Drop

For any Kindle readers A Game of Thrones is only $1.90.

Deke Rivers

that would be a good idea when it comes to this series..the plot is pretty complicated as a far as the cast of characters, subplots, etc
ive already forgotten quite a bit
as far as gaimans respone..well they chose that profession it wasnt forced on them.

Drop

And you chose to read the books, it wasn't forced on you. And you know getting into a series there isn't any guarantee of anything.

Also a better deal for Kindle editions, A Game of Thrones/A Clash of Kings double pack for $6.39.

Deke Rivers

missed my point completely...
if we all took neil gaimans approach on our jobs we would be fired..lets face it writing is thier job..its how they make money ..artitistic license and privelige can only go so far IMO
I also have a side job in art where deadlines have to be met..its kinda hard to be creative under deadlines but if i want to keep my customers I meet them.
same with these guys if they want to keep readers
they also can be subject to the following scenario that gaiman left out..the one where it takes 15 years for the next book and readers say .."i waited 15 years for this???"

as far as my choosing the book..well myself as well as all his other readers are "customers" without us buying his books he would be writing on bathroom walls somewhere

Tommy Ceez

The only sence of entitlement I get from Gaimans blog post is ON HIS PART

Sean O'Hara

I chose to read the books because when the series first started Martin swore up and down that it'd only be four books and he had the whole thing planned out so he wouldn't pull a Jordan with a neverending series.

2010 marks ten years since A Storm of Swords came out. Since then the only book we've had is A Feast for Crows, which Martin himself admits is only half a novel. Half a novel in a decade. In the same period, Rowling published four Harry Potter books, wrapping the series up at the exact length she promised. Steven Erikson published eight volumes in the Malazan series, with the ninth and final one due out this year. Hell, at the rate Martin's going, The Wheel of Time will probably end before ASOIAF -- and Jordan's dead.

mgbfan

George Martin is not my bitch. He can write what he wants to write. And so can I. I choose to write: "George Martin is letting his fans down, and his dog-ate-my-homework attitude is getting really old."

That's what I want to write.

brainee

I get the main point too (that creativity can't always have a time-table). And I would prefer a series take as long as the writer needs, instead of a sub-standard product rushed out to meet a deadline. But writers are public figures, who intentionally sought out a career dependent on readers caring about what they do. If they can't handle the criticism, especially when they have blogs and web pages inviting fan interaction, they should've chosen a different profession. Certainly I think fans that are directly threatening or overabusive to the writers aren't right. But if writers are getting riled up by fans like Gareth (from Gaiman's blog), they have the problem ... not us.

Barker's another one. Not "Everville" so much, but his "Abarat" series. Labeled a "quintet" from the start, it began reasonably: book 1 in 2002, book 2 in 2004. Then ... crap, here we go again Book 3 kept get pushed back, along with Barker's claims that it kept expanding (up to 1,800 pages at last word!). Its 2010, and still no book. For a series that was intended for "young adults", I can't imagine many of them having the patience to stick with this. Probably the only people that care at this point are Barker's established older horror fans. "Galilee" was another bad Barker experience for me. The book stops right before it seems to reach a climax in the story ... it's all set-up and no pay-off. Barker promised to continue the story, but that was 12 years ago and we still haven't gotten anything. At least "Everville" had an ending of a sorts ... "Galilee" just stops.

Though, like with GRRM, I can't get angry at the writer. I just don't buy any of their books, since I have no faith that they'll tell me a complete story.

Mordred

Wrong. This was an April Fool's joke and the author that Martin had listed as "co-writing" is supposedly even worse than Martin as far as delays.

I'm pretty annoyed by the whole delay as well. Supposedly he finished a chapter and made some progress on his gordian knot of a novel, but my enthusiasm has greatly waned. Hopefully the Jets lose quickly so he'll have less football to worry about

Sessa17

Really? That is good then, I just heard it from about 3 or 4 different people that it was being co-written, so I just assumed that was true.

