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HBO - Song of Ice&Fire Series -Varsity Thread - no TV only whiners (1 Viewer)

sabretooth this is the 3rd thread on this

search for fire in the title. theres more info in the original thread you may want to checkout

 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
It's interesting because it takes angles that are unusual and surprising for sci fi/Fantasy. Probably for fiction too, though who knows. I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books. Now I'm waiting to have all my investment in the series crushed because the author is not only fat and old, but seems interested in everything but finishing the series. Makes sense, he's making money on everything else he's ever done now. Doesn't make me want to take a cattle prod to him and make him finish the series any less, though.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
It's interesting because it takes angles that are unusual and surprising for sci fi/Fantasy. Probably for fiction too, though who knows. I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books. Now I'm waiting to have all my investment in the series crushed because the author is not only fat and old, but seems interested in everything but finishing the series. Makes sense, he's making money on everything else he's ever done now. Doesn't make me want to take a cattle prod to him and make him finish the series any less, though.
I would rather I never even knew who the author was, too many question marks pop up to taint my enjoyment. Main problem I have is that all the 14 year old boys and girls having sex/being raped by older guys would be okay within the context of midievil societies' norms of marriage. The problem I have is that the author writing all of this grew up in a society where this is taboo and he looks, with his fatulence and pedophile beard topped off with sailor's cap, like a walking Amber Alert/Megan's Law poster.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
I haven't read every fiction book. Just going off my favorite here. If you've got better stuff, let me here it. I'd love to read it.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
It's interesting because it takes angles that are unusual and surprising for sci fi/Fantasy. Probably for fiction too, though who knows. I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books. Now I'm waiting to have all my investment in the series crushed because the author is not only fat and old, but seems interested in everything but finishing the series. Makes sense, he's making money on everything else he's ever done now. Doesn't make me want to take a cattle prod to him and make him finish the series any less, though.
I would rather I never even knew who the author was, too many question marks pop up to taint my enjoyment. Main problem I have is that all the 14 year old boys and girls having sex/being raped by older guys would be okay within the context of midievil societies' norms of marriage. The problem I have is that the author writing all of this grew up in a society where this is taboo and he looks, with his fatulence and pedophile beard topped off with sailor's cap, like a walking Amber Alert/Megan's Law poster.
If I recall he alludes to rape and sex between older men and women who are in their teens (sometimes early teens) happening in the first three books (only a few chapters into the 4th) but never goes into it in detail in anyway. There are some pretty vivid sex scenes but from what I remember being between consenting adults and not any 13 year olds. And so what if the author grew up in a time when the stuff is taboo? He paints a very real and harsh picture of a time equivalent to the middle ages about what happened to those not lucky enough to be born into a high house or to those in a high house that due to politics or war is no longer a high house.

Would you rather him superimpose our standards of marriage, sex and fidelity onto a time when those things were much different?

Would you also like the castles to be air conditioned with modern toilets? Or that the barns smell of roses and lilac?

 
Matthias said:
HBO greenlights link
:lmao: That pic looks like a scene from beyond the Wall.
I was thinking it looked like the Royce character that opened the first or second book.I also liked this:

The four-and-counting books in the series would each be used as one season of the series. ...

Martin, a former TV writer ("Beauty and the Beast"), writes each chapter as a cliffhanger, which should lend itself well to series translation.
They should add in that although each book would be a season in the series they might be separated by 5 or 7 year gaps making for some real cliff hangers.
5-7 year gaps between the filming of a season or 5-7 year gaps in the story between the seasons?
 
