Just Another Fandomblog

Hey guys, I've got a ticket for today, but don't feel too well. So if you're in the area and want to go, just send me a PM and you'll get my ticket! (All you need to provide is your email address, the ticket is a PDF. Print it out or use your smartphone to get access to the convention.) First come, first served!

Wow, I met a certain someone in the city today. Nice top hat!

Ahaha, my first flat was a stones throw away from the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker St and my new flat is about 100 metres away from where Cumberbatch is supposed to live in Hampstead. Both not intentional, even though it seems quite stalkerish... Maybe I'm gonna meet him while shopping for groceries? That would be funny. But I'd probably be too afraid to chat him up anyway.

Have fun!

George R.R. Martin: Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn't ask the question: What was Aragorn's tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren't gone – they're in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles? In real life, real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with. Just being a good guy was not the answer. You had to make hard, hard decisions. Sometimes what seemed to be a good decision turned around and bit you in the ass; it was the law of unintended consequences. I've tried to get at some of these in my books. My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.