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[IDKFA]

Now straight up saying that Wild Cards is more important to him than ASOIAF. What a world.

He destroyed his legacy.

I'm not shocked. Martin hasn't mentioned Winds on his blog since May.

The last post he made about Winds came across as a mini meltdown and it hasn't been mentioned since on the blog.

(I know, I know. Some of you will just be pissed off by this, as you are by everything I announce here that is not about Westeros or THE WINDS OF WINTER. You have given up on me, or on the book. I will never finish WINDS, If I do, I will never finish A DREAM OF SPRING. If I do, it won't be any good. I ought to get some other writer to pinch hit for me… I am going to die soon anyway, because I am so old. I lost all interest in A Song of Ice and Fire decades ago. I don't give a shit about writing any longer, I just sit around and spend my money. I edit the Wild Cards books too, but you hate Wild Cards. You may hate everything else I have ever written, the Hugo-winners and Hugo-losers, "A Song for Lya" and DYING OF THE LIGHT, "Sandkings" and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, "This Tower of Ashes" and "The Stone City," OLD MARS and OLD VENUS and ROGUES and WARRIORS and DANGEROUS WOMEN and all the other anthologies I edited with my friend Gardner Dozois, You don't care about any of those, I know. You don't care about anything but WINDS OF WINTER. You've told me so often enough).

Not a Blog | George R.R. Martin

You're also right about his legacy. If he doesn't finish - which I'm sorry to say looks likely considering he hasn't started Dream yet - then his legacy will be tarnished. He'll be known for not finishing his magnum opus. Not because he ran out of time, but because he wasted his time. He has had plenty of time to finish this book, but instead he decided to take on and work on other projects. His priority should have been ASOIAF. If it was, maybe he would have already finished the series, completed Fire & Blood, plus knocked out a few more Dunk and Egg stories.

 

[DKehoe]

We can not believe him because IT'S TRUE. Whatever he is doing, it's not committing words to paper on this book. Virtually any other author would have been officially dropped by their publisher at this point, but the enduring legacy of the series still lingers.


He put out the first three books in 1996, 1999, and 2000, then Dance in 2005 and Feast in 2011. Alllllllllllllllllllll the while saying that the later stuff was mostly done but he just had to go back and fill in some gaps. THIS is what he was telling us. So what, exactly, has he been doing from 2011 till 2025, a time frame in which nothing Westeros related has come out except the prequel history stuff which is objectively written by other people? No more Dunk and Egg (1998, 2003, 2010) even which is says he is ALSO passionate about.

You can keep stanning for him all you want, but the objective truth is he has generated NOTHING from Dance in 14 years. Its about to be longer since Feast than the time to release the ENTIRE REST OF THE SERIES. Sure, maybe he had a lot of the first 3 books pre-written before Game of Thrones was released (some sources say he started in 1991) but that's still no excuse, especially since he has his name on countless anthology series this whole time, so it's not like he is just out vacationing. He IS working(ish), just not on Winds.

If the Dunk series is a big hit, I expect he'll shadow write more of that "while still making Winds of Winter my #1 priority!"

At this point I'd accept an ending that's in the vein of the "History of...." prequel stuff just to get some sort of resolution, then he can f off to do Wild Cards (which I'd love to see) or Haviland Tuf stuff (which I'd also love to see).

I've asked you a couple of times now to outline the specifics of the agreement that's apparently in place and you haven't. I find that always ends up being the barrier that gets run into with this topic. Someone feels they're owed it but can't really outline the specifics of what they're owed. So then it becomes about insisting that their speculation that he's not doing anything is fact. Maybe he's not or maybe the guy who says he's a slow writer who has to do a lot of revisions is writing slowly and doing a lot of revisions on his big complicated book. We ultimately don't know, which is why I said it just becomes about our subjective feelings. Either way, it's his story to write.

 

[jason10mm]

I've asked you a couple of times now to outline the specifics of the agreement that's apparently in place and you haven't. I find that always ends up being the barrier that gets run into with this topic. Someone feels they're owed it but can't really outline the specifics of what they're owed. So then it becomes about insisting that their speculation that he's not doing anything is fact. Maybe he's not or maybe the guy who says he's a slow writer who has to do a lot of revisions is writing slowly and doing a lot of revisions on his big complicated book. We ultimately don't know, which is why I said it just becomes about our subjective feelings. Either way, it's his story to write.

