Belfast Report 01

Very, very awesome.

A queue started forming about an hour before the signing was due to begin. Then we started recognising people lurking at the back of the bookstore: we spotted Ron Donachie and Sophie Turner hanging out. Then George and Parris arrived and introduced everyone who had come along: Ron, Sophie, Maisie Williams, Richard Madden ("The Best-Dressed Man in Scotland"), Kit Harington and Alfie Allen!

After George signed the books, the cast agreed to sign them as well, leaving my copy of GAME OF THRONES emblazoned with many signatures. Many, many pictures were taken by myself and Silverstar (hers turned out a bit blurry, obviously a technical hitch). Seriously, dozens of photos were taken and will appear at some point (the Linen House computers don't have accessible USB or XD card connections, unfortunately). We got a fantastic group photo of George and everyone else who was there.

Ron Donarchie reported he was doing some horse-riding this afternoon, whilst Kit was clearly exhausted after three 17-hour days. Everyone was astonishingly friendly and approachable. Ron reported that he had devoured all four books already and was bugging George about the fifth one! Kit has reached AFFC and Alfie is in the second half of GoT and coming up on CLASH, and noted it's a good thing he's good with boats. Richard Madden was a very funny guy and bearing the brunt of much humour for being "The Best-Dressed Man in Scotland".

Funniest person of the day was Maisie Williams, who (amusingly) reprimanded Alfie for disappearing and holding up the signing queue at one point (for about twenty seconds), leaving him contrite in the face of some very Arya-esque withering scorn. All the cast seemed to be getting on excellently, taking the mick out of one another, happy to pose for photos and more.

A lady from HBO was there and seemed delighted with all the excitement over the books. She said they'd had a big talk with George to see how happy he was with filming so far, and he said he thought everything was going great. HBO seems to be running a lot of things past George to ensure the series remains true to the books and his vision, and HBO are very respectful of that.

We also heard that Lena Headey is doing great work as Cersei and her performance was nailing the character from the books superbly.

That's about it. We're back at the hostel to freshen up before heading to the pub. The meet-up begins at about 6 and Ron and Richard said they'd try to make it. Kit was clearly insanely tired, so he might not be along. We'll see who else makes it.

Everyone was brilliant. George and Matt Hughes (a fellow SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH author) was sitting behind a huge desk, but everyone else was milling with fans in the corner, happy to chat, have photographs taken and chill out with people. They seemed genuinely touched and impressed by the dedication of the fans present.

Awesome stuff. Photos to follow :-)