Brace yourself! Winter is Coming!

The werewolf has been eagerly awaiting the release of HBO's latest foray into incredible television programming via A Game of Thrones.  The first book of George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, seems to be getting the treatment and attention it deserves to be translated onto the television screen.

For those of you who have no idea about what I am writing, take a second and consider this. If you enjoy Tolkien, try mixing in a few measures of wild sex, brutal violence, dynastic struggle, and unpredictable Machiavellian political scheming into the fray, and one begins to touch on the brilliance that is George R. R. Martin. The world Martin imagined is loosely inspired by Ivanhoe and the events surrounding the War of the Roses in late medieval England. One easily gets sucked into the details of a world where the heroes are naive, honor and virtue are more devastating than a rancid STD, grudges last generations, some villains merit redemption, while others shock you with inhuman levels of treachery, bastards beget bastards, and death is the most likely outcome from even the most casual or celebratory of occasions. There are no white wizards or hobbits to save the day, but there is a world that drives one's imagination to its limits. If HBO's previous series such as The Sopranos, Rome, True Blood, and Boardwalk Empire are any indication of what to expect, then audiences are in for a thrilling treat.

Being a stalwart fan of the books, I am both awaiting to embrace this series with alacrity and am slightly apprehensive. Martin does such a brilliant job of creating the foundations of world rich in its own history, that I have woven a detailed tapestry in my mind of what I think the characters and realm look, smell, and sound like. Peoples, architecture, traditions, language, mannerisms, style, and topography are all touched on in just the right ways to provoke an indelible impression. The images I have emblazoned into my imagination with the wondrous world I perceive each time I turn the pages of one his books is truly a literary gift. The tension of what I perceive and how the world will be rendered via HBO's creative interpretation is an interesting one that I am unaccustomed to experiencing. However, it does nothing to dampen my excitement about the pending release of the series.

Winter is coming!