[Ain't_It_Just_]

One day after my birthday, curse it.

But nice to know when...

[Cougar]

It is great having a fave author who churns them out but after the crippled god he won't be doing it any more; he told us this last time we saw him. He is going to write some more series but take longer over them. I beleive he said knocking out one a year was killing him.

[Perashaman]

Yeah I wasn't qualifying WoT when I said that, I was just saying it is an epic release. Twenty years in the making or so. I've been a huge fan for about... 10 years or so, and even though parts of the series have been frustrating, reading the last book is going to be a pretty exciting thing for me. I'll probably end up reading it all in one or two spurts, despite the fact that it's estimated at being about 1200 pages

[polishgenius]

Osric, on Oct 14 2008, 11:01 AM, said:

Writers should learn from Erikson, huge books always released very fast. I like it, cant wait for Dust of Dreams.

Erikson has a confessed lack of concern for editing - and in the last few books I think the pressure to get them out yearly has shown. I'm glad he's slowing it up after the ten, though honestly I wouldn't mind if he eased up now.

Either way though, what applies to one author does not apply to another; it's not a question of learning. Just the way it goes...

[Use Of Weapons]

re: Janny Wurts. I believe the Alliance of Light arc in Wars is now complete with _Stormed Fortress_. The next arc, which will complete the sequence, is the Sword of the Canon arc, and is comprised of two books, the first of which, _Initiate's Trial_ has no release date as yet. Given the pattern for Alliance, however, I'd expect to see it either Xmas 2009, or summer 2010.

[Excellence]

Hahahaha. This puts Martin to shame. Trilogy-sized tomes per annumn to his porno-infested women-descriminated books.

Fantasy has respectability thanks to Steve.

[Dutch]

Good news, I can't wait.

I've just finished Toll the Hounds last weekend and started in Return of the Crimson Guard right after.

Seven months ago, I had never had heard of Steven Erikson nor Ian C. Esslemont.

Now I've read eight Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and one Tale of the Malazan Empire.

Man, I love these books.

[teholbeddict]

Great! Now if only Martin would get on with it and finally release Dance with Dragons. How long can it take to finish a book which was supposedly half done when A Feast For Crows was published three years ago! I'm also looking forward to the second book of the Rothfuss trilogy.

[Sinisdar Toste]

Dutch Master of the Deck, on Oct 24 2008, 01:57 PM, said:

Good news, I can't wait.

I've just finished Toll the Hounds last weekend and started in Return of the Crimson Guard right after.

Seven months ago, I had never had heard of Steven Erikson nor Ian C. Esslemont.

Now I've read eight Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and one Tale of the Malazan Empire.

Man, I love these books.

a true disciple this one

[Vengeance]

This is good news thanks Pat....Bugger Martin bloody slow bastard anyway....

[Deragoth]

teholbeddict, on Oct 24 2008, 01:33 PM, said:

Great! Now if only Martin would get on with it and finally release Dance with Dragons. How long can it take to finish a book which was supposedly half done when A Feast For Crows was published three years ago! I'm also looking forward to the second book of the Rothfuss trilogy.

Me too! The Name of the Wind was a very good book.

[Paran]

Isn't Wise Man's Fear now due in 2010? I read on Pat's site that Rothfuss missed his publisher's date.

Anyway DoD in July would be AWESOME!

[Azure Horizon]

Excellence, on Oct 24 2008, 12:30 AM, said:

Hahahaha. This puts Martin to shame. Trilogy-sized tomes per annumn to his porno-infested women-descriminated books.

Fantasy has respectability thanks to Steve.

I'm not sure how to respond to this statement. Just because Martin writes slower does not mean his books are of any less quality than the Malazan series. If anything, Martin cares more about every minute detail... and the end product shows this. The time and effort he puts into each ASOIAF novel is what makes the series have much more depth, complexity, and love. I love the Malazan series, but this is just uncalled for and untrue.

Porno-infested, women-discriminated books? Were we reading the same novels? If anything, his sex scenes are less cut-and-dry than SE's, and both series feature many, *many* strong female leads that clearly do not fall into stereotypes.

Of course, I may just be taking this post at face value and completely missing any evident sarcasm.

[Azure Horizon]

Hetan, on Oct 30 2008, 12:02 AM, said:

@Excellence - That sounds more like a Goodkind book than a Martin book, but admittedly I haven't read the last one.
It must be awful to be a hugely popular author and then dry-up mid-series, because it seems to me, from all the discussion about it, that's what has happened to Martin?

I think Steve too has suffered a little from this in the past, and I know he had some serious personal stuff to deal with while Toll was being written, but Dust is shaping up really nicely so far I agree with Azure Horizon (couldn't you just be Blue? ) that there are some great strong female characters written by both authors.

It has in no way happened to Martin. A Feast for Crows was an excellent book in its own right, even though it lacked the "oomph" of ASoS.

Edit: "Azure Horizon" comes from a line in the graphic novel, Pride of Baghdad, which is a great read

This post has been edited by Azure Horizon: 30 October 2008 - 07:06 AM

[Azure Horizon]

I'm glad that Martin is listening more to his own inner muse than to fans who have serious addiction problems. Martin can take as long as he wants on his books, so long as he doesn't die before the last one is finished. Honestly, the Malazan books are losing a bit of their edge as they get put out faster and faster. Numerous editing errors, and deus ex machina everywhere. A lot of events happen simply to move the plot along but rarely make sense (Dying God, jade statues, anyone?).

More time for more coherency is appreciated and recommended.

This post has been edited by Azure Horizon: 30 October 2008 - 07:16 AM

[Excellence]

Azure, what numerous editing errors are you thinking of?

Honestly, I think I've spotted perhaps two spelling mistakes in 7 books. Only "big" issue was the amount of time Seren's party were refugees.

[Azure Horizon]

Excellence, on Oct 30 2008, 04:00 AM, said:

Azure, what numerous editing errors are you thinking of?

Honestly, I think I've spotted perhaps two spelling mistakes in 7 books. Only "big" issue was the amount of time Seren's party were refugees.

Spelling errors, including that of characters who have had quite a bit of screentime (so you think it would be muscle memory by now to type out their names), as well as sentences that end abruptly for no reason at all.

Even beyond grammatical errors, there is also coherency problems with storylines that are often thrown in that do nothing to advance the plot and feel unnecessary.

[teholbeddict]

I honestly haven't noticed any evidence that would indicate the quality of SE's writing is suffering as a result of the books coming out yearly. In fact I would go in the other direction and say that the books are improving. I haven't noticed the numerous editing errors either. Events don't always take place in the order that one would assume but they always have a purpose and it's not just to move the plot along.

I didn't have a problem with Martin's last book I really enjoyed it. My major beef is the fact he stated he was half done with the new book when a Feast For Crows was published. He also stated that Dance could be expected within the next year. Obviously it wasn't and he has continued to put out possible completion dates and miss them ever since. I get the quality argument to some degree, but really how long does it take to write half a book? As others have stated in this thread it's not like it's even the last book in the series. As was also mentioned he doesn't write during Con season, so it's not as if he sitting there slogging away for the whole of the year. I would also argue that his series comes nowhere close to the depth of SE's.