Game of Thrones trilogy, Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin

I finally finished the trilogy and I must say they are intense. The poor Stark family along with the Lannister's have had a their numbers decimated with treachery, parenticide, homelessness, and all in the name of loyalty to the crown.

In the end the Stark children are orphans, Sansa, Arye, Brandon, and Rickon are scattered in hiding throughout Westeros. Jon Snow, bastard brother of the Stark children has his own difficulties as a Brother of the Night's Watch.

The King is dead and Tyrion is accused of his murder along with his wife. Jaime Lannister is a captive of the Northerners but due to betrayal becomes a prisoner that is to be exchanged for the Stark girls. Cersei is the Queen regent to the King and is struggling to keep her position from being taken away by her father, Tywin Lannister who is the Hand to the King.

Two marriages are performed at King's Landing but none see the consummation of the wedding night. One of the groom's dies a horrible death at his wedding reception and the other is too kind to his wife to force her into his bed.

As I alluded to earlier there are many deaths in this book. The war has many causalities of the battlefield and due to betrayal over the family honor, as well over status positioning, and just for the power. There are many bit part players in the book who share in the problems of the main characters. Try not to get too confused if your watching the HBO version of the books, because there are differences between the show and the book.

I recommend this trilogy for anyone who likes reading intense but engaging novels.

Denver Comic Con 2013

It is going a really fun time at the Denver Comic Con this year, which starts on May 31-June 2. There are some really cool guest that will be at the Con. If you're attending for out of state, the Con will be at the Denver Convention Center again which is in the heart of the city.

The latests news is that the doctor will be in the house, Colin Baker aka the 6th Dr Who will be there along with Paul McGann's (8th Dr Who) companion, Daphne Ashbrook.  This coincides with the 50th anniversary of Dr Who. I am so excited, not that Colin Baker was one of my favorites but that a Dr will be at the 2nd Denver Comic Con is huge.

Of course there are many other reason to attend this years Denver Comic Con.  The father of comics will be there, Stan Lee along with Mr. Solo, George Takei.  I'm not knowlegeable of comic artists or writers but the Denver Comic Con website will have a list of those attending but I can tell you who are the TV stars that will be there.  Eddie McClintok of the SyFy series Warehouse 13 will be there. Eddie plays the goofy character, Pete Lattimer who is a Secret Agent.  Erin Gray from Buck Rogers of the 25th Century will be there. She was Colonial Deering in the series. If you watch, The Guild or Eureka, then you will know this actress, Felicia Day.  For the vamp fans, Nelsan Ellis of True Blood will definitely be on my list for an autograph. Will Wheaton from the Star Trek Next Generation will be a Con favorite.  He has appeared on some top series such as The Big Bang Theory, as the nemesis of the character, Sheldon Cooper.  I have just mentioned a few of the guest at this years Denver Comic Con, for more info check out the website.

The Denver Comic Con is family friendly and children are very welcomed. There is a cosplay contest, panels on subjects related to all genres, autograph booths where you can get photos or your comic signed for a small fee, artist alley is a where you can meet comic book artist, and then the trade alley with booths selling all related products.

I enjoy the most is watching all the fans of comic, sci-fi fantasy, and gamers who cosplay as there favorite character. The costumes can be quite intricate in realism.  I will be there taking photos at the Con so I will be updating this post.

Denver Comic Con 2013 is produced by local based Comic Book Classroom were every ticket sold goes toward socio-economically challenged communities in Colorado that helps with after school learning to read programs using comic books.

Denver Comic Con- Convention Center
700 14th St
Denver

Galaxy Fest 2013

I consider myself a science fiction nerd but a couple a weeks ago I knew that I was so far removed from  it when I went to Galaxy Fest in Colorado Springs hosted at the Antler Hilton.  Galaxy Fest is a convention for science fiction, steampunk, anime, fantasy, horror, and more.  It's a venue to cosplay a favorite character or make up one in a safe fun environment.  Galaxy Fest is also a family friendly con with events for the everyone.  The reason I was going was that this is the Dr. Who's 50th anniversary and my grandson, Aidan who is a classic Dr. Who fanatic.