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
These books are good, engaging potboilers (at least the first few are, I wasn't able to make it through the latest one) but best writing ever in fiction? I dunno about that.
It's interesting because it takes angles that are unusual and surprising for sci fi/Fantasy. Probably for fiction too, though who knows. I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books. Now I'm waiting to have all my investment in the series crushed because the author is not only fat and old, but seems interested in everything but finishing the series. Makes sense, he's making money on everything else he's ever done now. Doesn't make me want to take a cattle prod to him and make him finish the series any less, though.
I would rather I never even knew who the author was, too many question marks pop up to taint my enjoyment. Main problem I have is that all the 14 year old boys and girls having sex/being raped by older guys would be okay within the context of midievil societies' norms of marriage. The problem I have is that the author writing all of this grew up in a society where this is taboo and he looks, with his fatulence and pedophile beard topped off with sailor's cap, like a walking Amber Alert/Megan's Law poster.
If I recall he alludes to rape and sex between older men and women who are in their teens (sometimes early teens) happening in the first three books (only a few chapters into the 4th) but never goes into it in detail in anyway. There are some pretty vivid sex scenes but from what I remember being between consenting adults and not any 13 year olds. And so what if the author grew up in a time when the stuff is taboo? He paints a very real and harsh picture of a time equivalent to the middle ages about what happened to those not lucky enough to be born into a high house or to those in a high house that due to politics or war is no longer a high house.

Would you rather him superimpose our standards of marriage, sex and fidelity onto a time when those things were much different?

Would you also like the castles to be air conditioned with modern toilets? Or that the barns smell of roses and lilac?
Yeah, that's exactly what I want (does it make me super cool if I use the :eek: here?). I never said I wanted the content different, I said I wish I'd never seen who the author is because he looks like he could be a stereotype of a pedophile and it's a little weird reading some of the stuff with that image in my head. The reading comprehension level in the FFA continues to plummet.It only happens in the first 3 books and a little of the 4th? There's only 5 books! So "only" = more than 60%?

IIRc, Daenerys is only 13-or 14 in the several times that she is alluded to having relations with the older barbarian (30s?). And while the allusions may be somewhat brief, they are fairly graphic. There are a number of other times in the books where the graphicness of the sex is a little off putting because of the sailor cap image of the author. (Just a reminder so you make sure you're reading correctly, it's not the words themselves it's the image of the guy who's writing it, got it?).

 
Yeah, that's exactly what I want (does it make me super cool if I use the :yes: here?). I never said I wanted the content different, I said I wish I'd never seen who the author is because he looks like he could be a stereotype of a pedophile and it's a little weird reading some of the stuff with that image in my head. The reading comprehension level in the FFA continues to plummet.

It only happens in the first 3 books and a little of the 4th? There's only 5 books! So "only" = more than 60%?

IIRc, Daenerys is only 13-or 14 in the several times that she is alluded to having relations with the older barbarian (30s?). And while the allusions may be somewhat brief, they are fairly graphic. There are a number of other times in the books where the graphicness of the sex is a little off putting because of the sailor cap image of the author. (Just a reminder so you make sure you're reading correctly, it's not the words themselves it's the image of the guy who's writing it, got it?).
:goodposting: don't think about old men while you're reading sex scenes.

 
I don't think he looks like a pedophile any more than he looks like a knight, king, or anything else.

I am eager to order HBO when the series starts up though! I haven't had any need of it since Deadwood, and I kept it for the final season of Sopranos only out of investment.

 
Yeah, that's exactly what I want (does it make me super cool if I use the :rolleyes: here?). I never said I wanted the content different, I said I wish I'd never seen who the author is because he looks like he could be a stereotype of a pedophile and it's a little weird reading some of the stuff with that image in my head. The reading comprehension level in the FFA continues to plummet.

It only happens in the first 3 books and a little of the 4th? There's only 5 books! So "only" = more than 60%?

IIRc, Daenerys is only 13-or 14 in the several times that she is alluded to having relations with the older barbarian (30s?). And while the allusions may be somewhat brief, they are fairly graphic. There are a number of other times in the books where the graphicness of the sex is a little off putting because of the sailor cap image of the author. (Just a reminder so you make sure you're reading correctly, it's not the words themselves it's the image of the guy who's writing it, got it?).
:confused: don't think about old men while you're reading sex scenes.
I try, that's why I wish I didn't see his photos.Sorry, it just gives me a little offputting feelign when I think about him sitting at his computer searching for the best way to describe a 14 year old getting finger somethinged by a 30 year old Mongol type.

