[Kulp Diet]

I think he got really screwed up when he changed his mind about having the 5-year gap (in which to let Bran and Arya grow up a bit, give Dany some more time to grow in power before her launch, etc.). Now he has to kick the action into overdrive in a believeable way. This also makes me hopeful that when the books do start trickling out, they will move a lot faster than Brienne walking through the boonies.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Yeah, I've had my fill of Brienne for right now. Looking forward to the other POVs.

[Werthead]

One thing that does mildly piss me off is the number of people claiming the GRRM isn't working on the book and spends all his time watching football.

I don't have a huge amount of contact with GRRM, but I do swap emails regularly with Parris, and she isn't particularly crazy about the fact that her significant other is often up to some crazy time in the morning working on this book and has been for three years straight. Then people who have no idea about the situation turn round can call him lazy or say that he doesn't care about the series or the fans, which is very far from the truth.

It is closer to the situation when people criticise him for being too much of a perfectionist, or not letting go of a book or a chapter that any other author would be ecstatic with, or that perhaps all this second-guessing of himself isn't helpful (as could be argued was one of the problems with AFFC), but the only author I know of who was more of a perfectionist was Tolkien, and that didn't work out too badly for him in the end.

[Abyss]

Werthead;339257 said:

One thing that does mildly piss me off is the number of people claiming the GRRM isn't working on the book and spends all his time watching football.

I don't have a huge amount of contact with GRRM, but I do swap emails regularly with Parris, and she isn't particularly crazy about the fact that her significant other is often up to some crazy time in the morning working on this book and has been for three years straight. Then people who have no idea about the situation turn round can call him lazy or say that he doesn't care about the series or the fans, which is very far from the truth.
....

My post, at least, is tongue-in-cheek, and you're that bit closer to the source so i'll take your werd for it, but one way or the other, there's a very clear fact line here: he's doing a lot of stuff that isn't SIF related and the delay between SIF books doesn't seem to be shrinking. That's his god-given right and i will fight (ok, argue with mild intensity) to protect it, BUT, that doesn't change the fact that he seems to be producing product that is not SIF, and it's that, i suspect, that gets the fans riled.

Personally, hey, there are lots of awesome authors out there. We won't die.

- Abyss, often speculates how much it would suck to die before a much loved series is completed... would your ghost haunt bookstores, clutching feebly at pages you can't touch, reading over people's shoulders and moaning in ghostly agony when they always stop just before the bit you haven't read yet... :eek:

[Slum]

@Wert - Like it or not, GRRM is something of a celebrity in SFF circles and as such he's subject to the same type of rampant gossip and parodying as any celebrity. Yes, I'm sure he has his reasons for taking so long, and I'm sure to him they're quite valid, but that won't stop the rest of us from having a little fun at his expense. When all is said and done, his book is still going to fly off the shelves.

Lighten up.

[paladin]

Werthead;339257 said:

but the only author I know of who was more of a perfectionist was Tolkien, and that didn't work out too badly for him in the end.

except the part where he died before completing all the work he had set to complete.

noones saying that martin doesnt have the right to be a slow old bastard, but some people are justifiably frustrated at the delays when we're told of these deadlines he has with his publisher that are routinely missed. without the fans, he wouldnt have the money or time to write the books. when you make the impression that you're always busy doing this or that and most of it is not related to the book it bothers the fans because he comes off as disinterested in his masterwork of sorts. and with jordan passing before he finished and the pace grrm is setting, you have to worry about martin doing the same now. not a pleasant prospect.

you have to remember that just like any "spectator sport", martin would be nothing without his fans. if you dont respect your fans, eventually its going to bite you in the butt. if he wants fans to know hes working at 3am and his wife is pissed at him perhaps he should say that rather than "im going to so and so con, to this football game, fishing, europe, BFE, etc" because at this point it just looks like disinterest.

to sum up wert, he is the primary source of what we think hes doing. he doesnt show us anything that hes focused on adwd. he shows us that hes got a thousand other things to do. perhaps you should bring that up with him if you are annoyed because its ultimately the image he has shown the world through his website and various interviews. you cant say the same about, say, glen cook because noone knows what the hell hes doing. he doesnt have a blog or a multitude of recent interviews or a tv show or comic books and his books arent necessarily coming out in erikson timetables either

[acesn8s]

Christopher;338952 said:

. . . He's probably amongst the first authors to get the such intense internet scrutiny of a series while its still in progress (Jordan would have been first I'd guess).

