Winter Is Coming...

A coupla years ago I thought to myself, "hey, I'm a geek. How come I never read any fantasy novels?" So I started looking around to see which modern series/books were the most highly regarded, and I came across the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. I picked up the first book, A Game of Thrones, and let's just say I was hooked.

I've actually been re-reading the series these past few weeks, and just as when I first flew through the novels, some of the characters' argot has started to creep into my internal dialogues. I jokingly "swear by the old gods and the new," from time to time, for example. As I said, I'm a geek.

I highly recommend picking up the novels for yourself, even though the fourth is a bit of a letdown in the series and the fifth, which was supposed to be released years ago, is still unfinished segun the author's website. It's quite a wild ride.

Too busy to read? Intimidated by the hundreds of character names? Illiterate? Well, then, fear not, because HBO is here to help. A new series based on the first novel is beginning production this week, and it could be the next big HBO-thing, a la Rome or the Sopranos. Images of the actors portraying the principal characters were also released, see below: