Here's the Wheel of Time trailer

Some people will complain about the changes and while I don't like one of them (Rand and Egwene apparently having sex), changes come with the territory. You're never going to get a faithful scene by scene, line by line adaptation because books and visual media are so wholly different from one another that you can never truly transfer the full essence of one to the other.

Just based on the trailer, the WoT show doesn't look bad.

Winds of Winter next year, maybe?

George R.R. Martin provided an update on his blog concerning his full throttled progress on Winds of Winter, the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As it turns out, a global pandemic is conducive towards writing door-stoppers, as GRRM seems to be boogieing along:

If nothing else, the enforced isolation has helped me write. I am spending long hours every day on THE WINDS OF WINTER, and making steady progress. I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week.

He also makes important note that he still has a ways to go, but is hopeful that maybe, just maybe it'll be finished by next year.

Of course, this won't suit the dipshits who constantly complain and hound the man for not writing as fast as say Brandon Sanderson. Hell, GRRM could release Winds of Winter tomorrow and they would still find reason to complain. "But he's taking forever to write A Dream of Spring!"

If you're a fan of the Dresden Files, then boy, has your year been made

Because there's going to be not one, but two Dresden books released this year.

I should resume reading this series at some point soon. I kind of gave up after reading some spoilers, but I feel the urge to give them another try. I made it up to Death Masks before quitting and I enjoyed all the previous books.

By Crom! Amazon's doing a Conan the Barbarian series!

So apparently this was announced at some point in the past, but then nothing was heard about it until now. According to Syfy Wire, the show is being developed by Ryan Condal, the co-creator of the SF TV show The Colony and screenwriter of the future Academy Award-winning movie Rampage (you know, the one with Dwayne Johnson and a giant mutant gorilla? Yeah, that one.) and will adapt the short stories written by Robert E. Howard.

According to Condal, the first episode of the Conan series will adapt “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter,” one of the primary tales in Howard’s canon for his signature character.

“I think the Conan purists will be very pleased,” said Howard, while setting the stage for Amazon's pilot episode. “If anybody knows and follows the saga [‘The Frost-Giant’s Daughter’] is... the earliest story in Conan’s life. He’s basically just left Cimmeria and he’s running around as a mercenary with this Viking band of warriors called the Aesir... I’ve put [the Conan stories] back in [chronological] order and the idea is to tell Conan’s story over the time of his life.”

I'm intrigued. The idea of following the Cimmerian's life in proper order rather than just random points I think is a good idea. Condal also says that the show will have a serial element to it, which I guess means that each episode won't be a self-contained, standalone. I wonder if that means that all the events in each episode will build up towards something big near the end of the first season?

So what do you folks think? Does the prospect of a Conan the Barbarian series pique your interest? Will Amazon screw this up or will it strike gold?

Glen Cook's Black Company getting that small screen treatment too, courtesy of Eliza Dushku

Who will be executive producing with David Goyer (among others) and starring as The Lady. If the name Eliza Dushku sounds familiar, she played Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Echo on Dollhouse, and was in the 2000 classic movie, Bring It On. I have to admit, I'm pretty surprised to see her name attached and I'll freely admit that part of it is because she's a woman, but also awesome because a woman is exec producing and starring in a show based on a military fantasy series. Still, she optioned the entire entire series through her production company, so this isn't some kind of clever ploy by a group of men to try and snag media attention by using Dushku's name as a front.

Another admission: I've never read The Black Company. I have the book and its on my 'to be read' list, but I've just haven't gotten around to it yet. Still, this is good motivation to bump it up in the queue.

Like Sony's Wheel of Time adaption, The Black Company doesn't appear to have a TV deal yet. Given that the eponymous Company are a group of sell-swords who fight for the highest bidder, I think it would fit well with AMC. It depends on how expensive the show is. AMC is infamously tight wadded even when it comes to their biggest hit, The Walking Dead, which reportedly has a shoestring budget. I just hope it doesn't end up on one of the movie channels because I want to at least be able to check it out if and when it hits the boob tube.

Wheel of Time getting the TV treatment from Sony Television

And may we all hope and pray that they don't try to Game of Thrones it and add a lot of pointless sex and violence and breasts. Unfortunately, everyone wants their fantasy TV show to be the next GoT rather than let it be its own thing.

