Cyanide, an independent video game studio, and George R. R. Martin today announced their partnership to create the first-ever video games inspired by the author’s award-winning, international bestselling ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ fantasy series. Under the terms of the agreement, Cyanide has obtained the exclusive rights to develop ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ video games for next-generation consoles and PC, and in collaboration with George R.R Martin, development has begun.

“We are all huge fans of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, so it is a true honour for our teams to be entrusted with creating the first video games inspired by this masterpiece” stated Patrick Pligersdorffer, Managing Director of Cyanide. “The twists and turns of the plot will allow us to deliver an experience which can be enjoyed by both long-time fans as well as gamers new to the series.”

Published most notably by Bantam Books in North America and Voyager Books in the United Kingdom, the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels have been translated into more than twenty languages (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian) and have been nominated for numerous prizes. Set in a world where nothing is simply black and white, the rich web of characters makes it an ideal background for numerous genres of video games.

‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ has already been adapted into a card game and a board game. More recently, HBO acquired the rights with the intent of turning the novels into a television series.

About George R. R. Martin

George R.R. Martin is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He started writing in the early 1970s and his first novel ‘Dying of the Light’ was published in 1977. More information on the author is available through his website -www.georgerrmartin.com

Regarding Cyanide Studio

Cyanide is a private French video game development studio founded in 2000. Based in Paris, France and in Montreal, Canada, 70 employees are working on the two continents. Well-known for its sports sim such as the popular Cycling Manager® Series or Pro Rugby Manager® Series, Cyanide is also responsible for the famous Chaos League®, and the recent Hack’n’Slash Loki® released in end-year 2007. In 2009, Cyanide will release Blood Bowl®, an adaptation of the famous Games Workshop’s board game, already awaited as a potential great hit, the annual edition of Pro Cycling Manager – Tour de France 2009®, and finally its first online free-to-play fast action MMOG, Dungeon Party®!

Guy Gavriel Kay’s World Fantasy Award-winning novel Ysabel has been optioned for feature film development by Maryke McEwen of Kinetic Productions and Jeanne Strømberg and Alan Hausegger of StrømHaus Productions in Toronto, Ontario. Kinetic Productions is an independent production company, and StrømHaus Productions specializes in feature film adaptations of literary works. Debbie Wood of Westwood Creative Artists negotiated the deal.

When he eventually decides to post a review or the occasional interview, Aidan always gives his most and his best. As most people know reviewing isn’t an exact science, so every reviewer is unique in one way or another and what Aidan seems to specialize in is length and intellectual nitpicking. Most of the times I am not able to sit through very long reviews, ironic as it would seem that I write them relatively long, but when the proper state of mind is at hand I always leave “A Dribble of Ink” with a sense of satisfaction that I learned a lot about the essence of a book without knowing much about the plot. This is a quality that I value in a review as a reader, since I do wish to know without spoiling the surprises, and respect as a reviewer. As far as the personal treatment that Aidan hands out to his readers, a most important criteria in my list, I can say that he is moderately active at replying at reader comment. You won’t get the individual treatment, but you won’t go unnoticed either given circumstances.

PRESS RELEASE – TWO-BOOK US RIGHTS DEAL FOR NEW BRITISH FANTASY WRITER

Margaret Halton, Rights Director at Pan Macmillan, has sold US rights in two fantasy novels by UK novelist Mark Charan Newton to Chris Schluep for a good five-figure sum in US dollars.

World rights in the novels, which open with Mark’s mainstream debut NIGHTS OF VILLJAMUR (to be published in hardback in the UK in June 2009), were acquired by Peter Lavery at Tor UK from John Jarrold in 2008.

Chris Schluep said: ‘I am so excited to be publishing NIGHTS OF VILLJAMUR, which is an absolutely wonderful book, and I’m very much looking forward to launching the U.S. career of an important and talented new writer in the field. I’m convinced that Mark has a bright future ahead of him; he’s one of those writers that you come across only on occasion . . .’

‘Chris acted quickly and with great enthusiasm. Mark and I are delighted, and looking forward to working with him and his colleagues at Del Rey, who I know well,’ said John Jarrold.