4
June

Beyond the Wall Giveaway!

7 Comments

I was going to do a post on Neil Gaiman’s fan­tastic com­mence­ment speech at the Uni­ver­sity for the Arts, but that’s get­ting derailed by Smart Pop giving me the green light to do a give­away for their awe­some upcoming essay col­lec­tion Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons.

This col­lec­tion explores Martin’s magnum opus in incred­ible detail, hit­ting it from a variety of angles. It includes lumi­naries like R. A. Sal­va­tore and Daniel Abraham. It also includes my essay Art Imi­tates War: Post-Traumatic Stress Dis­order in A Song of Ice and Fire.

You can read more about the book here. 

If you want to win a free copy of the book, leave a com­ment on this blog post. Let me know which char­acter (major or minor) you think had it worst in the series. Who is the most trau­ma­tized? Why? What do you think their prospects for recovery are? How will the expe­ri­ence change them? Will they be stronger as a result? Weaker?

If you’d prefer not to leave a public com­ment, feel free to email your answer to me at myke (at) mykecole (dot) com.

I know it’s a grim ques­tion, but I’m tack­ling a grim topic in this essay. Please keep your answers as short as pos­sible, and safe-for-work. I’ll pick the one I like the best over the next few weeks and then announce the winner. Smart Pop will send you your free copy of the book.

If you want me to sign it, just let me know, and I’ll send an adhe­sive backed, signed book­plate that you can stick in the book to make it an auto­graphed copy.

That’s it! Looking for­ward to your answers!

  • http://twitter.com/PrinceJvstin Paul Weimer

    I am going to pick a some­what meta choice for who has it worst.

    Ned.

    Yes, he dies in the first book.  His head is cut off, and that’s the end of *his* story.

    But its not the end of the Starks, and what his kith and kin go through after his death–well, Ned may have gotten off easy, but from a 30,000 foot per­spec­tive (or an after­life looking back at the living world POV), Ned would be tor­tured each and every day at the tra­vails of his wife and chil­dren after his death. Espe­cially since he could and can do nothing about it.  

    To say nothing of what hap­pened to his friend, and the kingdom he ruled.

  • http://twitter.com/PrinceJvstin Paul Weimer

    I am going to pick a some­what meta choice for who has it worst.

    Ned.

    Yes, he dies in the first book.  His head is cut off, and that’s the end of *his* story.

    But its not the end of the Starks, and what his kith and kin go through after his death–well, Ned may have gotten off easy, but from a 30,000 foot per­spec­tive (or an after­life looking back at the living world POV), Ned would be tor­tured each and every day at the tra­vails of his wife and chil­dren after his death. Espe­cially since he could and can do nothing about it.  

    To say nothing of what hap­pened to his friend, and the kingdom he ruled.

  • Drew

    (spoilers for anyone who’s not up to date on the books)

    I would say Sansa is prob­ably the most trau­ma­tized.  During her insane night­mare of a rela­tion­ship with Jof­frey, she taken from her home, her pet wolf is killed, her father exe­cuted before her very eyes after the rest of the Win­ter­fell sub­jects are all mas­sa­cred in King’s Landing, she’s shown her father’s head on a pike and scorned by the queen for the dura­tion of her engage­ment.  She did get to watch the king choke to death at their wed­ding feast (which may have brought some sort of relief), but then she was quickly handed over to Tyrion and later learned of her brother and mother’s demise.  The thought of her finally escaping King’s Landing with the help from Sir Jon­quil would have raised her spirits high… only to dash them again once she dis­cov­ered she was being abducted by Lit­tlefinger and forced into another ago­nizing rela­tion­ship at the Eyrie.Although we don’t know the fate of Sansa yet, I think just the fact that she was impris­oned by the Lan­nis­ters for all that time would cause severe emo­tional and mental scar­ring.  I think once we come across her again, she will be so weary from it all, she’ll prob­ably have suc­cumbed to Littlefinger’s manip­u­la­tions with very little recovery.  Who knows if she’ll ever see any of her family again?

