Whether the upcoming video game based on author George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series and the HBO series of the same name, Game of Thrones, will end up being good or not is to be determined. We’ve seen some promising gameplay videos, but not a whole lot else is known about it, and it’s hard to know what to expect when the game is released on May 15 of this year.

Despite the fact that the game itself is still up in the air, a new deal is being offered that will surely lure a few buyers in early. If you pre-order Game of Thrones on either Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC (link not yet available), you will get a free hardbound concept art book titled Game of Thrones: Visuals From the RPG.

It’s incredible how painfully long the wait can be for a new season of a show that’s so brain-explodingly, face-meltingly good that you want it to run non-stop all year long.

One of those shows (at least for a large number of fans) is HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is of course based on author George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series. We knew it would be around springtime of 2012 that we would finally get our beloved fantasy series back, but now an official date has been set.

HBO has announced that season 2 of Game of Thrones will premiere on April the 1st at 9pm EST. Unless of course this is some sort of very, very, VERY cruel joke.

2011 was a big year for doorstopper-sized fantasy novels, particularly A Dance of Dragons by George R.R. Martin, which is a whopping 1,040 pages. It sold 298,000 copies on its first day alone, which included 170,000 hardcovers, 110,000 eBooks, and 18,000 audiobooks, proving that although ebook sales are catching up, print is still ahead for big releases like this.

Another major series that got a hugely anticipated sequel came in the form of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear, which continues the events of The Name of the Wind and propels Kvothe into an even more compelling situations. Canadian horror also got a few notable entries with Enter, Night and Dead of Winter, both historical fiction novels and both superbly written. Small and mid-sized presses continue to produce some of the best genre fiction out there, and this year proved no exception.

Here’s my picks for the Top 10 Fantasy and Horror Books of 2011.

Author George R.R. Martin‘s book series A Song of Ice and Fire got a major boast in popularity thanks its hit television adaptation, HBO’s Game Of Thrones. The fifth installment in the saga, A Dance with Dragons, which was released this Summer, was one of the most highly anticipated and well-received books of 2011.

Now, the author has posted an excerpt at his website from The Winds of Winter, the next book in the series!

Back in October we first heard about a “Mass Effect-style” Game of Thrones RPG in the works that was based on author George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire book series. Now the first two gameplay trailers for the game have been released, and it’s looking pretty promising!

The game has been made along with Martin, and will follow a storyline that weaves itself into the existing mythology. Mors Westfold, a member of the Night’s Watch on the Wall, and a Red Priest named Alester Sarwyck will act as the two original main characters of the game, but players will also encounter many of the popular (and not so popular) names and faces from the books and TV series as well.

You can check out the two trailers for the Game of Thrones RPG by continuing below.