 
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I would rather I never even knew who the author was, too many question marks pop up to taint my enjoyment. Main problem I have is that all the 14 year old boys and girls having sex/being raped by older guys would be okay within the context of midievil societies' norms of marriage. The problem I have is that the author writing all of this grew up in a society where this is taboo and he looks, with his fatulence and pedophile beard topped off with sailor's cap, like a walking Amber Alert/Megan's Law poster.
If I recall he alludes to rape and sex between older men and women who are in their teens (sometimes early teens) happening in the first three books (only a few chapters into the 4th) but never goes into it in detail in anyway. There are some pretty vivid sex scenes but from what I remember being between consenting adults and not any 13 year olds. And so what if the author grew up in a time when the stuff is taboo? He paints a very real and harsh picture of a time equivalent to the middle ages about what happened to those not lucky enough to be born into a high house or to those in a high house that due to politics or war is no longer a high house.

Would you rather him superimpose our standards of marriage, sex and fidelity onto a time when those things were much different?

Would you also like the castles to be air conditioned with modern toilets? Or that the barns smell of roses and lilac?
Yeah, that's exactly what I want (does it make me super cool if I use the :confused: here?). I never said I wanted the content different, I said I wish I'd never seen who the author is because he looks like he could be a stereotype of a pedophile and it's a little weird reading some of the stuff with that image in my head. The reading comprehension level in the FFA continues to plummet.It only happens in the first 3 books and a little of the 4th? There's only 5 books! So "only" = more than 60%?

IIRc, Daenerys is only 13-or 14 in the several times that she is alluded to having relations with the older barbarian (30s?). And while the allusions may be somewhat brief, they are fairly graphic. There are a number of other times in the books where the graphicness of the sex is a little off putting because of the sailor cap image of the author. (Just a reminder so you make sure you're reading correctly, it's not the words themselves it's the image of the guy who's writing it, got it?).
If all you can think about when reading his stuff is what the author looks like then you need some serious help. Like someone said above, when reading sexually graphic stuff, try not to think of old creepy bearded guys. And you call the author a perv. :rolleyes: Oh, and nicely done assuming someone is some sort of deviant based on a picture. Can you please illustrate exactly what the "pedophile" beard is and why you can't help yourself thinking about someone who has one while reading about sex scenes in a book?

Seriously though, you are way out there on about 9 different levels... It's not the context, or that it's accurate to the times, it's not that it is graphic, it's that the author looks creepy to you. Wow. Just wow...

 
I would rather I never even knew who the author was, too many question marks pop up to taint my enjoyment. Main problem I have is that all the 14 year old boys and girls having sex/being raped by older guys would be okay within the context of midievil societies' norms of marriage. The problem I have is that the author writing all of this grew up in a society where this is taboo and he looks, with his fatulence and pedophile beard topped off with sailor's cap, like a walking Amber Alert/Megan's Law poster.
If I recall he alludes to rape and sex between older men and women who are in their teens (sometimes early teens) happening in the first three books (only a few chapters into the 4th) but never goes into it in detail in anyway. There are some pretty vivid sex scenes but from what I remember being between consenting adults and not any 13 year olds. And so what if the author grew up in a time when the stuff is taboo? He paints a very real and harsh picture of a time equivalent to the middle ages about what happened to those not lucky enough to be born into a high house or to those in a high house that due to politics or war is no longer a high house.

Would you rather him superimpose our standards of marriage, sex and fidelity onto a time when those things were much different?

Would you also like the castles to be air conditioned with modern toilets? Or that the barns smell of roses and lilac?
Yeah, that's exactly what I want (does it make me super cool if I use the :confused: here?). I never said I wanted the content different, I said I wish I'd never seen who the author is because he looks like he could be a stereotype of a pedophile and it's a little weird reading some of the stuff with that image in my head. The reading comprehension level in the FFA continues to plummet.It only happens in the first 3 books and a little of the 4th? There's only 5 books! So "only" = more than 60%?

