Boars, Gore, and Swords

Bring in the new year with a new show about 13th century Asia, Netflix’s “Marco Polo”. There’s a blind swordsman fighting a cobra, what else do you need?!

If you’re itching for new stories within the world of Game of Thrones, look no further than Telltale’s “Game of Thrones”, a series of 6 planned episodes that take you into Westeros through the eyes of House Forrester, loyal Bannerman to House Stark. The series is in the tv show continuity, and starts at the end of Season 3 and will end just before the start of Season 5. We review the first episode...

What’s Christmas without Jon Hamm in a British tv show about a dystopian future? Hardly Christmas at all, which is why OJ Patterson  joins Ivan  and Red  to discuss Black Mirror’s “White Christmas”, the series which Ramsay Bolton would have created if he’d been born in the 1980s.

The Book Club closes it’s final chapter of “A Song of Ice and Fire” covered by HBO’s “Game of Thrones” up through Season 4 with our coverage of Bran II (Hardback page 169/Paperback page 185) and Reek II (Hardback page 253/Paperback page 277) in “A Dance with Dragons” . Ivan  and Red  discuss tears of their enemies, ignorant protagonists, eating that Elk twice, an explosion of pale rotten meat, the...

The Book Club continues with its coverage of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” chapters covered by HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. Having covered all of the relevant chapters in “ A Storm of Swords ” and “ A Feast for Crows ” (Full spoiler-free reading guide here ), we enter George R.R. Martin’s “ A Dance with Dragons ", covering Bran I (Page 60) and Reek I (Page 161). Ivan and Red discuss warg sex, reading d...

We may be on a short hiatus, but that doesn't mean we're not scheming up new and ever more grandiose ways to bring content to our loyal Bannermen. This week we feature Ivan Hernandez's "Give Me Fiction": a selection of original short stories performed before a live audience. You can visit the GMF Site ,  follow GMF on Twitter , check out the podcast on iTunes, RSS , Soundcloud, and Stitcher, and b...

This week we jump back into A Feast for Crows, finishing our last non-spoilery chapter, Sansa I (Hardback page 145/Paperback 226). Ivan  and Red  discuss the Marvel universe, free will, the SF Giants vs Kansas City Royals Game 7, the bastard Rivers Cuomo, the bastard Strom Thurmond, Sansa learning to lie, Ser Tinder, Marillionaire, and the return of the Game of King Chairs.

This week Ivan  and Red  called an audible and discussed the Epilogue of “A Storm of Swords”. If you *only* watch the tv show and haven’t read the books, we discuss an event that has not happened in the TV show. Up front they answer some listener emails and then get to the main event. Let us know your thoughts on twitter at @boarsgoreswords !

After completely whiffing on the last chapter in A Storm of Swords, Ivan  and Red  finish up the Brienne chapter they began last episode before looping back around to the last chapter in  A Storm of Swords, Sansa VII. They discuss The Patriarchy, raw eggs, Rivers Cuomo, Fish Wife vs Salt Wife, Ivan’s preferred food preparation technique, and Petyr Baelish’s favorite cat.

With no more unspoiled territory in A Storm of Swords, we jump into A Feast for Crows to cover one and a half of the three chapters we’re reading in A Feast for Crows, specifically we touch upon Brienne I (Hardback page 56/Paperback page 80) and Brienne II (Hardback page 130/Paperback page 184). Ivan  and Red  discuss Westeros’s most famous male model, matching carpet and japes, the incredible cra...

Following the reading guide  provided by Michelle Victory, this is the first episode where we skip chapters so as to remain unspoiled. We start with Arya XIII (Hardback page 843/Paperback page 1027) and then skill Samwell and Jon to get to Tyrion XI (Hardback page 871/Paperback page 1062). Sansa VII will be the last chapter we read in ASoS before hopping into the few chapters from A Feast for Crow...

Tommen gets his stamp on and Jon Snow discovers the true nature of Wargs in Jaime IX and Jon X (Hardback page 818/ Paperback Page 996) of “A Storm of Swords”. Ivan  and Red  discuss Star Wars Machete order and Ivan’s trip to the Folsom Street Fair before moving on to Tommen being adorably atrocious, only good things happening to Ramsay Bolton, when one sword become two, Long live Jeyne, a totally...

At the tail end of a 500 mile road trip and an iPad failure preventing book club, Ivan  and Red  catch up on correspondence from the Bannermen!

