Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Post #2 of WorldCon 2011 at Reno: George R. R. Martin's Reading



By Linda

GRRM read one of the opening chapters from Winds of Winter; it was an Arianne Martell POV. The chapter was originally going to be in Dance of Dragons but was held over.

Arianne and her small entourage are headed for Mistwood Castle. She is sending reports by raven back to Dorne. They shelter in deep cave, and lose Ariann’e cousin Elia for a time when she quietly wanders off to explore. The group reaches Mistwood Castle with Elia still behaving inappropriately. They see gold banners above the walls and surmise that the Golden Company has taken it. They are right; Mistwood has fallen to Jon Connington.

Connington’s forces are also trying to get Storm’s End and it is suggested to Arianne by Connington's men at the castle that she take ship to Storm’s End because Connington has now taken it. An army from King’s Landing is headed for Storm’s End to take it back and Prince Aegon wants to fight them. Arianne agrees to go to Storm’s End because she thinks they would force her onto a ship anyway.

Q&A

GRRM will write about the taking of Storm’s End by Connington in Winds of Winter.

Interestingly he finds it emotionally hard to kill off POV characters.

He feels the complexity of his series now. Sounds familiar…

2 comments:

Peter said...

"Sounds familiar..."
Oh yes.
"This one was three bitches and a bastard."

Thanks for the exerpt summary. I get the impression that the Sand Snakes are a bit looney tunes at the best of times and wonder what damage they will cause in their travels.

Linda said...

Elia was scolded by Arianne for "conduct unbecoming" and endangering herself needlessly.

GRRM isn't the only author whose series has gotten hard to steer at times. Jordan is another.