IIRc, Daenerys is only 13-or 14 in the several times that she is alluded to having relations with the older barbarian (30s?). And while the allusions may be somewhat brief, they are fairly graphic. There are a number of other times in the books where the graphicness of the sex is a little off putting because of the sailor cap image of the author. (Just a reminder so you make sure you're reading correctly, it's not the words themselves it's the image of the guy who's writing it, got it?).
If all you can think about when reading his stuff is what the author looks like then you need some serious help. Like someone said above, when reading sexually graphic stuff, try not to think of old creepy bearded guys. And you call the author a perv. :goodposting: Most of the sex scenes aren't exactly nice, romantic or sexy. I don't get excited by it so whoever or whatever I think about when reading it is completely non sexual. Perv has nothing to do with it on my part. And I hate to belabor the point, but I never called him a perv,, but don't let that get in your way

Oh, and nicely done assuming someone is some sort of deviant based on a picture. Can you please illustrate exactly what the "pedophile" beard is and why you can't help yourself thinking about someone who has one while reading about sex scenes in a book?

I didn't assume he was, I said he looks like one type pf stereotypical pedophile. Never once said he was, alluded that he was or anything else. Just that his picture is a bit creepy when taken in the context of writing about 13 year olds getting raped.

Seriously though, you are way out there on about 9 different levels... It's not the context, or that it's accurate to the times, it's not that it is graphic, it's that the author looks creepy to you. Wow. Just wow...

What does wow just wow even mean? People like to make so much more out of things said than they actually are. I feel a little creeped out when a fat slob in a sailor cap writes about raping children and that makes me "out there"? Fine, then I am out there. You can go back to your pure enjoyment of teen sex knowing that I'm the weird one.
 
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This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
:confused: Dude, there are dragons and stuff.
 
He doesn't write about raping children though. Daenerys' sexual relationship with Drogo was a part of her marriage, and highlighting the age difference is unsettling to us. I think that's the point. However she grows to be a very strong character despite all that happens to her. Additionally, there's very little rape actively described, though rape is alluded too or spoken about anecdotally by other characters.Also, I've always considered the skinny white guy with thick glasses and whatnot to be the stereotypical pedo, Martin is clearly too fat to chase kids around. He looks more like Santa.

 
We saw Martin at a book signing at a local book store, and he looked like an old sailor to me. You know, the carved wooden kind they sell at the touristy stores anywhere there is any kind of fishing industry.

 
He doesn't write about raping children though. Daenerys' sexual relationship with Drogo was a part of her marriage, and highlighting the age difference is unsettling to us. I think that's the point. However she grows to be a very strong character despite all that happens to her. Additionally, there's very little rape actively described, though rape is alluded too or spoken about anecdotally by other characters.Also, I've always considered the skinny white guy with thick glasses and whatnot to be the stereotypical pedo, Martin is clearly too fat to chase kids around. He looks more like Santa.
What better way is there to get a bunch of happy kids to form a line to come sit on your lap?There are more than one stereotype of different types of people. To me the fat, bearded sailor comes to mind over skinny white guy.

 
He doesn't write about raping children though. Daenerys' sexual relationship with Drogo was a part of her marriage, and highlighting the age difference is unsettling to us. I think that's the point. However she grows to be a very strong character despite all that happens to her. Additionally, there's very little rape actively described, though rape is alluded too or spoken about anecdotally by other characters.Also, I've always considered the skinny white guy with thick glasses and whatnot to be the stereotypical pedo, Martin is clearly too fat to chase kids around. He looks more like Santa.
What better way is there to get a bunch of happy kids to form a line to come sit on your lap?There are more than one stereotype of different types of people. To me the fat, bearded sailor comes to mind over skinny white guy.
Point taken
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
:shrug: Dude, there are dragons and stuff.
Yeah, plus some magic sprinkled in.
 
