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Hmm. I dunno. HBO did have "The Wire". Which is an absolutely awesome TV show. They also showed The Sopranos, which I never watched but I've heard is pretty good. But all in all, those are pretty different from Martin's works...and considering the series the article compares it to (Deadwood and Rome, HBOs more boring, poorly written, and rather hard to believe shows) I worry about whether it'll get good treatment.

Then again, the writers probably matter a lot more, and Martin is helping the two others...and he probably won't let his own works be butchered too easily.

The only other fantasy novels I'm aware of on TV are Peake's Gormenghast novels, on BBC, and I've yet to see if they were put together well. But at least one of the more mainstream fantasy authors is going to make a debut on a non-tv medium. Martin isn't my favorite, but he's pretty damned good. He just tends to focus on his very interesting characters like Bran and Tyrion when the absolute best are slightly less written about: Davos, his liege Stannis Baratheon, Sandor Clegane, and "Caty" Tully (davos and stannis slightly more than the other two).

I'm currently obsessed with aSoIaF. I'm glad that they are not being made into movies. As Martin said, there is just too much. I do think that the books could be turned into a good TV show if done well. Seeing as Martin himself was a screenwriter for a long time, I'm hoping he picked these guys well. If he has any hand in the production, I think it's very likely that the show could be good. Of course, it is very likely that they will do a horrible job of it, as so many others have done to other books.

What other books have they botched on the telly? Or are you referring to movies and stuff?

If you like Martin, you may want to check out R Scott Bakker and Stephen Erikson. I believe Martin has given at least one of em positive reviews, and I know both have a healthy respect for him as well. All three take the worldbuilder fantasy approach...but, in a nutshell, Martin draws on history, politics, and war, Erikson draws on archeology, anthropology and war, and Bakker draws on philosophy, religion, and war (alright, they all use war). Well, they all work off these themes at times, but I would say these are their stronger points. I don't really want to go into story, though that'd be the only real way to convince you, so I'll leave it at that and let you look if you run out of reading and want more.

I actually started with Erikson's second book, Deadhouse Gates, which may have been a good decision; a lot of people drop Erikson in his first novel because it is quite simply his weakest (he wrote it in something like 1992, and I believe the 2nd was written in 98). It also doesn't hurt continuity too much, because there's little relation between the first and second book (#1's continues in #3, #2 in #4, and then they both meet together in #6 while #5 starts a new story XD). If it counts, he wrote the book off of DND stuff a la Salvatore.

They seem to be compared a lot online (well, Bakker not so much, he hasn't really boomed much yet), but I have to say I don't have a sure favorite. They really have their own strengths and weaknesses. Bakker stands out a little from the other two, but only because he has a main character who so far has been insanely able and perfect. The only thing both Erikson and Bakker definitely have over Martin is an ability to create closure at the end of each book...but that's not really a crippling weakness for Martin.

I just digressed quite a lot.

Someone at the forum I found out about this posted up a fanmade casting site for the TV series. Just for fun.

I was reading something random on the Eragon movie recently, and I feel like Jeremy Irons might make a good Stannis facially. I can't remember whether Irons has grey or brown hair, but if he just shaved some off and dyed it he'd prolly be good. But I don't really know actors in general. The only show I've watched recently is The Wire, and something like 60% of its cast is black, which doesn't mesh well with most of Martin's characters.

*Shuts up* :)