Tango01 | 05 Jan 2016 9:51 p.m. PST |
… Not Fans. "For those who don't follow George R. R. Martin's Livejournal religiously, we'll start with the bad news first: The Winds of Winter won't be released in time for Game of Thrones' sixth season. Not a chance. Nada. In other words, readers of the saga will no longer have an advantage over TV watchers when the HBO show comes back in April. "Some of the ‘spoilers' you may encounter in season six may not be spoilers at all," Martin wrote in a post about missing his book's latest deadline, "because the show and the books have diverged, and will continue to do so." That's not necessarily a problem. By now, most GoT fans have settled in to their own models of consumption: Some book readers are content to be spoiled by the show; some show-watchers may never read the books (especially not now); others are saving the show until the books are totally done. The farther he falls behind the show his stories helped create, the less relevant he's going to become to Game of Thrones as a whole. — But let's face facts: At this point, Martin isn't just disappointing fans—he's screwing himself. He's apologized profusely for his tardiness, and we've all accepted that apology. Some folks are upset, others just want him to finish and do it right. Yet the farther he falls behind the show his stories helped create—at this point, he says "I can't tell you when [Winds of Winter] will be done"—the less relevant he's going to become to Game of Thrones as a whole. Even with the wildly ambitious editing schedule Martin's books seem to get (he says in the Livejournal post that if he'd finished his latest book by the end of the year it would've been released in March, just ahead of the mid-April premiere), there seems to be little chance Winds of Winter will be out before even the end of Season 6. That'll be two full seasons that the show has had to go its own way from the book series—and two full seasons that those who are watching and not waiting for the books have to get used to GoT without George. (Do you miss him, dear readers? Do you?)…" See here link John? (smile) Amicalement Armand |
PrivateSnafu | 05 Jan 2016 10:43 p.m. PST |
He'll probably end up dead, like Jordan, before finishing anyways. I'm still reading The Wheel of Time and there is no way in heck I'm signing up for something that long again. Enjoying HBO's take on it. Thanks for the tidbit. |
John the OFM | 05 Jan 2016 11:34 p.m. PST |
He's a procrastinator. Nothing wrong with that, I'm one myself. It took 5 years from Book 4 to Book 5. When the first season aired, Book 5 came out right after. I had time to read all the books. But now, Season 6 has outstripped Book 6. Book 6 will probably not come out until after Season 6 is released. It's been in all the news lately. Look it up on Google News. Anyway, he had 4 years to write Book 6 to stay ahead. what did he do? Go to conventions to be l ionized. write scripts. Go to more conventions. Dabble in more Dunk and Egg stories. Edit the Encyclopedia (which is incomplete because … he has not finished Book 6 and 7. And various graphic novels, etc. So, like all procrastinators, he has no one to blame but himself. He is shocked, SHOCKED!!!! that Book 6 will not be out in a reasonable time. But now the pressure is off. Nobody expects him to get Book 7 done any time soon, and the series will be done for 5 years, and everybody will know that The Hound sits on the Iron Throne, and Jon and Aunt Dany got killed by dragons and Wolves respectively, long before the books matter. The series will be canon. (NOT "cannon"!) Not the books. |
langobard | 06 Jan 2016 2:56 a.m. PST |
Ah well, it did take Tolkien 17 years to finish off the sequel to the Hobbit… And his son had to finish off the Silmarilion for him afterwards. |
XRaysVision | 06 Jan 2016 5:50 a.m. PST |
Frankly, I've already given up on the novels and am just enjoying the HBO series. I wish I could say that I didn't see this coming. But he's been jetting all over the place, basking in his fame, making serious coin for the TV series. At the same time, I'm sure there's a lot of people like me who have given up waiting for books. So what motivation is there for him do anything but retire and sit on his butt? I read about his interview in which he opined that he's travelling all over the place for interviews, etc. and that he can't write except in within the confines of his home. Yeah--right… I'm not upset at his success. More power to him. I don't like him stringing along readers promising them books they are never going to get. I'd have a lot more respect for the man if he just admitted that he hit the jackpot with HBO and that that obligation has overridden the obligation for the books. Of course he may not be able to do that if he's already spent the publisher's money from book advances. All I'm saying is that probably more to this story than just his "creativity" or "writer's block." |