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
:bag: Dude, there are dragons and stuff.
Yeah, plus some magic sprinkled in.
The first scene of the book describes some ghoulish stuff, but then for a very long while it stays away from magic and focuses on politics, action and intrigue. As the series moves along magic is becoming more prominent, but he's certainly a master of medieval lore and fantasy without having to use it as a crutch. It's flavor, the substance is the gritty realism.
 
ScottyFargo said:
kupcho1 said:
RudiStein said:
This like WoW?
This is more like the Sopranos when the writing was good, but set in a very gritty medieval world with a very small amount of magic sprinkled in. It is brutal. It is violent. It is clever. Probably the best writing I've read in fiction. However, the story is only half-written and with the author being about 340 pounds and old, it may never get resolved.
:lmao: Dude, there are dragons and stuff.
Yeah, plus some magic sprinkled in.
The first scene of the book describes some ghoulish stuff, but then for a very long while it stays away from magic and focuses on politics, action and intrigue. As the series moves along magic is becoming more prominent, but he's certainly a master of medieval lore and fantasy without having to use it as a crutch. It's flavor, the substance is the gritty realism.
That is if you can get over the fact that the writer looks like a pedophile then the books are great. If you can't, well, your loss.I think the most amazing thing about the books is that there are really no heroes. There are definitely villains but all the heroes are flawed deeply in at least one way. And of course he does a fantastic job of turning heroes into villains and villains into heroes and back again. By the time you are done you need a road map for all the twists and turns he puts into this thing. It will translate will to the screen because it's cliffhanger after cliffhanger, curveball after curveball, surprise after surprise. Truly incredible stuff with a backdrop of a well described, very harsh background and landscape.

A buddy of mine recommended the books and said "all I can say is it's epic." I would say that sums it up well...

 
Arch Stanton said:
ScottyFargo said:
Arch Stanton said:
He doesn't write about raping children though. Daenerys' sexual relationship with Drogo was a part of her marriage, and highlighting the age difference is unsettling to us. I think that's the point. However she grows to be a very strong character despite all that happens to her. Additionally, there's very little rape actively described, though rape is alluded too or spoken about anecdotally by other characters.Also, I've always considered the skinny white guy with thick glasses and whatnot to be the stereotypical pedo, Martin is clearly too fat to chase kids around. He looks more like Santa.
What better way is there to get a bunch of happy kids to form a line to come sit on your lap?There are more than one stereotype of different types of people. To me the fat, bearded sailor comes to mind over skinny white guy.
o/~ "They're coming to take me away...HA HA HE HE HO HO to the funny farm..."
 
Matthias said:
HBO greenlights link
:goodposting: That pic looks like a scene from beyond the Wall.
I was thinking it looked like the Royce character that opened the first or second book.
I was thinking Will not (Waymer)Royce. But either way I am pretty sure that neither of them ever ride into the Wilding camp, when the Wildings are still there.Will observes at distance on foot and when he returns with Royce the Wildings are gone...

 
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Matthias said:
HBO greenlights link
;) That pic looks like a scene from beyond the Wall.
I was thinking it looked like the Royce character that opened the first or second book.
I was thinking Will not (Waymer)Royce. But either way I am pretty sure that neither of them ever ride into the Wilding camp, when the Wildings are still there.Will observes at distance on foot and when he returns with Royce the Wildings are gone...
Yep - Just picked up the first book today - A Game of Thrones. I read the first 20 pages and this is exactly what happened.
 
I always get freaked out when I run across something like this that I've never heard of. How is it possible that this many people follow something big enough to be picked up by HBO, and it has completely eluded my eye? I may download to the Kindle (and that's not a euphemism).

 
I always get freaked out when I run across something like this that I've never heard of. How is it possible that this many people follow something big enough to be picked up by HBO, and it has completely eluded my eye? I may download to the Kindle (and that's not a euphemism).
This is my first book into Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I hope it's not too :hifive: for me
 

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