But anyways, Sony Television is producing it and a guy named Rafe Judkins is the showrunner and writer. I've never heard of him, but he's written for other shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chuck, and some show called Hemlock Grove. I guess that's good? I honestly don't pay attention to who writes what when it comes to television.

What I'm curious about is what and who gets cut during the adapting process. At 14 books, there's no way that every character and subplot is making the jump to the small screen. I imagine the main plot will be streamlined with events jumbled around for better flow. Unless whichever network this show ends up airing on plans on doing one season per book, I wouldn't be surprised either if entire books are merged.

Now that happens to be easily the most important question: where will it air? I'm hoping against hope that it won't be on one of the "premium" channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. or on a streaming service like Netflix because I'd like to be able to actually watch the damn thing.

Then there's the casting, but I don't know who should play who. I can't tell the latest Hollywood darling from Gregory Peck, so I'm useless on that front.

Five hundred thousand is certainly a nice number

(via FirstEmpireSeries.com)

Especially when you're a fantasy writer and that's the paycheck you're getting for a new series. That's how much Del Rey is paying Michael J. Sullivan of the excellent Riyria Revelations series. The new five book series will be called The First Empire and the the titles of each book are: Rhune, Dherg, Rhist, Phyre, and Fhrey. According to Fantasy Faction, there was a potential bidding war brewing between several publishers for the new series and Del Rey essentially said "screw that noise" and laid down half a million bucks. In addition, because this story needs some gravy, an audiobook company called Recorded Books picked up the audio rights for another six figures.

I think the reason why people are talking about the money is because I doubt a lot of writers - even a minority - get paid that much and the ones who do are probably the big timers like GRRM, Terry Brooks, and such. Welcome to the big time, Mr. Sullivan!

Edit: According to Michael J. Sullivan on reddit, just the first four books were included in the deal and the fifth will be negotiated later on.

Oh good lord, it wasn't a bad dream after all - Arnold Schwarzenegger taking up the Conan mantle again

Should be noted that he's 65 years old and while he's not completely flabby, his body isn't exactly 1982 level either. The movie will be called the The Legend of Conan, is a direct sequel to the first movie, so they're effectively de-rebooting the franchise or re-rebooting or restoring it to the last save point. They're also ignoring Conan the Destroyer. From what I can tell, the inspiration for LoC was the very end of Conan the Barbarian, where he's shown sitting on a throne with a crown on his head and so the new movie will carry off from that, showing an aged Conan.

I'm a bit mixed about this. On one hand, Conan the Barbarian was a great movie and if you've read some of the stories, it gets even better. On the other hand, I think it's a bit unfair to Jason Momoa. Insulting, to be honest. I know his Conan movie wasn't as well received as the original, but ditching him and it like this just comes off as a middle finger. I'm also not too thrilled about the idea (or the alcoholism-inducing mental image) of a senior citizen running around in a loin cloth and swinging a sword.

There are just some things a person should never have to see in their life. :P

Picture via The Blog That Time Forgot.

All this stuff about the Curiousity Mars rover is nice and all, but a burning question is left unanswered

Where's all the Martian princesses at?

Burroughs said there would be half-naked Martian chicks. D:

But in all seriousness, landing a car-sized robot on another planet when there's like a half-hour delay in transmission between Earth and Mars is an amazing feat. Yes, Curiosity isn't the first robot we've sent to the Red Planet, nor will it be the last, but it never fails to astound. Hopefully, one day men and women will join all the rovers on Mars...and have sloppy makeouts with all the Princesses of Mars.

Picture via The Realm of Ryan.

Zounds! Wizards of the Coast rereleasing three Dungeons & Dragons First Edition manuals!

Wizards surprised pretty much every D&D and RPG nerd today when they announced that they were going to release limited edition reprints of the original Dungeons & Dragons manuals, including the Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Player's Handbook. The books will cost about $35 each and the money goes towards a worthwhile cause - the Gygax Memorial Fund. The goal of the fund is to build a statue in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in honor of Gary Gygax, who gave the world D&D 36 years ago. Unfortunately, the books will only be available in America, which will probably mean we'll soon be raided by nerds from Canada and elsewhere. We really need a wall and a Night's Watch up there.

I admit that I have never played D&D in my life and probably never will, but damn, even I'm excited about this!

(h/t Nerdvana)