A Feast for Crows
By George R. R. Martin
(not yet published–preorder)

Illustrated by Tom Canty

Limited: $260
Lettered: $395

Buy a matching numbered set of A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows: $520

Later this year, we will release the limited edition of A Feast for Crows, the fourth volume of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. As with Storm, we will be breaking Feast into two volumes, to make it easier to handle and to read.

Tom Canty has nearly completed the illustrations, which will include:

• roughly 70 black and white interior illustrations, including chapter heads and tails, full page illustrations, and black and white vignettes
• different dust jackets for each of the two volumes in the set.
• time and artist intent permitting, the endsheets for these volumes will consist of an original map(s)
• three full-color interior illustrations will appear in the limited edition, with an extra full-color piece exclusive to the lettered
• the slipcases will feature stamped artwork, one color on the limited edition, two colors for the lettered edition
• the lettered edition will also feature an original remarque, or small illustration, by Tom Canty on the signature page

GRRM, AFFC, George R. R. Martin

Oh, and I suppose you want to know how the DANCE is coming? Work continues. I finished the revisions on the Jon Snow chapters that I was talking about last month, and moved on to Tyrion for a while, but just now I am working on a new viewpoint character, and a chapter set in steamy harbor of Old Volantis. Where I shall be returning, first thing tomorrow.

Discovery Channel :: News :: Study: Royal Executions Followed Pattern

May 4, 2006 — A study of British royal executions has determined that the killings followed consistent patterns that correspond to Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory.

The study helps to explain why so many British royals killed family members, particularly over a 200-year period called The Cousins’ Wars that spanned the 14th to the 16th centuries.

It also suggests that human behavior, even family murders, can be consistent with patterns of survival under circumstances in which resources are scarce, yet highly valued, life-supporting and gained only through inheritance.

According to the researchers, such conditions existed after Edward III’s death in 1377. The king and his wife produced five sons and three daughters who survived to adulthood and who all had their eyes on the crown.

Richard II, Edward’s successor and eldest son, proved to be a weak, despised leader. Richard’s cousin, Henry IV, executed the king and began the apparently Darwinian Cousins’ Wars.

“Darwin’s major contribution to science was selection — natural and sexual, which depend upon competition between individuals and their choices,” explained Kathleen Heath, who worked on the study, which has been selected for publication in The History of the Family journal.

Heath, an associate professor of anthropology at Indiana State University, added, “Those who adapt best — better than his/her competitor — in a particular environment are favored by natural selection, that is, live longer and have a better chance of passing on their genes to the next generation.”

Heath and her colleagues determined that the murdering royals never sacrificed lineal relatives. Of the 47 killed, only five were not cousins. These included one brother, two uncles and two nephews.

The researchers assigned genetic relatedness values to each individual, so that a parent, for example, is 50 percent, or .5, related to a child, while a full first cousin is .125.

Using these values, the scientists found that executioners never killed in excess of their own nuclear relatedness, meaning the total value assigned to the individual and his or her children.

If they had killed in excess of this amount, it “would have been the equivalent of evolutionary suicide,” according to the researchers, since the killers would have been eliminating, instead of furthering, their genetic family line.

Finally, the study found that the longer an individual lived and served as monarch, the more people he or she killed. Elizabeth I, whose long, stable reign ended the Cousins’ Wars, wound up killing five cousins, all of which were perceived threats to her life and throne.

“Some royals killed as a simple insurance policy — the poster boy for this is Henry VIII, who would not allow anyone to come close to his son’s claim to the throne,” Heath told Discovery News. “As a mother is violent when her children are in danger, there is an inherent drive to protect one’s offspring/lineage by whatever means — love or murder.”

She said non-royal wealthy families had to devise other means for reducing inter-family competition for resources. These tactics included sending relatives off to military service, on quests, to the priesthood or to a nunnery.

David Zeanah, graduate coordinator of archaeology at California State University, Sacramento, and graduate student Henry Lyle told Discovery News that the researchers were “ingenious” in “finding a source of data where the consequences of human behaviors for reproductive success can be evaluated.”

Zeanah and Lyle added, “This not only offers tremendous potential benefits for Darwinian approaches to studying human behavior, but promises new insights into the ultimate, Darwinian causes of historical events that have previously been understood in terms of proximate causation alone.”

So let’s see: in George R. R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, lead character Tyrion’s nuclear relatedness (as far as he knows) is 1.0. By killing his father he is down to 0.5. He can still kill a bunch of cousins, or brother Jaime or sister Cersei, but not both.

Some Democrats not inclined to dismiss the allegations as exaggerated are nevertheless fearful of pressing for Black to go now. They don’t see how Democrats can be competitive in House races this fall without the benefit of the speaker’s leadership and fundraising prowess. They wonder where Black’s existing campaign funds would go after an ouster. Also, they fear what could happen to their own political futures if they go public and Black keeps his post. As the fantasy author George R.R. Martin famously put it, when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

Nice to see GRRM entering the vernacular!

A couple of good news items:

expect as many as 12 Dunk & Egg novellas (!!)

and

Afterburn SF: Mine too! I have to ask this. Without giving anything away, can we expect him to meet up with Daenerys at some point?

George R. R. Martin: Yeah, I think you could probably count on that.

Limited edition from Subterranean Press.

Ah: The Winds of Winter.

This interview actually came out in 2001, but for some reason it showed up on my Google Alert today.

News - George R.R. Martin’s Official Website: “he feast has finally been served, and the crows have taken flight… higher than anyone (including me) would ever have dared dream.
cover The American hardcover of A FEAST FOR CROWS was released on November 8, and immediately shot to the top of all the lists, making its debut at #1 on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list for hardcover fiction. That shriek you heard coming out of the west a few days back was me in San Francisco, roaring with delight as I got the news from Bantam. The highest I had ever reached on the TIMES list previously was #12, for A STORM OF SWORDS.
A FEAST FOR CROWS also hit #1 on the WALL STREET JOURNAL and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY bestseller lists, and #2 on the USA LIST (which combines fiction and non-fiction). Amazon, Border’s, and Barnes & Noble also had FEAST ranked as #1 in hardcover fiction.
cover Meanwhile the British edition, released by HarperCollins Voyager on October 17, broke in at #10 on the TIMES OF LONDON bestseller list for hardcover fiction, and edged up to #9 for its second week on sale.
Every writer dreams of making these lists, and to hit #1… to know your book is the bestselling novel in all of America… well, I still wake up pinching myself.
It is not something I could have achieved alone, however. Thanks are due to all the good folks at Bantam and HarperCollins for their faith in the series and their patience with the author, to the legions of booksellers who pushed the books on all those unsuspecting customers, and most of all to my readers. If there was ever a series that has grown through word of mouth, it is this one… so thanks to all of you who ever recommended A GAME OF THRONES to friends, kins, and coworkers. If the crows are flying high, it’s only because all of you helped them take wing. “

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