johnskot | 06 Jan 2016 5:59 a.m. PST |
Money does it to all of us. |
Earl of the North | 06 Jan 2016 8:16 a.m. PST |
It probably does hurt him, because I'm already long past the point of caring what he writes next and if and when the TV show completes the story….why would I buy the next book again? I'm not actually sure he know how to finish the books, since he seemed to be putting off advancing the story in the books for a while now. |
Thomas O | 06 Jan 2016 8:22 a.m. PST |
Don't really care if he ever puts out another book, gave up on the books after the last one. I'll just watch the HBO version. |
Tango01 | 06 Jan 2016 11:18 a.m. PST |
You are kidding John… no? The Hound ??? (smile) Amicalement Armand |
darthfozzywig | 06 Jan 2016 12:23 p.m. PST |
Healthy-looking guy like that will no-doubt live long enough to complete the over-blown trilogy he started, right? I read the five books but won't be suckered into any others – those last two were bloated, repetitive, and dull enough before leading back to the "oh yeah, where was I when I was still doing a three-book arc?" conclusion of the fifth. Go HBO – the only time I've recommended people watch the film/tv version over reading a book. |
jowady | 06 Jan 2016 4:08 p.m. PST |
I doubt that his bank account has been hurt. While I think that there is now a chance that we will never see the books completed GRRM probably makes a lot more from HBO and their marketing than he ever has from a book. From reading his statements he sounds very depressed and I wonder if it might just be that he has lost interest in finishing the story. Maybe he has reached down into his writing bag and found that it's empty. |
Winston Smith | 06 Jan 2016 4:17 p.m. PST |
He will have all the time in the world to finish 7 after 6 is turned. HBO will finish the story and the books will be irrelevant. Still, it will be nice to have them. Stannis and Ser Barriston are dead in the show. But still alive in the books. No Aegon Griff in the show. As if it will matter. I really believe that will be the general reaction, and it will hurt his feelings. Well, he's a grownup and should have anticipated that. I was eager for Book 6, so I could read it before the show began and compare. Now, meh. I suppose I'll buy it, but it's not sure fire any more. |
jowady | 06 Jan 2016 6:03 p.m. PST |
Winston, to say nothing of Natalie Dormer's huge spoiler. You just can't trust those Tyrells. |
Tacitus | 06 Jan 2016 11:10 p.m. PST |
I'll still buy the next book; I'm a bit of a completist. Although I will admit that I never got past book 7 of the wheel of time series and there was a bit of that same stale feeling creeping into GoT book 5. |
Winston Smith | 07 Jan 2016 9:46 a.m. PST |
What would you rather do? Sit on an Iron Throne, posing for selfies with Natalie Dormer, Emilia Clarke, Sofie Turner, Lena Heady etc on your lap, or sit at your desk, staring at the monitor, sharpening pencils, watching Hollywood Squares on GSN…. I know what I would rather do. |
Winston Smith | 07 Jan 2016 9:48 a.m. PST |
Speaking of Natalie Dormer…. Beautiful women are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. What she has going for to set her apart is that crooked smile. I better settle down before I start talking like Smokey. |
The Beast Rampant | 08 Jan 2016 11:21 a.m. PST |
He's a procrastinator. Nothing wrong with that, I'm one myself. I've almost certainly got you beat in those regards. But the list of people my procrastination affects is very short. Mostly just one, unless each of the minis on my workbench gets a vote. But if millions of fans of MY WORK were waiting around for YEARS, I would feel a profound urgency to give them what they want. There is really no excuse for this. I used to read a LOT of fantasy series back in the eighties and, I suppose, early-mid nineties. Most I came upon long after they were complete. But I can name several I came into mid-completion, and even though I may have really enjoyed them, I would wander off and not come back for that next installment. Maybe by that time I had forgotten a lot, and couldn't be bothered to reread and catch up. If someone had come along and made a TV or movie series to fill the bill, I'd have been even LESS inclined to bother with upcoming installments. I don't think most GoT readers would be that different. I have read, what, five books now, thousands of pages, lots of hours invested. (INVESTED, Georgie.) And I still may not bother. |
Winston Smith | 08 Jan 2016 6:26 p.m. PST |
I hear you. I kind of wandered off from the Black Company and Dresden Files too. And those guys had the virtue of being regular in their production. It was the "is it never going to end?????" feeling. |