When I was in High School I worked at a Waldenbooks. Even before Jordan, there was a dedicated fan base waiting for Jean Auel's next book (author of Clan of the Cave Bear). I remember getting asked a few times a year, "what happened, did she die?" Steven King also had a lot of people waiting for the Dark Tower series to wrap up, but by that time Jordan was over the 1 year per book release time.

I stopped going to Martin's blog. I don't want to see all the extra stuff he's doing. I'll just wait for the release date. It's easier for me this way.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

acesn8s;339436 said:

I stopped going to Martin's blog. I don't want to see all the extra stuff he's doing. I'll just wait for the release date. It's easier for me this way.

That's the point I'm at at this point. As mentioned above, my feelings that he's more interested in other things comes from the info he provides. Wert, thanks for the info that he's actually hard at work. That helps.

[Adjutant Stormy~]

GRRM sux lulz!

Jk. Seriously. He's only mortal.
I mean, don't neg-rep me...

[Astra]

A few minutes ago I received an interesting email from amazon.co.uk.

Quote

We wanted to give you an update on the status of your order #xxxxxx.

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we
need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

George R.R. Martin (Author) "A Dance with Dragons (Song of Ice and
Fire)" [Hardcover]
Estimated arrival date: 15/04/09 - 21/04/09

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

....

[Illuyankas]

...WHAT

[wolf_2099]

Since when is amazon ever accurate?

I've been waiting on my Scott Lynch book for a long while and I don't even think it's gotten aprroved for publishing.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Astra;346182 said:

A few minutes ago I received an interesting email from amazon.co.uk.


....

Sounds overly optimistic to me.

[Christopher]

Raymond Luxury Yacht;346303 said:

Sounds overly optimistic to me.

Sounds like a stab in the dark. How can they even come up with a realistic timetable when the book isn't finished the first draft yet and the author isn't writing right now? I guess putting down some kind of date rather than just 'unknown' has a better chance of keeping the fish on the hook.

[Werthead]

They announced the delay weeks ago. I mentioned it about 3 pages back on the thread.

Oh yeah, and the 'first draft' is more or less complete, as far as I can tell. GRRM drafts and rewrites each chapter individually rather than the whole book, but most of the released chapters have been thoroughly rewritten and redrafted.

[Astra]

Werthead;346702 said:

They announced the delay weeks ago. I mentioned it about 3 pages back on the thread.

Sorry Wert. I didn't follow the thread just wanted to share the news when I received the email.

[Optimus Prime]

Werthead;346702 said:

They announced the delay weeks ago. I mentioned it about 3 pages back on the thread.

Oh yeah, and the 'first draft' is more or less complete, as far as I can tell. GRRM drafts and rewrites each chapter individually rather than the whole book, but most of the released chapters have been thoroughly rewritten and redrafted.

Your defense of GRRM is admirable Wert, but whatever you are selling we aren't buying

April '09? I'll be surprised if it is here, but I'm not going to stress. Gives me time to spend on other interests, for after RotCG I'm going on Fantasy Hiatus for awhile.

[Optimus Prime]

I hope GRRM is having fun in Portugal....or the Czech Republic, or fucking Mars for all we know.

[wolf_2099]

Optimus Prime;347135 said:

I hope GRRM is having fun in Portugal....or the Czech Republic, or fucking Mars for all we know.

Hey, the man doesn't have a ton of time to live, he 's gotta enjoy what little time he has left!

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Shouldn't an author complete the book before going on a publicity tour?