Game of Thrones

In this publicity image released by HBO, Sean Bean portrays Eddard Stark in a scene from the HBO series, "Game of Thrones."

(HBO, Nick Briggs | The Associated Press)

Winter is coming... in the spring.

Professor Samuel Avery is launching a "Game of Thrones" class at the State University of New York at Cortland next semester. The accredited college course will focus on the books by George R.R. Martin and analyze differences between his "A Song of Fire and Ice" series and the HBO series it's based on.

Avery tells syracuse.com the idea came after the show inspired him to read Martin's fantasy-adventure novels. He compared his enjoyment of the novels to "Harry Potter," whose popularity encouraged reading among young people.

SUNY Cortland is launching a "Game of Thrones" class in the spring of 2015.

"As an educator, it has been my experience that college students are generally alliterate - meaning that they CAN read but choose not to," he explains. "This is problematic because the act of reading is often so closely linked to the success of a person. The more a person reads, the better a person writes and the better a person writes, the more successful that person is likely going to be."

"So how do you get college kids reading? Simple. Give them something enjoyable to read!"

College classes based on television shows, such as "Doctor Who" and "Star Trek" at Syracuse University or "Breaking Bad" at Buffalo State, have become a bit of a trend. The Wall Street Journal reports the University of Virginia even had its own "Game of Thrones" course this past summer, where discussions ranged from fan culture and online spoilers to why Daenerys Targaryen didn't lose her hair in a fire like at the end of the first book.

Though parts of the HBO series will be shown in SUNY Cortland's class, the text will be the primary focus. Avery says his participants will analyze the storytelling techniques and character developments by Martin, labeled "The American Tolkien" by some.

Students enrolled in "COM 329 Thrones: Story and Character" will read and discuss Martin's first three books: "A Game of Thrones," "A Clash of Kings" and "A Storm of Swords." It's not light reading, either -- each novel is more than 700 pages long.

"I hope this class gets students back into reading and writing," Avery adds. "It becomes easy to forget that reading is a luxury -- especially when you are assigned academic text after academic text dealing with high theory and complex deconstructions. Students need to remember what it felt like to be entranced by a book."

Of course, there's still fun to be had in the classroom. Avery plans to split students into different Houses like in the books and show, and have them "fight it out" as the Starks, Lannisters, Baratheons and Targaryens.

"Students better be ready for a semester of betrayals, battles and BOOKS! After all, winter is coming," Avery jokes.

The course, worth 3 credits to any SUNY Cortland student who enrolls, will be held Wednesdays from 4:20 to 6:50 p.m. starting in January.