This week we’re completely lacking in Boars, but are up to our mangled necks in Gore and Swords. Ivan  and Red  take a break from the realms of Westeros and Essos and head for 19th century London to re-cap Showtime and Sky’s Penny Dreadful, created and written by John Logan. In this “What You Should Be Watching” episode, they discuss ravens from the Bannermen, Penny Dreadful’s horrific introductio...

  Daenerys metes out justice for Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah in Danerys VI (Hardback page 803/Paperback page 977) of George R.R. Martin’s “A Storm of Swords”. Ivan  and Red  answer ravens from the Bannermen and discuss Johnny Cash’s appearance on Columbo, Daenerys empathizing with the plight of various gods, the freedmen’s battering members, Cleon The Butcher King, The Butcher King’s Hype-Man, Dae...

Jon’s reward for holding the wall is Janos Slynt and Tyrion seeks justice from the gods in Jon IX and Tyrion X (Hardback page 778/Paperback page 946) in George R.R. Martin’s “A Storm of Swords”. Nato Green  of FX’s Totally Biased, The Business, and his podcast, The Nato Sessions , joins Ivan  and Red  to discuss translators for the deaf not being detailed enough for Game of Thrones, invented vocab...

Jaime reminds The Kingsguard who’s in charge and Petyr Baelish gets showy with his mastery of The Game of Thrones in Jaime VIII (Hardback page 750/Paperback page 912) in George R.R. Martin’s “A Storm of Swords”. Ivan  and Red  discuss Ravens from the Bannermen, books vs toilet paper, Stranger in a Strange Land, Ser Barristan’s advanced age, Jaime’s professional pride, Ser Boros missing out on a on...

This week, like Tobias Menzies, Ivan , Red , and guest Kelly Anneken  take a break from the world of Game of Thrones and head for the Scottish Highlands. They’re doing a re-cap and having a borderline histrionic discussion of the Starz’ series premiere of Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon’s Historical Romantic Science Fiction book of the same name. They discuss how to chug champagne on Victory Da...

Arya is running out of relatives and Tyrion’s relatives all think he murdered Joffrey in Arya XII (Hardback page 726/Paperback page 883) and Tyrion IX (Hardback page 735/Paperback page 894) in George R.R. Martin’s “A Storm of Swords”. Ivan  and Red  discuss the realities discuss a world in which fictional dreams don’t mean anything, Sansa’s dreams by Lisa Frank, Luc Besson’s voice, the bloody Bloo...

Edric Storm is stolen away and it’s the Battle at Castle Black in Davos VI (Hardback page 705/Paperback page 857) and Jon VIII (Hardback page 714/Paperback page 868) of George R.R. Marin’s “A Storm of Swords”. Ivan  and Red  discuss ravens from the bannermen concerning their absence, Alester vs Axell Florent, the honorability of burning, Joffrey and kittens, Kegs and Horse, closing your mouth in e...

Sansa V (Hardback page 685/paperback page 832) and Jaime VII in George R.R. Martin’s “A Storm of Swords” are this podcast’s topic. We discuss the book’s rendition of Sansa’s escape from King’s landing along with Jaime’s return. Along the way, Ivan  and Red  answer Ravens from the Bannermen before discussing bodices, murder wands, unrealistic disguises, friend-zoning Littlefinger, predictions on Pe...

This week we're in “A Storm of Swords” Sansa IV (page 659 hardback, 799 paperback) and Tyrion VIII (page 667 hardback, 809 paperback), which makes up the whole of Joffrey and Margaery’s nuptials. Ivan  and Red  discuss comedian Mike Patten , Sansa’s forgotten Direwolf, wooden tubs, seventy seven courses, the best part of a gammon steak, Joffrey Baratheon’s anti-literary campaign, sullen Sansa, and...

With the completion of Season 4 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Ivan  and Red  dig back into the Boars, Gore, And Swords book club, where they cover the chapters of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series that correspond to the previous television season. No TV spoilers! In the box this week, it’s “A Storm of Swords” Daenerys V (page 639 hardback, 774 paperback) and Tyion VII (654 hardback,...

With the completion of Season 4 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Ivan and Red dig back into the Boars, Gore, And Swords book club, where Ivan and Red cover the chapters of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series that correspond to the previous television season. No TV spoilers! Many thanks to Bannermen Chelle Victory  and Dolorous Edd  who took the time to look through the books and assemble...

 “The Children”, Season 4, Episode 10, of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” packs a lot of paternal angst into the season finale of the fourth season. Ivan  and Red  are joined by Oakland based comedian O.J. Patterson , the force behind the San Francisco Bay Area comedy blog, Courting Comedy . They discuss Bryan Cogman’s new venture, the Lee Pace show, Crows eating crow, the return of Mance Rayder, surprise...