We were only going to be there over night but it was a four day event that started the preceding Thursday.  Arriving early Saturday morning, we were privileged to have met at the registration station, Frazer Hines, who was a companion of the 2nd Dr. Who, and two other English personalities, character actor Colin Spaull, and Peter J. Wacks who is editorial director for Telos Publishing in the UK.  My grandson has watch the 2nd Dr. Who DVDs many times over and was thrilled to be able to have his picture taken along side Frazer Hines.

At 11 am was the first panel we were attending with Frazer Hines and Colin Spaull. Panels are in a large convention room where they talk about themselves, the genre they are famous in, and for answering questions from the audience. We were surprised to find that they added another celebrity from Babylon 5, Claudia Christian.   It was a very entertaining panel with Claudia Christian speaking about an incident at the NY Comic Con where she was shot by a fan of hers. She referred that all was in her autobiographical book and that we should buy it.  Frazer Hines also referred to his autobiographical book but he was hilarious in his stories about his days on Dr. Who.  Colin Spaull is a character actor who has been in the classic Dr. Who series with Colin Baker and in the newer version with David Tenant.  My grandson even asked a question for Frazer Hines.

The con has multiple rooms; convention ball rooms for guest speakers, a vendor room where you can buy toys, cosplay accessories, books, DVDs, and more, the celebrity room is where the special guest sells their books, autographs, photos, and more. Throughout the hotel are hallways where vendors sell special items like artwork, armor, like the one vendor who was selling Boba Fett gear from Star Wars, and a bakery that will make any kind of sci-fi/fantasy bake goods.

Like I said before, this con was very small but with the popularity of science fiction genre, Galaxy Fest will grow. I'll catch you at Galaxy Fest 2014 in Colorado Springs.

Will I be able to finish, A Storm of Swords, Book 3 of the Game of Thrones Saga

I have been trying to finish book 3 and pretty much stopped where I was the first time reading this book.  George R R Martin has decimated the House of Starks in this book and dispersed the remaining family members to far away distances that I wonder when they'll be able to be together again.
Spoiler alert, he does kill of one character that most hated anyway but the plot plugs at a slower rate than the other two previous books.  We still don't know who the Others are yet and why the dead come to life but like I said before I haven't finished the book as of yet. Will I ever finish this book? I will try but my mood isn't into reading.
Sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind to read certain books, like a had to reread the first book of Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and I only read up to the 6th book before I lost interest. He took too long to end the series and had too many characters for my liking.
I haven't posted much on any book of late and I apologize to my readers. I will be better! Keep reading this blog for more updates.

True Blood, Season 5

What the hell is Alan Ball thinking? To catch you up, the vampires have revolted against mainstreaming because of their new religion. Religion again, didn't we have gone through this a few seasons ago with the Fellowship of the Sun. Does Ball have a thing about religion, where is he going with this?
Bill, who was a staunch supporter of mainstreaming had doubts and has embraced this religion based on Lilith. He has killed all his competition in the Authority to be the sole apostle of Lilith and drank all her blood from the sacred vessel so the cliff hanger is Bill turning into a deity.
Where will this lead to next season? Will next season be the war among the vampires and how does Bill being a deity end? So many questions! This season was nothing like the books at all! It wasn't as interesting as the other seasons either. The storyline has changed directions from the books of Charlaine Harris, I wonder how she feels about this season's twist?
How do you all feel about this season of True Blood? Please leave me a comment.

