Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1341019" data-attributes="member: 151">The publishers haven't decided anything...they're just responding to market forces.  No one has a gun to their head, forcing them to buy those books.  By and large, fantasy fans enjoy multi-books series.  This is not new and since the early 80s, has been the standard in the genre.  The problem lately has been in the open-ended nature of those series, often written without the whole plat having been worked out.  A better point would be that publishers are trying to manipulate content to make each book in those series more interdependent.  It used to be that each book had a clear beginning and ending, as part of a larger story.  Now, you need to read a FAQ before starting the next Jordan book.  (At least, I did). There is plenty of fantasy fiction coming out that is standalone, it just doesn't sell as well.  I hadn't even heard of "Ombria in Shadow" until it won the World Fantasy Award, or Greg Frost's "Fitcher's Brides" or Tad Williams new book or any of a host of others.  Not to mention that we're actually talking about a sub-genre here....D&D-like Swords & Sorcery-esque fantasy, not just plain fantasy.</blockquote>