Maps for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE

It's been confirmed that the map artist for The World of Ice and Fire is Michael Gellatly. Gellatly has set up a new website and posted some teaser images for his work on World, though only bits of maps or heavily obscured images for copyright reasons.

Copyright Michael Gellatly

We're still hearing that The World of Ice and Fire may be released in April or May of 2014 to tie in with the fourth season of Game of Thrones. However, until this is confirmed the official date remains November 2014.

Update on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE update (update)

The World of Ice and Fire - the companion volume to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels co-written by Martin and the admins of the Westeros.org website - has once again had its release date (provisionally) changed.

This time, happily, the book has been brought forwards. Originally mooted for a late 2013 release, the book was dropped back a full year to a late 2014 release. However, George R.R. Martin said at the weekend - and since confirmed by his UK publisher - that the book was now aiming for a Spring 2014 release (possibly to tie in with the start of Season 4 of Game of Thrones). Westeros.org has also issued an update, noting that the release date change is not yet final and a drop-back to late 2014 is still possible, but they are seeing if they can make Spring 2014 work as a new date.

In addition, George has admitted to going somewhat overboard with his plans for the book. Whilst Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia wrote the bulk of the book, it was always planned for GRRM to write a certain amount of material for it. This plan was originally for about 50,000 words, but he ended up writing - or providing - 250,000 words material and notes. Antonsson and Garcia have condensed and summarised this material for the book, whilst another chunk has been sectioned off to become the stand-alone short story The Princess and the Queen, to be published in the Dangerous Women anthology. Martin's original material has been preserved and GRRM and his publishers are musing using this material for a 'GRRM-arillion' type of book later on. This is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a detailed narrative history of Middle-earth which is more remote and removed than a novel, but not so distant, dry and academic as a bald plot summary. The 'GRRM-arillion' project will not be worked on or released before A Song of Ice and Fire itself is completed.

It appears that Tor.com has gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick and released a seriously misleading article about the book. To clarify their points, The World of Ice and Fire has always - since late 2007 when it was originally announced - been an illustrated companion book focusing on the history of Westeros and Essos. It has never been an A-Z encyclopedia. The focus and format of the book has not changed. It is not now a multi-volume affair, it's what it always was intended to be. The 'GRRM-arillion' project is a totally new and separate idea, not The World of Ice and Fire II: The Wrath of Ran. And yes, the book's official date has dropped back to November 2014, but all parties involved are trying to make Spring 2014 work as the new date.

WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE delayed by a year

Unfortunately, news has arrived that The World of Ice and Fire, the Song of Ice and Fire companion volume, has been delayed by a full year. According to co-author Elio Garcia, this is because plans for the book have become more ambitious, with a desire from the authors and publishers to make the book bigger and include more artwork. The book is already in an advanced stage of completion, but the decision to include more material could not guarantee a late 2013 release date, so rather than risk a last-minute delay, the decision was made to hold back the book until 2014 to give the writers and artists more time to complete their work.

The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.

WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE cover art and release info

Bantam have released some more info about The World of Ice and Fire, including the cover art and a confirmed release date of 5 November 2013.

More details on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE

Bantam Books have released more info about The World of Ice and Fire, the companion guide to A Song of Ice and Fire. The book is due for publication on 29 October 2013 and will be 288 pages in length. They have also published several sample pages from the book.

The blurb:

With all new history and material from the maester himself, The World of Ice and Fire is a must have for both long-time fans, new readers, and viewers of the HBO series, Game of Thrones. This lavish, fully illustrated, full-colour book will be the comprehensive guide to the mega-bestselling world that George R.R. Martin has established in his Ice and Fire books.

This will be the comprehensive guide to all things Game of Thrones and beyond. From the pre-history to the coming of the First Men, through the reign of the Targaryen kings and Robert's Rebellion, this guide-co-written by George R.R. Martin and the immensely knowledgeable founders and keepers of the www.westeros.org site-will tell series readers old and new all they might want to know about the history and culture of Westeros and the lands beyond the Narrow Sea. And there is a 30-page excerpt of all-new history invented by George solely for this volume.

ALL-NEW MATERIAL CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: Much of the content of this book is all-new historical material, created by George exclusively for this volume—including a 30-page excerpt written by George.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED: The full-colour guide will be filled with gorgeous original artwork and maps commissioned exclusively for this edition.

THE HBO SERIES CONTINUES ON MARCH 31, 2013: HBO reported that 3.9 million viewers saw the inaugural broadcast of season 2, with 6.3 million tuning in among all of the network’s broadcasts for the night—a 53 percent gain from its freshman season average and a 27 percent rise from its previous series high. And with the DVD of season two releasing the month before, they only expect demand to rise.

SURGE IN NUMBERS: Since the show’s premiere, novel sales have increased exponentially, proving that people who get a taste of this world are keen to devour all there is about it.

SUCCESS OF THE NOVELS: To date, there are over 21.5 million copies of A Song of Ice and Fire series in print, and over 4.5 million in eBook sales.

APP-ORTUNITIES*: This will serve as the perfect companion volume to the Ice and Fire app, released in November 2012.

A WINNING TEAM: George’s co-authors on this book, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonssen, are the founders of the www.westeros.org site, and probably know more about this world than anyone save George. In fact, they are the folks George calls when he forgets certain series details.

HOLIDAY GIVING: Perfectly timed for the holiday season, this volume is the ideal gift for the George R.R. Martin fan in your life.

TIMING: The MM edition of A Dance with Dragons will also be published in Fall 2013, which means extra publicity for George R. R. Martin.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Amazon, Martin confirms that he is continuing to work on The Winds of Winter, and is making progress ahead of HBO catching up with him (although noting that the gap is less than it was before).

* The Wertzone does not condone such use of bad puns.