Prepare for a guided tour of The World of Ice and Fire! The co-authors of George R.R. Martin’s ambitious sourcebook for A Song of Ice and Fire — and longtime friends of the podcast — Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson join us to talk about the book, which hit stores in time for the holiday season one year ago. Beginning with a look back over TWoIaF’s reception over the past year, our chat ranges from a discussion of fanfiction to the influence of Lovecraft and Howard; the way using in-world maesters as narrators shaped the writing; the material left on the cutting room floor to avoid spoiling future stories—and the stuff inserted to lay the groundwork for them; and, of course, what’s up with the Deep Ones. And we close with the big question: Are there future collaborations on the history of the setting in store? Download Episode 44 Additional links: Mirror. Our first episode on the book. Our roundtable discussion of it with Steven Attewell and Amin Javadi. Sean’s Rolling Stone piece on the book. Sean’s essay on the Deep Ones. Stefan’s Tower of the Hand piece on the book. George, Elio, and Linda’s promotional appearance in Stockholm. Previous episodes. Podcast RSS feed. iTunes page. Sean’s blog. Stefan’s blog.