A Game of Thrones Resources

This is George R.R. Martin's website, so it's got a little bit of everything, from his bio to some fan-made art that he seems to like for his books.

George R. R. Martin does a lot of writing, and some of it is on this not-a-blog. If you want to see what he has to say about editing anthologies or working with HBO, this is your site.

The best apart about Tower of the Hand is that you can set the "scope" for the site: so if you've only read A Game of Thrones, you can set that as the scope and the site won't show you information from the later books. That means no spoilers. Awesome.

Another fan-site, the Citadel, includes an archive of fan correspondence with Martin. That's right, he's a real person.

Tor.com features a reading (analysis) of the whole series, with chapter-by-chapter thoughts. It's no Shmoop, but it's fun to see what someone else thought when they read A Game of Thrones for the first time.

HBO put a lot – a lot – of money into the production and promotion of this show. (They even had food trucks in NYC and LA that had "authentic" food from the Seven Kingdoms.) Apparently, it was worth it: Peter Dinklage even won an Emmy for his version of Tyrion Lannister. Sure, it doesn't follow the book exactly, but it's definitely worth watching.

HBO has a very nice website and guide for the TV show that might be helpful for people interested in the book. Oh, and check out those house symbols.

This interview with George R.R. Martin discusses a lot of interesting issues surrounding the HBO adaptation.

One of our favorite sites, TV Tropes recaps every episode of the HBO series, including a description of how the episodes differed from the book.

At the New York Times, David Orr gives his (positive) thoughts on Martin's fantasy novels. But wait: Orr isn't a sci-fi reviewer; he mostly writes about poetry. When poetry reviewers are reading a book about dragons, you know it must be good.

This article tracks the sales of <em>A Game of Thrones</em> and the other books in the series over time. Surprise: The HBO series really launched these books into the realm of bestsellers.

Martin's books are loved both by fantasy authors and by real people (zing, take that fantasy authors). For instance, the journal Foreign Policy has an online article about how Martin's series showcases real issues of international relations.

John Hodgman argues that Martin is one of our world's best storytellers, creating complex characters and unclear moral situations. That's why he made it on Time's 2011 list of the 100 most influential people. Unexpected, but kind of awesome.

It's an hour long, but this Q&A is full of interesting information.

In another chat with the author, Martin is interviewed by fantasy author Joe Abercrombie. Here he discusses both the book and the TV show.

Now that it's a TV show, you can find lots of videos of the actors discussing their characters. Here, celeb Peter Dinklage discusses how this book is really about the human drama.

What do you think of the TV show's opening sequence? Why did they decide to show everything as if it were clock-powered?

This "podcast" is only eight short episodes, but it has a lot of interesting discussion on where this book came from and how Martin feels about the games. If you want to hear him talk, this is a good place to start.

In this interview, Martin discusses the creation of his fantasy world and how his fans appreciate it. And boy, do we.

This is pretty much exactly how we pictured him, to be honest.

An old-ish cover for A Game of Thrones. Doesn't quite convey the awesomeness of the book.

What a dude.

What do you think? Is this how you pictured the princess?

This comic strip will be appreciated by anyone whose had some trouble with the, um, massive freakin' length of the books.

Professional and fan art of Martin's world. Pretty amazing stuff.

If you don't think this is awesome (or hilarious), you may not have a heart.