Ahira's Hangar

That seems like quite a misplaced sense of entitlement. aSoIaF is his story, after all, not the fans'.

Complaining about him working on other things is like complaining about Donaldson writing the Gap and Man Who novels instead of moving immediately onto the idea he had for the Last Chrons, because the fans wanted more Covenant. Just because it's his most popular work doesn't mean he has to drop everything else he wants to do to finish it. His work, his choice.

You have no personal stake in whether he finishes it or not - it's just some books you enjoy reading, after all. So why be bothered by it?

Am I disappointed there's not more to read of it yet? Yes, I enjoy the series and want to see where it goes. Do I feel like Martin is obligated to finish it so I can read it? Of course not, what he chooses to do is none of my business, and it's just fiction, after all.

Gosh! I was just trying to have some fun and inject some life into this forum. So much for my little balloon: Alan just sucked all the air out of it....

Well, I more or less side with you, Danlo. I think that one of the mistakes that GRRM made was to finish the last two books with teasers and major cliff-hangers. It wouldn't be so bad waiting a long time in between books if you weren't wondering if so-and-so were dead or not, or who the heck that zombie on the last page was, etc. SRD has finished his last two books with cliff-hangers (one per book, not like 8 per book as GRRM does), but you know that he'll deliver the next installment on time (health withstanding), and he won't start drawing comic books and hawking plastic swords for the heck of it. GRRM is sort of starting to remind me of the Picasso character that Jon Lovitz did on SNL in the 80's. It's his right not to bear down and knock out the rest of ASoIaF, but that doesn't mean that I have to respect him for putting out 2 collaborations per year, and delaying ADWD for 4 years or so. The ending of AFFC was pretty hard to swallow. I remember reading that line about ADWD being out in another 6 months, and that if you wanted a single book, you could just tear the binding off of the two books and then re-patch the chapters together. That was really, really cheesy. Pretty arrogant, too.

I really wonder what's going to happen with the HBO show, and how it might affect the series. If it's a major success, George could have a big problem finishing the last THREE books in time for the final season or so of the show. Seriously, do the math. If he takes five years per book, and ADWD comes out in 2010, then the series won't be complete until 2020, which is well past a reasonable end for the tv show. And you have to think that the show will just be another distraction for the guy, and that he won't increase his output rate if it blows up.

I think Alan was having a Monday... Right, with the next 3 books promised as forthcoming in Hunter's Run and teaser chapters in AFFC on on his website he does rile up his ASOIAF readership.

I think I was saying I don't see the point in complaining.

Why do fans get so invested in it that waiting bothers them to that extent?

I also don't see any value of accusing him of "riling up" his fans by doing things like allow the publisher to list forthcoming books - which tends to be done in a lot of authors' bios, it's publicity after all.

I posted at the Watch that I'm betting Martin has a big honkin' case of writer's block, and that's why he's doing all these side projects instead of finishing ADwD.

He *does* have a sort of contract with his readers to bring closure to the series. (Hmm, "moral contract" is not exactly what I want to say. I guess it's more of an understanding, really.) But Duchess is right that the only *legal* contract he has is the one with his publisher. If they're okay with waiting indefinitely for him to finish the next book, there's not much we can do, other than not read his stuff.

But hey,

Given that the publisher keeps setting official release dates for the book (as with last October's, which they set on their website) I honestly think that the publisher would really like to see this book finished. It is as close to a guaranteed bestseller you could get in the genre right now, other than the last Wheel of Time book.

And the publisher wants bestsellers, to help stay in business, especially in this poor economy.

And, of course, each time Martin's publisher sets an official release date and it comes and goes with no book, more fans start to lose patience.

I decided to go ahead and split this topic into two; one thread about Hunter's Run and another about whether or not Martin will ever finish ASOIAF, as most of the thread had turned into that discussion.

Martin has been blogging a lot lately about the fan frustrations about him not finishing the book. He sounds as frustrated with the fans as they are with him. And yeah, saying he cannot relax and watch football, for example, is a bit much. Authors should be allowed private lives, just as with everyone and anyone else. On the other hand, the book is still years late and the people making all of the incorrect estimates on when it will be done (and therefore making a lot of fans angry) are Martin himself and his publisher.