So fantasy, after all, is not just for geeks. With the blockbuster that has been the HBO adaptation of George R.R Martins fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, suddenly the world of elves, magic and dragons are cool. Sexy, even. A Game of Thrones may have done the impossible; improved upon an already excellent series of books. So often the most exquisitely detailed adaptations fall short of readers expectations, particularly in the fantasy genre. But my own version of Westeros wasnt that far different to HBOs- and I think the sex scenes are even better in the TV series. I remember reading A Game of Thrones some five years ago now. I liked but didnt love the books, and arduously made my way through the series in a relatively noncommittal way. I was on A Feast For Crows by the time the TV show came out. And I was a little surprised. Sean Bean was old Ned Stark! Charles Dance was Tywin Lannister. I never imagined the unsmiling Tywin like that. Hang on; I had the Hound looking much uglier than that guy. And that is not Brienne of Tarth! Martin has Brienne of Tarth as a fat heifer with spots. Ah yes, I had Cersei just like that. And, I suppose, as the constant confrontation between my imagination and the screen version unfolded, I became hooked, like so many others, on the adaptation. Suddenly, this was a cinematic world as wide-ranging and engrossing as the Westeros found in Martins books. Game of Thrones can join those other shows which pushed the envelope; The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad to name perhaps the big three. Although not quite as affecting or enthralling as these more human stories, Game of Thrones is perhaps the most entertaining of them all. And the staggering screen adaptation is of a different breed, it being adult fantasy and already working on the roadmap the books laid out. Who would have thought that dragons and dwarfs and others could battle for our viewing rapture against the might of Tony Sopranos Mafioso world, Baltimores gritty projects or the crystal meph of Eisenberg-but battle it does. With a putative seven seasons being made, Game of Thrones may become a behemoth of television. Perhaps it already has. And how brave of HBO. Imagine the questions searing through the minds of those would-be producers having just finished the reading of the fifth book. What about the cast size? What about the locations? What about the costume? What about that giant wall? Serious questions about the logistics of production which often leads, perhaps understandably, to producers leaning toward safer, more grounded projects.
Interestingly, the Game of Thrones modus operandi is stunning, and helps explain how a series of such scope is being handled by the worlds greatest television producers. The production schedule is a masterclass in efficiency. Simultaneous scripts (reportedly over ten at any one time) are shot whereby actors maximise their time at certain locations, while cinematographers and directors teams fly between the various locations keeping in constant reconnaissance with each other. The scale is all very impressive. At any given time, as many as five episodes are being shot concurrently. An episode is actually shot over a period of only 2 weeks. Wow. This capacity to put a grand tapestry of a drama like Game of Thrones into such a tight schedule bodes well, very well indeed, for future ambitious fantasy works. But imagine if Game of Thrones had been a flop? Its worth remembering that the series gathered momentum-the pilot had good but far from great ratings. Imagine what a flop would have meant for the future of big-scale fantasy/sci-fi adaptations? Now, however, other ambitious fantasy titles are being lined up for screen adaptation. No story world, however ephemeral, seems unfilmable, regardless of the planet its on or the creatures that inhabit it. And lets give credit where its due. For it is HBO more than anyone other production team who are at the forefront of this ambition. Before Game of Thrones, Rome was perhaps there most risky drama. But the fantasy epic has exploded where the pseudo historical-drama only adequately performed. Despite both dramas having historical appeal and a stellar cast, Rome lacked some of the immersive qualities of Martins story world and almost all of the convivial appeal. The natural successor to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and no less destined for Hall of Fame status, Game of Thrones actually enjoys a slight female majority in its viewership. Unlike Buffy or True Blood, Game of Thrones has a cross-sectional appeal than enthrals the geek and the jock respectively. Both the boy who grew up on Arthur C Clarke and Terry Pratchett can find some fun in this series, as can the girl who grew up on stories of gallant knights and distressed damsels. So can we take it that fantasy TV is no longer subculture, but a mainstream undertaking that, with Game of Thrones, has a rather high benchmark in production values already set? Apparently, we can.
News that Neil Gaimans American Gods is definitively hitting our screens is most welcome. That a putative 6 seasons of 12 episodes each will be filmed shows just how expansive a show this one could be. And American Gods must be seen as a breakthrough in direct reaction to the Game of Thrones success. The idea behind Gaimans celebrated book is that old gods and other mythological figures are still real and living amongst us in the modern world. However, their ability to summon up their former power is dependent on how much they are believed in. Most of them are suffering from a normative crisis in faith in the modern world as new gods like Media and Technical Boy have sprung up. These new gods are related to contemporary societys obsession with the internet, celebrity culture and drugs. But war is on the horizon, between the old gods and the new. Its a brilliant book and Im sure, in HBO hands, will be a brilliant series. News of Stephen Kings Dark Tower coming to HBO has been greeted with some scepticism. Its been a long time in the offing and despite so many false starts we can only hope that not only does Kings sprawling fantasy novel get the green light, it also gets the HBO rather than NBC treatment. Surely some of the prospective risk has been taken out of the series reception in the light of Game of Thrones success? Of course not just any fantasy series will do, but the King brand is a strong one and with Javier Bardem tipped for the role of Roland Deschain it sounds like a winner. And what about other potential screen adaptations of fantasy novels? Have genres silver screen horizons now been blown open? Are television executives scrolling through the sci-fi/fantasy archives for the next big thing? And what of those cat-got-the-cream techie CGI teams? Licking their lips at the prospect of all that challenging graphic design amongst the complex worlds of the fantasy novelist. And fantasy is one of the few genres which intrinsically demands a realistic portrayal of other-worldly graphics.