What are you harping about?

NO ONE is saying there is a written contract betwixt GRRM and a reader, detailing specifics of delivery, timetables, etc. This line of reasoning is....not a line of reasoning.

What GRRM DOES DO is constantly (less so in recent years) promise a "almost done" bait to lure the readers. Hell, I think even in the published books they say the next one is about ready. This is "an agreement" predicated on a man saying something and then getting readers to pay in installments for it.

I GUARANTEE if, in 1996, Game of Thrones was released with a big bold "Exciting New Series what will NOT be Complete by 2026 at the very least!" header, the series would never have caught on. I can think of almost no author that has dribbled out a story in this fashion. Perhaps some of the issue was that the first three books weren't made into their own trilogy, with the next 2 their own duology, then GRRM could dawdle about the "next trilogy in my opus", but that's not what he did because, as is obvious to everyone but apparently yourself, this ENTIRE SERIES was set up and advertised as a specific fixed thing that GRRM was cranking out at a reasonable pace.

PLENTY of authors can set up a pace far more deliberate and focsed. Hell, most are probably getting help. GRRM DOES have help! Even if he wrote just a page a week(!) he would have a SEVEN HUNDRED PAGE NOVEL by now. Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe.

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

Wild argument popped up in this thread, lmao.

But it's pretty simple:

1. This is MOTHERFUCKING AMERICA BABY, people can be mad at him for whatever reason they want. Him fucking up his Magnum Opus is a pretty good reason all things considered.
2. Writing a series has an implicit promise that you will make an effort to finish that shit. If he doesn't meet that implicit promise that's not the end of the world, but he clearly also made explicit promises in the media that he would definitely finish on a certain timeline. Oh no, if it isn't the consequences of his own words!
3. Are readers suing him? No, so what's the problem? Why do you feel that GRRM is entitled to a world without criticism? This mofo said the book would be done by now. I never promised to not talk shit about him if he didn't.
4. On the topic of the legal, just to be clear he's admitted to having breached his contract by not delivering the thing he was contracted to deliver on time. Breaching contracts is a bad thing mmkay?
5. And while I have some sympathy for 'muh writers block', he has all the resources in the world to get that shit done. He could hire dozens of writers to bounce ideas off, get suggestions on the Structural Problems™. I don't know if it's Brandon Sanderson, but if ol' GRRM kicks the bucket, someone's gonna finish that shit because there's money in it.

 

[Valonquar]

His Not-A-Blog has not mentioned any sort of update on progress since Sept 2024.
At this point he should just go 180 and make the dragons talk and turn it into a Shonen Jump tournament arc.

 

[pel1300]

I never read any of the books, but from this thread I take it that a common defense of GRRM is a straw man that fans are claiming he is contractually and legally obligated to finish the books?

That seems like such a common strawman in everything - for example I made a thread about Hideo Kojima being kind of shitty to David Hayter, and a couple Kojima shills replied with "Kojima owes Hayter NOTHING!" which no one ever said he owed him anything.

 

[FairyD]

God bless him. If he doesn't finish I hope he never lets anyone else finish it.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I believe the ending he had in mind was sort of in line to how the show ended and once he saw the awful reception to that he probably thought "well fuck this then".

 

[Paasei]

 

[Tertullian]

Yep. Just ask any SF/fantasy reader if they'd would want read a multi volume book series knowing that it's incomplete and will never be finished either and almost all of them would say they'd not be interested in that case. And they'd be right. Why spend money on a bunch of books, spend many hours reading them, get really invested in a story and then there's no ending but only cliffhangers and unresolved plot lines? That's just an exercise in frustration.

People will start reading the first book of a brandnew series, because 98% of all SF/fantasy authors WILL finish their series. Those authors kept their part of an unspoken bargain between reader and author.

This is the specific thing that pisses me off about the "George is not your bitch" thing. Nobody is ever going to bully readers into wanting to read series that will never be finished. Given that, how many up-and-coming authors have been screwed by George's mistakes? New authors need their first book to do well. They need readers to take a chance on it. But many readers simply don't do that anymore, because they got burned by George. Vast numbers of fantasy readers now say "sorry, I'll read the series when it's done. