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

[Enforcer]

Yeah, that was pretty ridiculous too: "Even though millions and millions of Americans manage to keep doing their jobs and doing them well, despite the fact that being a writer is way cooler than 99% of their careers, I'm too sad about the election to write." Come on... If you have a personal tragedy, that I can understand, but an election result?!?

I'm still debating whether to buy Jordan's Book 11. I hear things were much improved (i.e. his wife didn't edit it, an editor did), but now that he seriously might die before the books are completed I'm not sure it'd be worth it. Of all the jokes made about these guys finishing their respective series before they die, man... I did finish the New Spring prologue while on the plane last night, it was decent. I may skim through the books again.

When A Dance of Dragons comes out though, I'll definitely be a buyer. Some of my favorite characters/plotlines (Daenarys, Tyrion, Jon Snow) will be much too hard to resist. May you find the focus and drive you need, Mr. Martin. The next election's not till the end of 2008 and the football season is over.

Heck, I'd be happy with another Dunk and Egg story too. I love those.

 

[Mistwell]

Yeah, that was pretty ridiculous too: "Even though millions and millions of Americans manage to keep doing their jobs and doing them well, despite the fact that being a writer is way cooler than 99% of their careers, I'm too sad about the election to write." Come on... If you have a personal tragedy, that I can understand, but an election result?!?

I'm still debating whether to buy Jordan's Book 11. I hear things were much improved (i.e. his wife didn't edit it, an editor did), but now that he seriously might die before the books are completed I'm not sure it'd be worth it. Of all the jokes made about these guys finishing their respective series before they die, man... I did finish the New Spring prologue while on the plane last night, it was decent. I may skim through the books again.

When A Dance of Dragons comes out though, I'll definitely be a buyer. Some of my favorite characters/plotlines (Daenarys, Tyrion, Jon Snow) will be much too hard to resist. May you find the focus and drive you need, Mr. Martin. The next election's not till the end of 2008 and the football season is over.

Heck, I'd be happy with another Dunk and Egg story too. I love those.

For what it is worth, Jordan seems to have defied the odds of his illness and is on the mend. In fact, the indicator that he is ill, which is a count of a certain thing in his blood, is now back to normal.

 

[Enforcer]

For what it is worth, Jordan seems to have defied the odds of his illness and is on the mend. In fact, the indicator that he is ill, which is a count of a certain thing in his blood, is now back to normal.

I hadn't heard that, that's good news. From what I read it's a very serious illness. Maybe the books will get finished after all!

 

[Rystil Arden]

For what it is worth, Jordan seems to have defied the odds of his illness and is on the mend. In fact, the indicator that he is ill, which is a count of a certain thing in his blood, is now back to normal.

Not to hijack the thread, but my dad said that with that particular disorder, Jordan would have a decent (20-30%) chance of dying during his treatment or for a short time thereafter, but if he lived through that, he would with high probability not be killed (at least from this disorder) for the next five years, so in that sense, he went with the odds (although certainly weren't odds anyone would want to take with their life!).

 

[Mistwell]

Not to hijack the thread, but my dad said that with that particular disorder, Jordan would have a decent (20-30%) chance of dying during his treatment or for a short time thereafter, but if he lived through that, he would with high probability not be killed (at least from this disorder) for the next five years, so in that sense, he went with the odds (although certainly weren't odds anyone would want to take with their life!).

Indeed.

Here is what Martin said in his original announcement in Locus about life expectancy:

"Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis. Fortunately, I am set up for treatment, which expands my median life expectancy to four years."

And about the initial treatment:

"I will have a fifty-fifty chance of some good result (25% chance of remission; 25% chance of some reduction in amyloid production), a 35-40% chance of no result, and a 10-15% chance of fatality."

However, his posts on Dragonmount lead one to believe his odds of living beyond the median are significantly better now, since his results were better than anticipated. They have not declared it remission yet, but his numbers are at normal, and his doctors are telling him now that it will take 6 months to a year before he feels normal again, but that everything is looking about as good as it gets.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've been a third of the way through Crows for over a year now. Since then, I've read a dozen other novels. It doesn't bode well for the future, IMO.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

" 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.

I would put him behind Neil Gaiman, but they write very different sorts of fiction, so it's hard to compare them head to head. It'd certainly be interesting if Gaiman tried to write a fantasy epic in GRRM's vein, though.

 

[Endur]

I just noticed the Tyrion chapter from a Dance with Dragons on the GRRM website. Its quite good. What you would expect, but quite good.

 

[Banshee16]

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.

He's entitled to his opinion. I'd assume that being a professional writer, where he needs the creative juices flowing in order to be able to produce, can mean he's succeptible to being thrown off his game by outside stressors.

I live near our centre of government, and the entire city takes a pause every time there's an election......federal or provincial. This can last weeks or even months, and slows business down. Being in business, I find it a royal pain in the butt

Banshee

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I'm still debating whether to buy Jordan's Book 11. I hear things were much improved (i.e. his wife didn't edit it, an editor did), but now that he seriously might die before the books are completed I'm not sure it'd be worth it. Of all the jokes made about these guys finishing their respective series before they die, man... I did finish the New Spring prologue while on the plane last night, it was decent. I may skim through the books again.

It was VERY much improved, with a great deal more action, and even the non-action parts were far better. Granted, it'd be hard not to top Winter's Heart (Book 10), but it was up there with the first 6 in quality.

Brad