New A Song of Ice and Fire Update: still not done

[Felon]

George gave fantasy a serious shot in the arm when AGOT was published. The next two books were each better than the previous book. I still hold up ASOS as the best modern novel I've read. His series is widely considered the best modern fantasy at this moment. It has the potential to be best big fantasy series ever.

Oh, if this were only a Wikipedia entry where someone would be sure to riddle all those sentences with gratuitous "citation needed" superscripts...

God, just let me know where to buy the cliff notes. What have his page counts gone up to these days? Hitting five digits yet?

 

[Steel_Wind]

Oh, if this were only a Wikipedia entry where someone would be sure to riddle all those sentences with gratuitous "citation needed" superscripts...

" the American Tolkien..."

The citation for that would be Time Magazine, as I expect you well know.

For all the wisdom of worldly cynicism, at least with GRRM when you drag out the hyperbole and superlatives, he's generally more worthy of their overuse (and perhaps, misuse) than any other living fantasy writer.

 

[Felon]

" the American Tolkien..."

The citation for that would be Time Magazine, as I expect you well know.

I wasn't, but considering how much folks gush about these books, it's not much of a shocker that some fairly empty appellation like "the American Tolkein" would be bandied about. Whatever one might think of the respective authors, Martin's style is nothing like Tolkein's, so it's just saying "Tolkein was popular, this guy is popular, so let's equate them" (like calling Tom Hanks "the modern Jimmy Stewart" or some such nonsense). Of course, as with anything, the popularity of something one finds to be utterly undeserving is bound to rankle.

For all the wisdom of worldly cynicism, at least with GRRM when you drag out the hyperbole and superlatives, he's generally more worthy of their overuse (and perhaps, misuse) than any other living fantasy writer.

Citation needed

 

[Pants]

Citation needed

Opinion

 

[Plane Sailing]

And get an editor that knows how to put their foot down.

The lack of which is the bane of successful authors (c.f. JK Rowling)

 

[Harmon]

Maybe we should all just back off giving him a bad time about the speed at which he writes.

AFFC was not my favorite of the series but it showed me that 'this guy knows where he wants to take us.'

Like a boringly slow portition of a campaign, you see that the GM is in transition. Stop hounding, let the flow happen, and relax.

George has a few years behind him, he writes at a speed that he is comfortable with.

 

[Cor Azer]

I've got a serious question to ask: Does going to these conventions and watching football really hold back GRRM this much? I mean, we all have hobbies, we all have things going on the side, but how many of us completely slack in our main job and use those things to excuse it?

I love Martin, I love his writing, I like the fact that he is accessible and all of that. But, I'm not going to simply excuse him for slacking off on his novels to do all those other things. It is highly dissappointing to start reading books and then have the author draw out the series and the pace at which the books are released. We've seen this before. Not only that, but the quality of his latest was down a little compared to before that. I didn't mind the split so much as long as the other half was out soon. It keeps getting pushed further and further back - kind of like AFFC was. ADWD should have been out last year or early this year. He spent 5 years writing what? 700 pages? If he had so much of ADWD written along with AFFC, where is it? Why isn't it out? Why can other writers in the genre spit out great books at a good pace and he can't? In 10 years are we going to be waiting on Book 7?

Remember too though that he is an author, and part of those responsibilities is to attend cons to promote his books. Sure, he's lucky enough that he enjoys most aspects of his job (would that we all were so lucky), but many of these cons he attends are part of his job, not just fanboy trips. Yes, writing is the main focus, but it's not the only focus.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Wasn't George R.R. severely ill a few years ago? Maybe I am getting him mixed up with another writer, but I think he had a bout of cancer or something equally seriously two or three years ago. Dealing with that could put him behind in his writing.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Wasn't George R.R. severely ill a few years ago? Maybe I am getting him mixed up with another writer, but I think he had a bout of cancer or something equally seriously two or three years ago. Dealing with that could put him behind in his writing.

No. You are thinking of Robert Jordan.

 

[JoeGKushner]

M'eh.

At least it's not as lame as being upset that Bush won the election.

I ain't buying another book from him or Jordan till the series are finished and in the can.