A Feast for Crows Update.

[KnowTheToe]

In contradiction to what seems to be the general current of feeling, I will say this:

The man owes you nothing except a good follow-up to the books he's written before - not a timely followup nor anything else.

Incessant demands that authors cave in to their audience's demands leads to creative bankruptcy like Arthur Conan Doyle or, *shudder*, the Brian Herbert Dune novels.

I think we, the fans, do have a right to be frustrated. I bought the books as they were going to be a trilogy, an expectation the author set. He then changed his mind and expanded the series to ensure it met his vision. I think most fans are fine with this change. But in reading a series, readers have certain expectations and rightly so. A 2 year wait between books is generally accepted, but 5-6 years is wrong and shows a lack of professionalism and commitment on the authors part. Writing is a business and I can't believe the publisher has allowed him such a long break. If GRRM keeps up his current creative pace it will be 15+ years before tha 7th book comes out. IMO, if GRRM had the story developed it would not take hime 5 years to find inspiration to write it. IMO, once the author comes out with that first book, he/she has a responsability to the fans and publisher to work on the other books in a timely fashion. Hey if the books were seperate series or independant of each other, then take 10 years, I don't care, but these are not.

 

[Particle_Man]

Ah, but that is the present generation of readers. If the series holds up in quality, and the last book in the series comes out (say 25 years from now) then that generation of readers will come to the 7 books (assumption, but hey) series as a whole, with no waiting time in between. Thus they will judge it by other criteria than waiting times, and the judgements of our generation re: waiting times will be rendered obsolete as far as criticism goes.

Just some fourth-dimensional musings...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Martin's just taking this long to keep the heat off of JK Rowling.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Yeah, Martin has mentioned the names of the books in some interviews and his fan correspondance. Let me hunt for some links here...

Thanks!

 

[ssampier]

Well, I'm hoping the gap between Feast and Dance is a lot shorter (two to three years at most). I'm fearing a Jordan here (which is weird since the series didn't take a nosedive until about book five or six).

Hmmm, maybe I should gather a list of book in between the series.

 

[KenM]

Anyone know what issue of Dragon mag it was with the Song of Ice and Fire stuff in it? It had some Feast for Crows story in it or something.

 

[Starman]

Anyone know what issue of Dragon mag it was with the Song of Ice and Fire stuff in it? It had some Feast for Crows story in it or something.

Google says it was #307, the May 2k3 issue.

Starman

 

[KnowTheToe]

One thing made me nervous about the release of that chapter. GRRM said he could release the chapter because it did not overly relate to the plot of the book and had no spoilers. To me, that translated into a chapter with nothing but fluff without much context. It reminded me of Jordan. I did not read it because I saw little point on reading a chapter from the middle of a book that has yet to be released. My guess is that chapter won't even make the new book, but was his and his publishers way to feed the starving fans. I could be totally wrong as I never read the piece.

 

[Pants]

Well, it'd would be Jordan-ish only if you changed it from 'just a chapter' to 'an entire book.'

 

[Lord Pendragon]

GRRM said he could release the chapter because it did not overly relate to the plot of the book and had no spoilers. To me, that translated into a chapter with nothing but fluff without much context.

Characterization would fall into the category of "does not overly relate to the plot of the book and has no spoilers." I'd hardly call characterization "fluff" though.