These television executives may be ogling over Joe Abercrombies The First Law series. This trilogy (which also has off-shoot, inter-connected books beyond the central three) is eminently placed as the next great fantasy drug. Just as bloody as Game of Thrones, The First Law has a few advantages over its rival. Its shorter, more character-studied, more intelligent and more gripping. Like Game of Thrones theres a fine mixture of real world antagonisms mixed with only occasional, complimentary magic. In many ways the natural successor to Martins books, if the public are thirsty for more fantasy, there are far worse places to drink. And to wet even the most parched lips there is a certain character in The First Law, one Inquisitor Glokta who has the affability of Tywin Lannister, the pleasant outlook of the Hound, the murderous lust of Stannis Baratheon and the inner wit of Tyrion. Glokta is a truly moreish literary invention and one of the most enjoyable, fully-formed characters Ive encountered in ages. Beyond The First Law, if the iron for more fantasy adaptation is still hot to strike, Steve Eriksons Malazan Book of the Fallen should be struck indeed. Even more expansive than Game of Thrones continental warfare, Eriksons storyworld is positively global in its outreach. Great legions of gods, mages, humans, and dragons battle for the future of the fate of the Malazan Empire, with grisly, blood-soaked battle scenes among the most barbarous and bellicose in the fantasy canon. Given how epic a series Game of Thrones is, and given how its these sprawling and enduring qualities which have drawn people to the series, Eriksons books may be an even better place to start than Abercrombies. There are ten novels in the Malazan series, starting with 1999s Gardens of the Moon, through to 2011s publication of The Crippled God. Erikson has been busy, whereas Martin is allegedly struggling to get down to writing more books. Far less linear a tale than Martins on-going saga, Eriksons characters are flexibly interwoven into different worlds at different stages of the telling. And the links between aspects of each world progress rather quixotically as the series trickles along. That may not sound like adaptation gold. It would, most certainly, take some filming, but Ericsons books are probably far superior to Martins. Elsewhere, The KingKiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is another candidate for screen adaptation. This gritty, modern fantasy trilogy recounts the autobiography of the intellectual, arcanist, poet-warrior Kvothe and his many adventures throughout his past. Kvothes telling of his life story to Chronicler is, however, punctuated by present day interruptions. Something of an ensemble arrangement of memoirs and little quests, how complete a retelling we get we never know and any screen adaptation would require some structural changes from the layout in Rothfuss book. Still, given a clever framing device and not too much reliance on flashback, the series would make great watching. We still await the third novel. Although this may sound a longshot The Kingkiller Chronicles is the best fantasy trilogy ever. And its only two-thirds complete. Read it. Enjoy it. Ask for a HBO mini-series. Fantasy fiction doesnt come more grown up than this, and I believe its fits perfectly with the modern milieu for high-class fantasy.
And if not Rothfuss trilogy then what about Scott Lynchs wackier, more colourful Gentleman Bastard series? The first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was a near-perfect debut. Similarly retold via a framing device involving an arch plot following the wonderfully- named Gentlemen Bastards as they quest for the elusive Grey King, the story is padded out with mythological and historical trips through the past and around Camorr city. Its a kind of Joycean-fantasy trip and an indulgent, dialogue-snappy reminder of just how quirky fantasy books can be.
Lynchs fantasy series is still very much on-going (hes written three out of seven) but from what he has produced so far there exists all the hallmarks for a successful adaptation. Lynchs dialogue is particularly filmable- one of the notable qualities that a Game of Thrones possessed. Its a kind of murderous, gangster-patois which snaps at the reader with every page. It really is great fun. And given that there are five more books to come, perhaps HBO can strike up a deal a la George Martin-you get writing, well get filming. Other notables are of course Brandon Sandersons Stormlight Archive. I recently finished The Way of Kings, part one of a planned ten-part series and I was impressed by the epic scale (and length) of Sandersons story world. The books characters are divided by class distinctions based on eye colour; their homeland is battered by hurricane highstorms and Voidbringers. Samurai-esque warriors called the Knights Radiant possess Shardblades- mystical weapons so powerful wars are fought over them. Its all seriously complex and addictive stuff. Mercifully, Sanderson fills his epic world with an easy, accessible style of prose. The Stormlight series is perhaps too much of a work in progress for any imminent screen adaptation but will surely hit the screens (and in some style) one day. Or at least I rather optimistically hope so. Oh, and it was Sanderson who actually wrote a Memory of Light, thereby completing the sadly-deceased Robert Jordons epic Wheel of Time series -speaking of which Surely they couldnt? But then they probably said that about Game of Thrones. But not Jordons Wheel of Time? Surely. For so many fantasy fans, it is Wheel of Time and not A Song of Ice and Fire which is the big daddy of modern fantasy. With sales of nearly 50 million copies since Eye of The World kick-started the series in 1990, it is the most impressive series of them all. It is also classic fantasy, unlike the more real-world machinations and manoeuvrings of Martins Saga. This one, admittedly, would be ambitious. Jordons tale comes in at fourteen volumes and has grand themes involved; its a meditation of time, conflict, reality and religion amongst many other things. It also has too many characters, too much magic and too much philosophy for any TV executive to touch. Which is why it would get my vote. Perhaps we really have turned a corner. Perhaps fantasy is the mainstream and not a fad. The Elder Scrolls have done well on game consoles. The Lord of the Rings was a fantastic success at the Box Office. A Game of Thrones has sat the Cotton Throne of our settees. And with all these potential adaptations still to come, the fantasy genres future looks the healthiest of the lot.