- In the beginning no one believes the internet is coming
- Old dudes like the maesters dismiss that the internet is coming because they’re too stuck in their ways (work in legacy media)
- Tiny, potentially disruptive start-ups (or “dragons”) aren’t regarded as a threat because they’re too small and no one believes they exist (can make money online)
- The people warning that the internet is coming are all millennials
- So naturally they’re the disruptive heroes of GOT
- The Night King – leader of the white walkers and its key social media influencer – is created by forest millennials
- Signs that the internet is still coming are dismissed as Gen X/boomer kings and queens squabble among each other, unable to present a united defence (find a way to “monetise” the net)
- The army of the internet grows exponentially, its users becoming mindless zombies
- By the time the “dragons” have grown up and ravaged the music, newspaper, entertainment and consumer industries, it’s too late to stop them
- The internet arrives and everyone loses their mindsMy new thriller Game Of Killers: The Spartan is out now as an ebook and paperback.
got
- Sam discovers why they call it the Game Of Thrones
- Or is GoT secretly all about climate change?
- We now know where Ed Sheeran has been hiding since he quit Twitter
- Serial killer Arya wins the Game Of Memes
- Cersei continues to pioneer the bowl cut
- Sansa is becoming Cersei (without the binge drinking)
- The Hound is still calling everyone *****
- Are Tormund and Brienne (“Bormund?”) going to be a thing?
- Dany slays with a single line
- Secret Harry Potter reference
My new book Game Of Killers: The Spartan is out now as an ebook and paperback.
- Avoiding all human contact between the hours of 9am and 5pm
- Leaving the terse note, “If you leak GoT spoilers today YOU’RE DEAD TO ME” on Facebook and Twitter
- Refusing to discuss anything online except how the new Doctor Who is a woman
- Compiling lists
- Refusing to come to the door for delivermen, policemen, firemen or holy men, even if they tell me that they have an advance proof of George R.R. Martin’s Winds Of Winter/an axe maniac is the area/my house is on fire/my immortal soul is at peril
- Holding my breath like a petulant child
- If I somehow come in contact with a human, deploying an air horn when they say “The Game Of Thrones premiere was brutal, dude! Did you see what happened to …”
- If I come in contact with two humans and they tear the air horn away, put my hands on my ears and shout “la la la, I’m not listening”
- Put my mobile in the freezer
- Hiding out with the Amish like Harrison Ford in Witness
Are your friends “raven” about your fan knowledge of Game of Thrones? Or, like Jon Snow, do you know nothing about George R.R. Martin’s fascinating world? Take our GOT challenge and find out just how well you know Westeros and its stars.
What song did they play at the “Red Wedding”?
a) The Eternal Duty of The Knights Watch
b) Wrecking Ball
c) The Rains Of Castamere
d) The Bear And The Maiden Fair
What is Tyrion Lannister the unofficial god of?
a) Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things
b) Tits and Wine
c) Dwarves, Drunkards and Unwanted Sons
d) Disco
What are the names of the Stark dire wolves?
a) Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Prancer, Rudolph
b) Rebel, Standfast, Lady, Proudmane, Osha
c) Toto, Astro, Cujo, Benji, Lassie
d) Lady, Ghost, Summer, Nymeria, Shaggydog, Grey Wind
Why does Jon Snow “know nothing”?
a) He never knew his real mother
b) He didn’t finish high school
c) He doesn’t understand women
d) Internet connections in Westeros are spotty at best
What does the “R.R.” in Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin stand for?
a) Ronald Reagan
b) Raymond Richard
c) Ronald Reuel
d) Richard Ryan
What does “Valar Morghulis” mean?
a) Valour is its own reward
b) Do you want fries with that?
c) All men must die
d) We are the watchers on the Wall
What is Ned Stark’s sword made out of?
a) Mithril
b) Adamantium
c) Damascus iron
d) Valyrian steel
Complete this sentence: “the night is dark and full of …”
a) Candy
b) Terrors
c) Turnips
d) White walkers
What are the names of the Khaleesi’s three dragons?
a) Balerion, Vhagar, Meraxes
b) Sunfyre, Vermithrax, Ghiscar
c) Smaug, Toothless, Puff the Magic Dragon
d) Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserion
Who built The Wall?
a) Bran the Builder
b) The First Men
c) The Nights Watch
d) Pink Floyd
Answers: 1. C; 2. B; 3. D; 4. C; 5. B; 6. C; 7. D; 8. B. 9. D; 10. A.
10 right – Jon Snow
9 right – Tyrion Lannister
8 right – The Khaleesi
7 right – Cersei Lannister
6 right – Arya Stark
5 right – The Kingslayer
3-4 – Hodor
1-2 right – “Stupid” Ned
0 right – Reek
My military thriller The Spartan II is out now.
Kings. Queens. Noble houses at war. Brother against brother. True love thwarted. Villains celebrated. An audience spanning much of the known civilised world.
All written by an author whose fame exceeds almost all others.
Shakespeare, the greatest writer of antiquity, was known for all this and more.
In fact, he sounds a lot like Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who also lists Britain’s War of the Roses as his main inspiration for GOT. Both the Bard and Martin thus drank from the same well and achieved all-encompassing fame in their lifetimes.
Which brings me to ask: is George R.R. Martin the Shakespeare of the modern world?
I would argue … yes.
What other author has won over the rich and poor, young and old alike?
Who else embraces the grand scope of themes favoured by the Bard?
Who else has created such an intimately relatable world? Whose works do we so eagerly await?
Who else is not afraid to make tragedies of our heroes and heroines?
Who else makes us care so much?
I just hope one day scholars recognise the same grand themes in Martin’s writings as they do in Shakespeare’s … and make students study Martin in school.
Just take a look at some of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes – paired with the best quotes from Game Of Thrones – and see if you don’t agree.
To be, or not to be: that is the question. (Hamlet)
What do we say to the Lord of Death? Not today.
Now is the winter of our discontent. (Richard III)
Winter is coming.
Off with his head! (Richard III)
The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.
Get thee to a nunnery. (Hamlet)
Shame! Shame! Shame!
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child! (King Lear)
You’re no son of mine.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. (Henry V)
For the Watch.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. (As You Like it)
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods/They kill us for their sport. (King Lear)
Why are all the gods such vicious *****? Where is the god of tits and wine?
The course of true love never did run smooth. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
The thinks I do for love.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Hamlet)
You know nothing, Jon Snow.
Et tu, Brute? (Julius Caesar)
The Lannisters send their regards.
What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as sweet. (Romeo and Juliet)
Is a girl truly No One?
My ebook military thriller, The Spartan, is out now on Amazon.
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