkien material will come out this year - that is known, as of now.

One thing that I find strange in regards to TV shows is the (recent?) trend of having a 'mid' season finale. Why? When you buy the show, and when it gets uploaded to Netflix, etc it's the entire thing in one shot usually, not in 'parts' as it airs on TV. Mid season applicable shows usually take a break in Dec. before Christmas and return in January. But why does this happen? I myself would much rather see fewer episodes in a season, but have more seasons. I first noticed this trend with The Walking Dead , back when I watched it. The show would start airing in Oct usually, 'break' in Dec then return in Feb. I don't understand why they can't have shorter, but more, seasons and call the last episode before a show goes on break the 'season' finale, and start a new season when it airs again in Feb. And why do shows go on break for Christmas? Some series such as Dr Who  and Downton Abbey  air episodes on Christmas Day itself. Those shows, as well a...

Today is the first day of the New Year! There's a few things coming up that I am looking forward to, detailed here....