Guest Post on Tower of the Hand: Politics of the Seven Kingdoms (The Vale)

The next installment in my Politics of the Seven Kingdoms series is up at Tower of the Hand! Somehow, I’m not quite sure, I actually found more to say about the Vale than I had about the Starks, if for no other reason than there was so much to fill in that the WOIAF had not made clear.

So check it out!

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Sansa I, ASOS

 

“The old woman smelled of rosewater. Why, she’s just the littlest bit of a thing. There was nothing the least bit thorny about her.”

Synopsis: Sansa meets ALL THE TYRELLS Margaery and the Queen of Thorns.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

Guest “Appearance” on History of Westeros Podcast

Hey folks! As you know if you’ve been following the blog, I’ve been doing a series of guest appearances on History of Westeros Podcast as part of their coverage of the Blackfyres. I don’t actually appear in this episode, but I helped with the writing and research and I’ll be appearing in the next episode on the Golden Company itself, so I thought I’d throw this up so you have context for that part.

In other news, I’m making good progress both through my manuscript and Part III of Politics of the Seven Kingdoms, so don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.

X-Posted from Tumblr: Estimates of Great House Incomes

After I did this post, @joannalannister asked if I could do a similar set of estimates for the other Great Houses, so I figured I might as well knock them out.

So what are the incomes of the .01% of Westeros?

Guest Post at Tower of the Hand: Politics of the Seven Kingdoms (The North)

The long-anticipated installment of my new Politics of the Seven Kingdoms series is up at Tower of the Hand! In this installment, I explore the historical development of the North into a single polity, how it overcame the disadvantages of geography, how it deals with internal divisions, and its strengths and weaknesses.

Check it out!

RFTIT Weekly Tumblr Roundup!

Hey folks, thanks for all of your great suggestions about podcast topics. Before I get to the Tumblrs, a few announcements:

1.  The Politics of the Seven Kingdoms – the North essay should be going up at Tower of the Hand and here early this week, probably Tuesday. It’s a biggun, some 25 pages of analysis.
2. I’ll also be posting a link to the History of Westeros Podcast’s upcoming episodes on Bittersteel, to which I contributed research to, and I’ll be appearing on the second installment to talk about the Golden Company.
3. As you may have seen in the emails, the first part of the e-book of Race for the Iron Throne, Volume 2 got sent out, and the full e-book will be going out to sponsors as soon as it can be managed, and then later on will be going up on Amazon. We also have new covers for both Volume 1 and 2 thanks to my friend Joanna Lannister, and they look AMAZING.
4. I’m going to be scaling back my posts a bit for at least part of the next six weeks, as I work to complete manuscript revisions for my academic book that are due on October 1st. I’m not going to go dark completely; as you can see above, there’s content that will be coming out that I’ll be staggering out (plus some stuff like Sansa I and the Politics of the Vale which are already partly written). However, I’m going to put the Tumblr stuff on hiatus and I’m not going to be starting any new essays until the manuscript is sent.

So what do we have on the Tumblrs?

• Lesser Houses switching Lord Paramounts.
• Bloodraven and Maekar.
• The social position of Northern cavalry.
• Thoughts on House Osgrey.
• How do the Dornish keep their armies in the field?
• (Non-ASOIAF) My beef with the Starbuck Chronicles.
• A long debate on Sybell Spicer:
  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III
  • Part IV
• Should A Riverlander king have exiled either the Brackens or Blackwoods? 
• Why King IN the North and not OF the North? 
• Historical basis for guest-right.
• What If Ned had gotten Arya and Sansa out?

Question About Potential Podcasts

Since I recently updated my recording setup and my audio quality has much improved since I did the Battle of Blackwater podcast, I’ve been thinking about doing some one-off podcasts of modest length on various topics, sometimes with other podcasters when I can rope them in and sometimes just doing it solo.

So I wanted to throw this to you good folks: what topics (ASOIAF/WOIAF, fantasy genre, or historical) would you be interested in me covering?

Please put your requests/recommendations/asks in the thread below:

RFTIT Weekly Tumblr Roundup!

Hey folks! It’s that time of the week again, so let’s see what’s in the Tumblrs:

• A beginner’s guide to the Iron Bank. 
• Was Robb right to execute Karstark?
• Is the Golden Tooth a gold mine? 
• Did Sybelle Spicer push Jeyne into Robb’s bed?
  • Part II
  • Part III
• Medieval prisons.
• More on Jaime and Aerys.
• Is Gendry Cersei’s baby? NO.
• Baratheon and Targaryen genetics.
  • Part II
• Oathbreaking and the social order.
  • Part II
• More on Edmure and the Battle of the Golden Tooth.
• The Kingswood Brotherhood and Aegon V’s Reforms.
• On Stannis and Justice.

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Davos I, ASOS

“He watched the sail grow for a long time, trying to decide whether he would sooner live or die.”

Synopsis: Davos may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

Kickstarter Fulfillment Update!

Hey folks! As you probably have already seen by now if you’re checking your email, Kickstarter backers just got sent two bonus essays – including the now-complete Politics of the North essay, which weighs in at a whopping 15,000 words. But that’s not all: I’m very happy to announce that my editor’s been making sterling progress on the Race for the Iron Throne Volume 2 e-book, and it should be ready to send out to backers by the end of next week.

If you weren’t able to participate in the Kickstarter, don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to check this stuff out in a bit – the Politics of the North essay will find it’s way to Tower of the Hand after an interval, and the Volume 2 e-book will be going up on Amazon.com as soon as we can get it up.