Denver Comic Con 2012

Denver Comic Con is June 15-17 at the Denver Convention Center. You are wondering why I would blog about a comic con but when you think of it some of our favorite novels are also in graphic novel form and sci-fi/fantasy is included these conventions. Not interested, well how about seeing a celebrity from one of your favorite sc-fi/fantasy shows? Kristin Bauer, Pam the vampire from True Blood will be there and Wil Wheaton, child star of film and television is also appear at the Denver Comic Con. I'm not sure if they will be just signing autographs or having question and answer sessions but get your questions ready just in case. All of Trubies will want to know about Anna Paquin's pregnancy and the juicy behind the scene info about your favorite True Blood character. For the Star Trek fans, Wil Wheaton may talk about his experiences on the hit TV show. The only way in knowing what's going on is to be there, so have I enticed you yet? No? Have you ever wanted to be a Jedi? Nick Gillard, sword master, International stuntman, and Star Wars stuntman will be hosting Jedi Training Classes with his apprentice. How cool is that! Want to attend? Yes? Comic Con is also collaborating with Breckenridge Brewing to make a Super Beer yet unnamed. Colorado beer with your favorite comic, there's a contest on naming the beer, here's the link @http://www.denvercomiccon.com/NewsBar/denver-comic-con-beer/ So go out and get your tickets for this inagural Denver Comic Con! Tickets sold online @https://denvercomiccon.webconnex.com/2012tickets

Game of Thrones; episode 5, Ghosts of Harrenhal

The Clash of Kings is the name of the book seson 2 is referencing which we view it on the series there is many self-proclaimed kings. This episode starts with the death of King Renly, brother of deceased King Robert, he is stabbed by the black mist in the shape of a man namely Stannis Baratheom. You recall that the red she devil, Melisandre gave birth to this magical creature. Catelyn Stark and Renly's personal guard, Brienne where there in his tent when the mist congeled into a man and saw it stab Renly. Brienne then killed two outer guards when they rushed with swords ready to avenge their fallen king. On the advice of Catelyn, the two women run away, no one would believe their story but they don't stick around to find out. On the road, Brienne gives her oath to Catelyn, to protect her as she couldn't Renly. Arya is now the serving girl to Lord Lannister who wants to know where she is from, Arya lies at first but is found out but then user her Northern knowledge of bannerman and satisfies the Lord. She then finds one of the men who was in the cage, she realizes why when he asks her who she wants killed, he is indebted to her for not leaving him to burn in the cage when they were first captured. Arya names the tickler who is the torturer at Harrenhal as her first victim. Later the tickler is found dead with his neck broke. Two more to name. Jon and the other Night Watch are looking for Mance Ryker's camp and come upon an outpost. Jon volunteers for the mission to kill the men at the outpost so to not to alarm Mance. At first the Commander, Lord Mormont tells him that stewarts don'd go out with rangers but then consents. To Jon's amazement, Sam volunteers to take over his duties, even with his fear of the Old Bear. Theom Greyjoy is still the laughing stock of the Iron Islands, he hasn't prove himself to be worthy of respect. He hatches a plan that involves his host of Winterfell. Bran is acting Lord of Winterfell as is very good for a nine year old in court with the northern subjects when news of Torrence Square, 100 of miles away is under siege, so Bran sends Ser Rodrik with most of Winterfell guards to help. Later, he tell the wilding girl, Osha of his dreams with the tree eyed raven. The three eyes signifies third sight so when he tells her of the ocean coming over the walls of keep and flooding the castle with the dead floating, you can tell she knows something and not telling him. Tyrion finds out of his sister is amassing wild fire that the alchemist are making so visits the makers. Bronn doesn't believe that this is a good idea to have this under Kings Landing but Tyrion loves the idea. He tells the master to stop making them for Cercei and make them for him. The people of Kings Landing are under duress with the war impending upon them, so some rabble rousers are egging some on the towns people from a soap box condeming Joffrey of corruption and greed, naming him the rotten king. After twhat he did to his birthday present, Tyrion has dismissed Joffrey as a king and now worries about the rest of them in the future onslaught of Stannis Baratheon's siege of Kings Landing. Davos has worries about Stannis with him having accepted magic to win his throne. Davos is loyal to the King Stannis but not to Melisandre who he feels will be their downfall. She is a foreigner who they will say won the throne for Stannis , so he suggests keeping her away from the siege of Kings Landing and Stannis reluctantly agrees. This season is so exciting and I have been reading the book, A Clash of Kings along with watching the HBO series. There are some discrepancies with the sequence of events and the scene where the events happened but the characters are the same. Unlike True Blood, there isn't any made up characters from the writers of the show. The books are long and the writers have to condense the books for the series but leave the main events intact.