  • Jeff Petersen

    I think Jon Snow is worst off so far. He’s seen death up close over and over, he’s had to kill an ally, he’s per­formed an exe­cu­tion, he has to sit by while is family is killed and captured.

    I think he’ll come out stronger, but also very dam­aged and much harder and colder, like the wall he guards.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=778500532 Matt Jebus Jones

    Hodor — he only ever gets to say Hodor! Here he is, bursting at the seams with ideas, love and laughter and he gets rel­e­gated to a sim­pleton car­rying a cripple.

    The man is an accom­plished cel­list, speaks 4 lan­guages flu­ently (and is pass­able in Dothraki), has no less than 3 col­lec­tions of essays pub­lished with Old­town Press (with “Peas­ants and their uses as cavalry-charge fodder” being a best­seller across Wes­t­eros and Essos alike) and has an award-winning bari­tone that can melt the hoariest of hearts (his dec­i­ma­tion of Tywin Lan­nister at his 43rd birthday is rarely men­tioned, for obvious reasons).

    Not only that, but he’s endured the heartache of his home being destroyed and the indig­nity of having an 8 year old boy take over his body at a whim for his own nefar­ious purposes.

    No one is more put upon than Hodor with his tragic story being the linchpin of the tale of A Song of Ice and Fire.

    For­ever in my heart, when­ever I hear a plain­tive “Hodoooor­rrrr…” on the cold winds of the North, I will shed a tear for a great man rel­e­gated to ignominy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=36913327 Scott Bas­tian­pulle

    I’ll go with an unpop­ular choice but writing should be hard right?  Cercei Lannister.

    Right from the get go she’s born a woman in the won­derful world of equal oppor­tu­ni­ties that is Wes­t­eros.  Not a great start.  She’s promised a mar­riage to a dashing prince only to have her dreams crushed and her future haunted by a doom and gloom prophecy from a crazy old woman.

    Her only friend and com­fort comes from her twin brother so she has to hide her true feel­ings her whole life.  Instead of the dashing price, she gets mar­ried off to Robert Baratheon.  Like all fair ladies, she tries to make the best of it only to find her new hus­band calling her another woman’s name on their first night together.  How cruel the Gods are.  The mar­riage goes down­hill from there are her new hus­band grows more fat, more drunk and more unfaithful, fathering numerous chil­dren from other women.

    Finally a bit of good news — King Robert passes on and her son becomes King!  Again, things start to go down­hill.  You see a pat­tern right? Her son chops off a northern lords head starting a 5 side war which results in her only real com­panion being cap­tured in battle and having his hand chopped off.  The brother she’s not so fond of turns up in Kings Landing to drive her crazy and send her only daughter off to marry some prince.  Remember that world of equal opportunities?

    Some more good news — Her father arrives and drives away the cer­tain death of Stannis Baratheon’s attack on the city.  With the good news of course comes the bad; Twin announces plans to marry her off again to some old man.  The joyous event of her sons wed­ding is some­what soured by the sub­se­quent poi­soning of said son.

    Finally though, a bit of good news that couldn’t pos­sibly go wrong?  Her father is some­what uncer­e­mo­ni­ously mur­dered and she gets to finally rule unfet­tered as Queen Regent.  Tommen gets mar­ried (without a hitch) to Mar­gaery Tyrell and all seems well.  She stocks the council with her guys and starts to really show what she can do.

    The bad news isn’t over how­ever.  Somehow she ends up in prison cell for treason, murder and adul­tery, her pricy new fleet dis­ap­pears and her one true com­panion in the world Jamie burns her letter pleading for help.

    Trau­ma­tised indeed.  My money is def­i­nitely on a strong come­back.  Never count out Cercei Lannister.

  • Pingback: An Event of Ice and Fire | Myke Cole