High Ate Us

Before you read this, head over to Afterglow Book Reviews, and read my recommendation of Karen Amanda Hooper's Grasping at Eternity.

Back? Okay. I have some announcements.

First, if you're not watching The Newsroom, on HBO, you're missing a great show. I never got into The West Wing when it was on, but I can definitely see why so many people think Aaron Sorkin is a genius.

Second, if you didn't see Roni Loren's post about using photos in your blog posts, go read it, STAT. It's a sad lesson, but an important one all bloggers must learn.

Finally, in more sad news, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging. Lately it's gotten in the way of writing and critiquing I've needed to be doing, and traffic and comments have been down anyway, so it feels right to step back and re-evaluate for a bit.

Don't worry, I'm not quitting, I enjoy it too much for that, but things have gotten so busy at work lately, I really only have time for writing or blogging, and writing has to come first. There is no news on the agent front, so I'm trying to just focus on some projects I have in the pipe, and hopefully things will work themselves out while I'm not worrying about them.

This may only last a week, or it may last a little longer, but you can still look for me at both Project Middle Grade Mayhem and at YA Confidential in the meantime. Otherwise, thanks, as always for your support.

Game of Thrones Season II

My DVR broke recently, and I was pretty ticked when I thought we'd lost all our recordings from season one, but that was silly, because they're all available on demand. I've been slowly rewatching them, trying to get acclimated to Westeros and Essos again, as we prepare for the exciting second season of the HBO series that probably should have been called A Song of Ice and Fire.

I mean sure, Game of Thrones is a cool title, and the theme of political power is a strong one in the story, and has dominated the first five books, but I get the feeling that the deeper theme, the one of darkness versus light, and "good" versus "evil" will come full circle in the final two volumes.

I certainly hope HBO will air the entire story, assuming Martin finishes the books before Maisie Williams turns 30. Anyway, here are the things I'm looking forward to most in season two:

Characters:

Melisandre: The Red Priestess of R'hllor, who hails from Asshai in the far east, is not a very sympathetic character in the books, because we all assume her prophecies are false, or at least that she is wrong about Stannis, Azor Ahai, and the Prince that was Promised, but she's a fascinating character nonetheless, and I'm looking forward to her being portrayed by the lovely Carice Van Houten:

Davos Seaworth: The Onion Knight, former smuggler, and eventual Hand of the King (in exile), Davos is a character whose arc is pretty interesting. Arguments can probably be made that he gets too many chapters in the books, and his story is of course still unresolved, but I'm fascinated to see what they do with him on the show. Especially at Storm's End for Melisandre's shadowy climax.

Brienne of Tarth: I would have said Stannis, but I'm not sure I like the look of Stephen Dillane, so I'm going with Gwendoline Christie, as the Maid of the Sapphire Isle. Brienne is a fascinating character in the books, and although her story is much more compelling in the third and fourth volumes than in the second, I get the feeling that HBO will not be sticking directly to the plot as separated in the novels.

Settings:

The Fist of the First Men: The most memorable setting north of the wall, some momentous things occur here in the story, but I'm especially interested to see how HBO's production design team portray this landscape.

Dragonstone: Stannis' seat, this volcanic island at the mouth of Blackwater Bay used to be the seat of House Targaryen, and then passed to House Baratheon after Robert's rebellion, but I'm especially curious to see how it will look in the new season.

Vaes Tolorro: City of Bones, in Dothraki, this ruins, in the midst of the red waste, ends up saving Daenerys and her Khalasar from starvation and ruination. While the walls are cracked and crumbling, they find solace within the city center.