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‘Ice and Fire’ author talks about new HBO show

New York Times best-selling author George R.R. Martin took a reprieve from writing his newest novel to be a guest at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo this past weekend.

Martin, known most for his fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” sat at the Avatar Press booth for the weekend-long convention to promote the comic adaption of his 1982 novel, “Fevre Dream.”

While on the show floor, Martin was able to talk about the television adaption of “Game of Thrones,” his first novel in the Ice and Fire series.

“HBO has picked us up for one season, so far, at 10 episodes,” Martin said. “We made the pilot; it was shot last fall, and it’s been in post-production ever since.”

Martin admitted the impossibility of including every detail from the 674-page novel.

“You can’t get every word or every line of dialog, or even every character in,” he said. “But 10 hours is a lot of time, so we hope to be able to capture most of it. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be quite faithful to the books.”

Martin said he is currently writing one episode for the first season and wants to write more.

“I can’t do more than that, as much as I’d like to, but I have the books to write and they take up a great deal of time,” he said.

Martin added other episodes will be written by Jane Espenson, who has written for “Battlestar Galactica” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and Bryan Cogman.

“A Dance with Dragons,” the fifth book in the Ice and Fire series, has been in the works for sometime, Martin said.

“Well, I’m way way behind,” he said. “I was expecting to finish it three years ago, but obviously I did not.”

When Martin was asked for a date of completion, he replied, “When it’s done.”

“A Game of Thrones” is expected to premier early 2011 on HBO.

You can follow the author’s news updates and thoughts at grrm.livejournal.com.

Editor’s Note: Danny Shaw, Agora Web editor, attended the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on Friday, April 16, and Saturday, April 17. He can be contacted at d_shaw22@hotmail.com.