Good news for fans of Game of Thrones living near College Station, Texas. The debut episode of season 3 will be screened at Texas A&M University at 7:45pm on Friday March 22, at the Rudder Auditorium a full 9 days before the HBO premiere.

The screening will follow a scheduled lecture and Q&A session by “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin beginning at 6:30pm

Tickets to the lecture and screening are free and open to the public, but tickets must be picked up in person on site. No one under 17 will be permitted to the screening.

The lecture/screening is the final event of a 2-day visit by “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R Martin titled “Deeper than Swords” organized by the fine people of the Cushing Memorial Library. The 2 day event will also include a dinner with George R.R Martin the night before (March 21st) featuring courses described in his books, a book signing, and an exhibit dedicated to the Works of George R.R. Martin to be on display at the Cushing Memorial Library through December.

The lecture/screening and access to the exhibit are free and open to the public, while the book signing is $25, and the dinner is SOLD OUT.

Thanks, TAMU.edu.

Author’s note: I live a couple of hours away from College Station Texas and was not able to pick up a lecture ticket in person, but I did purchase a book signing ticket and the nice people at the TAMU box office did send along a lecture ticket with the signing ticket by request. I did get my lecture ticket over a month ago, before the screening was announced, and there still might be tickets available, but I imagine if there are any left they’d disappear quickly with the screening announced.