Next GRRM Book?

[Fast Learner]

Yeah, when it's finished I'll pick it up but until then, forget it.

I'm curious, do you watch any television shows before the end the series? Did you watch PotCMC even though it would be a year before the next one?

No criticism intended, I just don't follow the reasoning when it comes to book series.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

No criticism intended, I just don't follow the reasoning when it comes to book series.

Do you conceed there is even the slightest bit of difference in waiting a few months for the next season of a show to start, versus waiting 5 years+ for the next installment of a growing novel series with a no longer believable guide for when it will end?

Myself, it's not the delay. It is the extended delay. I'm fine, so far, with reading Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen knowing full well that it is incomplete right now. I also know that he missed his book six anounced release, but it wasn't a 5 year miss.

 

[Cor Azer]

Do you conceed there is even the slightest bit of difference in waiting a few months for the next season of a show to start, versus waiting 5 years+ for the next installment of a growing novel series with a no longer believable guide for when it will end?

Myself, it's not the delay. It is the extended delay. I'm fine, so far, with reading Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen knowing full well that it is incomplete right now. I also know that he missed his book six anounced release, but it wasn't a 5 year miss.

Pendantic mode: it wasn't a five year miss for GRRM either.... it was a three year miss after the expected two year delay between novels. End pedantic mode.

But yes I agree with you. It's much harder to stay enthused for a book series that completely overshoots its expected publishing date than it is to wait for a new television series.

However, you can see the same reaction to all the television serials that tried to emulate Lost last season - most got canned without being given much of a chance, and this year, viewers are approaching the next batch with much more caution, not wanting to get hooked on a series that may never finish adequately.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

While I understand the frustration of waiting and waiting for the next book in a series to come out, I'm of the opinion that writing a book simply takes as long as it takes. It's not like a TV show or a movie where you can have multiple writers. This is one guy writing the materials in between the guest appearances that he has to make in order to keep inerest up. Not to mention the regular, everyday stuff that we all have to take care of. Not to mention that fact that he's published other books in the meantime.

 

[Zaukrie]

Let's say we're lucky and it takes three years between books. That leaves 2 more years for the next one, then 3+3+3 more years for the next three. That is 11 more years. Heck, even if the next one comes out next year, and the next three come out every 2 years, that is 7 more years! Unless I re-read the series every time a new one comes out, it is kind of hard to keep momentum and excitement over 7-11 years.

That is significantly different than waiting a year for a movie sequel, or a summer for the next installment of a tv show.

 

[Fast Learner]

Ok, well, it's clearly a matter of perspective, then. Certainly there's a longer wait for the books. Maybe I'm just older or more patient, as a several-year gap doesn't bother me more than a single-year gap.

I'm in no hurry to get through the books. Rather, I very much like the idea of having read them one at a time over 10-15 years. Savoring it, really.

A great example (for my tastes) is the Indiana Jones films. While there were no cliffhangers and the storyline was only mildly continuing, it was 3 years between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, and another 5 years before Last Crusade. And it's looking like it will be about a 20-year break before the last film. And you'll see me at the box office on opening weekend. I love the characters, the stories, and don't mind waiting at all.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Ok, well, it's clearly a matter of perspective, then. Certainly there's a longer wait for the books. Maybe I'm just older or more patient, as a several-year gap doesn't bother me more than a single-year gap.

I don't think age has anything to do with it. How old do you think I am? And the gap between television seasons isn't even close to a year's time. It's a few months over the summer.

I'm in no hurry to get through the books. Rather, I very much like the idea of having read them one at a time over 10-15 years. Savoring it, really.

Maybe that's where my age comes into it. I don't want to die before it ends.

A great example (for my tastes) is the Indiana Jones films. While there were no cliffhangers and the storyline was only mildly continuing, it was 3 years between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, and another 5 years before Last Crusade.

I would say that the Indiana Jones films are not a great example for comparison with with GRRM's series where there are cliffhangers and there is a strong continuation between each installment. Were each book wrapped up so at to be nearly self contained it would be different for me.

 

[Michael Tree]

Yeah, when it's finished I'll pick it up but until then, forget it.

Likewise. And even then, I'll have to debate whether I want to spend time reading it instead of a few smaller books that I could read in a quarter of the time, like Moby Dick, Les Miserables, and War and Peace.

 

[Fast Learner]

I would say that the Indiana Jones films are not a great example for comparison with with GRRM's series where there are cliffhangers and there is a strong continuation between each installment. Were each book wrapped up so at to be nearly self contained it would be different for me.

They are similar when it comes to savoring. If all the Indy movies had been in a 5-year timespan, I think they wouldn't have been as enjoyable to me. Similarly, I wouldn't have minded if Peter Jackson had come out with one LOTR movie every five years. Probably would have liked it more.

I really do think it comes down to age and patience. Which is to say that young people don't tend to have patience, so they're automatically going to be unhappy about it. Older folks might have it, but it certainly doesn't come automatically with age. I do. Delayed gratification is just fine by me.

 

[Zaukrie]

Well, I'm 42 and am a fairly patient guy. It has nothing to do with either of those, at least not for me.

I'm perfectly happy waiting for books from Guy Kay or Steven Brust, but most of those books are fairly self contained. GRRM's books are not. If Brust stopped writing today, we'd not need to wonder what happened to Vlad. If GRRM stops writing, or dies, or takes 15 years, we may ALL wonder how it ended.