Tag Archives: a song of ice and fire

2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: North of the Wall Survival Kit

As we close the last chapter of 2011, let’s take a look at a gift of a more practical nature.

Dragonglass Dagger

Sometime in January, the good folks at Valyrian Steel will offer their North of the Wall Survival Kit, complete with Night’s Watch Dragonglass Dagger and sheath, leather pouch with obsidian arrowheads and certificate of authenticity. They’ll be throwing in a mystery item as well! This replica set is what every man of the Night’s Watch should carry when patrolling the woods for Wildlings, guarding the Wall against the Others, or even wandering the Realm for new recruits.

Made from real obsidian, the dagger is crude yet cunning, forged at the Wall at a time of great peril. Own a piece of A Song of Ice and Fire history! Pre-orders to start on after January 7th. While you’re waiting anxiously, check out their other replicas at the Valyrian Steel Shop!

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Dunk & Egg Stories

If you didn’t know there was a series of novella spin-offs from the A Song of Ice and Fire books, I won’t tell. Now’s your chance to catch up with the rest of George R. R. Martin’s fans.

The Dunk and Egg novellas are available in two fantasy genre anthology collections: Legends and Warriors. The first story, The Hedge Knight, is buried within Legends: Stories By The Masters of Modern Fantasy (1998) follows the adventures of faux knight Dunk and amateur squire Egg. The Sworn Sword, continues the duo’s tale in Legends II: Dragon, Sword, and King (2004). The third novella, The Mystery Knight, was recently published in Warriors (2010), edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois.

This ASoIaF spin-off tale also spawned two graphic novels written by Ben Avery and illustrated by Mike Miller: Hedge Knight, Vol. 1 (v. 1) and Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2). GRRM has said that he would love to adapt the third novella The Mystery Knight after the exclusive agreement with the publishers of Warriors has lapsed, so it’s something to look for in 2012 or later.

Happy reading!

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Winds of Winter Sample

George R. R. Martin has a holiday gift for all his fans! And just what did you get him, hmmm?

Check out the official GRRM website for a free The Winds of Winter sample chapter. This sneak peak is an early chapter of Winds featuring Theon Greyjoy, but chronologically it takes place between some of the last chapters of Dance. Do not even begin to speculate when The Winds of Winter will be published. Every time someone asks that question, GRRM not only kills a Stark, but also delays the release by a month.

However, feel free to speculate on the Winds excerpt and what it means for the upcoming book over at Westeros!

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Battles of Westeros Game

So as if there weren’t enough games centered around the world of Westeros, Fantasy Flight offers another board game based on their 2 player strategy board game system, BattleLore.

Battles of Westeros features a playing board (the kind that you build your self out of hexagon pieces), a deck of cards, plastic figures, a bunch of dice and of course a dragon’s hoard of tokens. Use these items to conquer the battlefield. If you win the coin flip, you can chose House Stark, and the loser has to play House Lannister.

Follow the battle scenarios in the included Westeros Battle guide (straight from the books A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin), or design your own. The game should give you and your foe about an hour of play time.

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Game of Thrones Comics

Don’t know what to get for the George R R Martin fan who has everything? How about comics with multiple covers? Make your list… check it twice… get all the comics, they’re very nice!

Enjoy A Game of Thrones #1 “Winter Is Coming” comic with options of multiple covers. There’s plenty to choose from. The Mike Miller cover (left) shows Ned Stark under the heart tree in the godswood of Winterfell. The Alex Ross cover (right) features a man with a sword (presumably Ned Stark, but there’s certainly no shortage of men with swords in Westeros) surrounded by the 6 Stark Direwolves (there is a shortage of Direwolves so I’m certain these are them).

Alex Ross and Tommy Patterson also teamed up to create some variant covers for the first issue. The Ice Blue variant cover (left) was produced for New England Comic Book Retailers and only 1000 copies were printed. The Negative (reverse color image) is available as well. Do these covers are available in limited quantities, so this may be your last chance to pick up some rare collectible comics on the cheap from Amazon.

For more details on later issues of the A Game of Thrones comic, check out the publisher’s site at Dynamite Entertainment, where you can also order online if you can’t find them in your local comics shop.

Still not sure? Check out the first issue thanks to the extended preview!

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Needle

Don’t forget to practice your Needle-work this holiday season!

Needle

Or, giveth the gift unto your little sister as Jon Snow gaveth unto Arya. Mikken takes cash or credit.

This sword is smaller than either Ice or Longclaw, befitting the Braavosi water dancer in all of us. Arya’s Needle is a limeted edition by Valyrian Steel, crafted from high carbon steel; the hilt is cast metal with nickel plating and wrapped in leather. Display plaque also includes mounting hardware. Total length of 30 inches.

In case you need convincing, here’s Maisie Williams showing you how to use the pointy end!

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Roy Dotrice Reads Feast for Crows

‘Tis the Ides of December
A day we ought remember
The voice of Roy Dotrice
Now reads each book apiece!
A Feast for Crows has been upgraded
For the fans no longer jaded!

As of today, you can listen to the first five books of A Song of Ice and Fire narrated by the same speaker, our beloved Roy Dotrice. A Feast for Crows has been re-recorded in secret, and currently only available as a download at Audible. If you haven’t signed up with them yet for some reason, you get Feast FREE with 30-day trial membership… also free. WHAT are you waiting for???

No disrespect to John Lee, who narrated it back in 2005. Fans came to love the voices of Mr. Dotrice since A Game of Thrones. All 224 of them.

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: A Song of Ice and Fire RPG

We bring you yet another way to fight and scheme in the world of Westeros! The more the merrier, and we want this season to be pretty effing merry!

Green Ronin Publishing presents A Song Of Ice And Fire Roleplaying: Adventures In The Seven Kingdoms and A Song Of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide: A RPG Sourcebook, two core books that provide a complete roleplaying adventure. Other expansion books are also available to keep the gamer folk happy. This RPG is award-winning, so I highly suggest you pick this up if you are looking for a campaign to satisfy the GRRM fans among your tribe or guild or whatever gamers call themselves these days.

Want to try before you buy? All you tight-fisted Scrooges might be interested in the ASoIaF RPG Quick Start PDF, but you’ll have to visit Green Ronin’s website to get it.

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Daenerys Figurine with Dragons

Capture the holiday spirit with this naked Dani statue from Dark Sword Miniatures!

Emerging bald but unburnt by the warming flames of a funeral pyre, young khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen stands naked with her newborn dragons. If you look closely, it appears one of the baby dragons is suckling like an adorable little bundle of festive joy!

Sculpted by Tom Meier, each miniature Dani and dragons figure is cast in pewter and sold unpainted. Use your imagination: who is the suckling dragon, Rhaegal, Viserion or Drogon? The images of the painted versions on the website feature the work of artist Anne Foerster.

You can buy the Daenerys miniature from the GRRM section of the Dark Sword Miniatures website.

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2011 Holiday Gifts Roundup: Ice

Do you have a deserter who needs beheading this coming Yuletide? The Valyrian Steel replica of Lord Eddard Stark’s blade Ice, the sword of Winterfell, is now available to ship as of today. Like the original greatsword, Ice is great for removing heads of oathbreakers, Hands of the king, and if rumor has it, hacking down members of the Kingsguard.

Ned’s Ice is of limited quantity, forged with “Valyrian Patterned” stainless steel. The hilt is cast metal with antique nickel plate and suede wrap. Display plaque also includes mounting hardware. Total length of the greatsword is 55 inches.

This item is not a toy. Please keep out of the reach of children, bastardborn, and any slimy Lannister who wants to melt it down to make longswords for his son and grandson.

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