George RR Martin still writing?

[Fast Learner]

Same reason anyone does. To express myself--including through complaining--and win people over to my way of thinking.

Silly question, really.

Not really. Do you plan to read it when it does come out, or when the series comes out?

I ask because I don't totally understand these threads sometimes. I'm not saying this is the case with you -- it is why I'm asking -- but sometimes it seems like some folks have a grudge about this and feel a need to voice it year after year. Seems like it would be something they'd want to eventually let go of. I know that said griping gets old to those who don't feel that way. It's not trolling, per se, but as the years roll on it begins to feel more and more like it.

Again, not trying to shut you up or something. Just trying to understand why so many people still keep coming to these threads, year after year, to complain. If they're not planning to read it when/if it does come out, that is.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Do you see the exact same posters commenting year-to-year, Fast Learner? I doubt it.

For example, this is the first year I bothered to weigh in here on GRRM at all. Until recently I hadn't read any of his books because I didn't want to pick up another unfinished series.I waited until I heard Dance with Dragons was coming out to even start reading the series, so I didn't read it until 2007 or 2008, I think. (So there are people with more than a decade more investment in this series than myself... poor bastards.)

Additionally, there's the TV show, which is a real mixed bag to me. It dredges up all my old concerns about the dreadful turn towards investment in extraneous characters and flat-out plot obfuscation that began to happen in the last book... which made me seriously doubt my decision to finally start reading the series.

On the other hand, the editorial and timing requirements of a TV format might be what is necessary to put a boot in his ass and make him write the story, so this has returned some degree of hope.

It is hope, not doubt, that fuels my ability to post on these subjects. But the doubt colors my ability to think well of any of it. Alas, the hope is looking for a compelling argument for its existence, and finding little of use. The doubt, however, is up to its elbows in crass commercialism and B.S.

EDIT:
Incidentally, I know I'm not picking up any more of the books until every single one of them is out and the story is finished. If the TV show is any good, that will probably become my canonical version, because I can't imagine it will wander quite so aimlessly given that HBO tends to limit the number of seasons on these things.

 

[Felon]

Not really. Do you plan to read it when it does come out, or when the series comes out?

I ask because I don't totally understand these threads sometimes. I'm not saying this is the case with you -- it is why I'm asking -- but sometimes it seems like some folks have a grudge about this and feel a need to voice it year after year. Seems like it would be something they'd want to eventually let go of. I know that said griping gets old to those who don't feel that way. It's not trolling, per se, but as the years roll on it begins to feel more and more like it.

Again, not trying to shut you up or something. Just trying to understand why so many people still keep coming to these threads, year after year, to complain. If they're not planning to read it when/if it does come out, that is.

OK, fair enough.

To answer your question, I really don't know. I tried reading the first book about five years ago and it really wore me out. Very long with a low quotient of events. Then about a year-and-a-half ago I started listening to the audiobooks. Much easier. The series seemed at times to be a grand Shakespearean drama, then at other times blatantly gratuitous torture-porn (Martin's really loves that whole "put to the sword" shtick). I think he's lost his passion, but his contractual obligations may force him to plod along. At the very least, I'll wait for some reviews. I'm not getting burned again like I did with Dark Tower.

As to your pondering about why people like to harp about their pet peeves, I think it's pretty straightforward: complaining is a good release for pent-up aggravation. Aggravation is ongoing for most folks, and generally doesn't get "let go" of, it's just repressed, sublimated, or exhausted temporarily. Complaining is healthier than drinking, smoking, and fight clubs. It's easier to get away with than beating up hookers or setting fires to condemned buildings. All things considered, complaining gets a bad rap.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I can understand the impatience. I just KNOW that he's got lots of interesting plot bombs he's going to drop on us when he starts pealing back the veil and driving the story toward it's climax. I really want to find out just what's going on in all of that, and that's why I'm eager to read the next book.

What's more, I really don't want the fat bastard to die on me and leave me guessing for the rest of my life. I guess I can only hope that he's tagged someone to finish the series based on his notes for him if he keels over at some point prior to finishing.

 

[Felon]

What's more, I really don't want the fat bastard to die on me and leave me guessing for the rest of my life.

Ah, Karl Edward Wagner, you brilliant, damnable, drunken sot. We'll never know what happens with Kane after At First Just Ghostly.

 

[Fast Learner]

Do you see the exact same posters commenting year-to-year, Fast Learner? I doubt it.

Actually yeah, it's pretty much the same 6 or 7 with another half-dozen new voices. Next year it will likely be 5 of those first 6 or 7, plus 1 or 2 of this year's new crop, and another half-dozen new.

Mind you, I'm here every year saying, "it'll be done when it's done, or it won't ever be done and I'll just enjoy re-reading what I already have," so apparently I'm a glutton for punishment.

Still, it's a curious phenomenon. (doo doo, doo-doo-doo)

 

[Felon]

Mind you, I'm here every year saying, "it'll be done when it's done, or it won't ever be done and I'll just enjoy re-reading what I already have," so apparently I'm a glutton for punishment.

Still, it's a curious phenomenon. (doo doo, doo-doo-doo)

Nothing phenomenal about people periodically restating a grievance for as long as the cause of the grievance persists.

 

[Fast Learner]

It is if you think the grievance will persist forever, which seems to be the case for some.

 

[Mistwell]

Just go start reading Steven Erikson (the first book notwithstanding, for it lacks something) and get your "good fantasy" fix that way. By the time you finish, George R R Martin's next book will be out

 

[Desdichado]

I ask because I don't totally understand these threads sometimes. I'm not saying this is the case with you -- it is why I'm asking -- but sometimes it seems like some folks have a grudge about this and feel a need to voice it year after year. Seems like it would be something they'd want to eventually let go of. I know that said griping gets old to those who don't feel that way. It's not trolling, per se, but as the years roll on it begins to feel more and more like it.

The same question could be asked in reverse; why do you keep coming to threads that you know are designed to be little more than rant/complaint fests just to express your exasperation with the fact that people rant and complain? Year after year, according to you?

I understand the desire to rant and complain well enough; the desire to go into threads that you should know beforehand that you're not going to like, and get frustrated by completely predictable responses; that I understand far less.