Video: George R.R. Martin reflects on A Song of Ice and Fire for Apple

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Merry Christmas, everybody! We here at WiC hope your day is full of good cheer, good company, and good will towards men and women. And also presents. Presents are nice.

If you’re unaware, Random House and Apple teamed up not long ago to give their own gift to the Song of Ice and Fire fandom: new digital editions of all the books in George R.R. Martin’s series, complete with maps, footnotes, illustrations and audio clips that help readers navigate the massive, complex story. The digital versions of A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords are all available to download now, with new editions of the next two books coming out in 2017.

For each of the three books now available, Apple produced a short video where Martin reflects on his work. In the first video, Martin reflects on the power of the imagination, the starting point of any work of fiction. The illustrations are very evocative.

In the second video, Martin zeroes in on the central theme of A Song of Ice and Fire: power.

And in the third, he discusses the importance of family in Westeros.

Also in a giving mood: HBO, which compiled a helpful post on its Making Game of Thrones blog. The title: “Everything There Is to Know About Game of Thrones Season 7.” Among the reminders:

• “Season 7 will have seven episodes.” Brevity is beautiful.
• Although it usually debuts in the spring, “Season 7 will air in the summer of 2017.” As programming president Casey Bloys said, “Now that winter has arrived on Game of Thrones, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing.” Still no word on exactly when in the summer it’ll be on the air, though.
• “The cast and crew are returning to Northern Ireland, Iceland and Spain to shoot on location.” Northern Ireland is the show’s base of filming operations, and it’s already finished shooting in Spain. Iceland is the next area to keep an eye on.
• Jim Broadbent will be on the show, and Emmy-winning costume designer Michelle Clapton will be dressing everyone.
• Alan Taylor, Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa and Matt Shakman will be directing.

Now, that’s now quite everything there is to know about Season 7 (there are SPOILERS aplenty for those who want them), but it’s nice of HBO to put together this primer. We’ll be covering all the new goings-on, both behind and in front of the curtain, when the production returns from its holiday break.

Happy holidays to all!