Tommy Ceez

Gaiman is wrong

What martin is doing it similar to if the creators of LOST decided to end the series last year, but never bothered to film a finale...just end with a cliffhanger and mention that you might get back to it some day

Would people be cool with that?

fiver

I haven't yet read any of martin's series - I kept meaning to after the great reviews - but then I started reading about delay after delay on getting new books out.

Another author that is, perhaps, the worst of all is David Gerrold. I've been waiting since 1994 for the next book in The War Against the Chtorr. His blog comes and goes with updates - and now all it says is "Rome wasn't burned in a day either" - apparently he has time to update his blog with his very own hit list and shit list (or crotchety old man syndrome) - but not to complete the series he started back in the 80s.

I don't really know if I feel like rewarding him for taking half my life to write a book - I think fans of Martin are starting to feel the same way.

Michael

RonG617

Really loved the first 3 books and hated Feast. I recently sold the books and I won't buy anything from Martin until he finishes the series. I think some of the anger toward him comes from the fact that he has lied a few times. The first was when he swore up and down the series was only going to be 4 books. Then he lied a few times about A Dance with Dragons/Feast of Crows saying he was almost done over and over. He also just seems to chuckle at the fact that he is leaving his die hard fans hanging with a series they are very excited about. In reading anything from him, I get the sense that he just doesn't care if people are mad or not.

Lastblade

Agreed. He doesn't seem to care, he spread himself too thin with various projects (HBO TV series, Wild Cards, Legends, comics, figures, conventions, board game, etc etc etc). I have moved on since I discovered Steven Erikson. SE published like 4 books since Feast was released.

boredsilly

I can certainly understand the frustration his fans feel. I want to read these books myself, but won't touch them until the series is done. At this rate, I will probably just take in this story in the form of the HBO series, and that will have to do for me.

benedict

... Excitement as George RR Martin announces he's 1,200 pages into new book

Tommy Ceez

Deke Rivers

wow..what a jag..
I can understand his frustration but these pain in the ass fans are same people who keep him employed as an author
to show disdain for his fans like that is pretty bad business

Noonan

I agree and have all but lost interest in the new book when/if it ever gets released. With the huge gap between the 3rd and 4th, I still have yet to read all of FfC. These books are way too involved to be able to go 5+ years in-between without forgetting everything.

Tommy Ceez

Im going to have to Wiki-read the other books just to remember what the fuck is going on

RonG617

1200+ pages, maybe he will have to split it again. We can get "A Dance" in 2010 and "With Dragons" in 2015.

starman9000

Wow, I finally finished Feat of Crows tonight. With that little letter at the end I can truly understand the frustration everyone has with him.

Alvis

Well, we're going on five years now since A Feast For Crows. I'm hoping that maybe he's gotten a good deal of work done on the last two (supposedly) books as he's been working on DWD and that they will be released with much less of a gap between them and A Dance With Dragons.

I'm looking forward to the HBO series, but PUH-LEASE George, finish the fucking books.

As it is, I may not read the last three until all three have been released and I can read the series from beginning to end. It's been so long since I've read the first five, I'm sure I've forgotten many of the details.

Alvis

"I know they are complex books and I want them to continue to be good, but good grief, at this rate I'm going to be retired before he finishes the series! And I'm only 34. I hope he does stick to his planned length of 7 books and doesn't go the Robert Jordan route of turning a 7 book series(or whatever) into a series without end."

I posted that in November of 2003 in a thread about A Feast For Crows. Funny, I'm now 41 and we've gotten one book, the aforementioned AFFC in that time period.

Bitch, bitch, bitch...I know.

Sessa17

The worst part, is that it really is a case of just not giving a shit on his part. The guy updates his blog almost daily on how he watches like every football game and does all of this frivilous stuff. He is involved in a million lesser projects having nothing to do with ASOFAI, not even counting the TV show.

And really gives me a tremendous amount of respect for guys like Brandon Sanderson (run out and buy Way of Kings if you want something as good as Martin's work) who can put aout 1,000 pages books of enormous quality just about once a year.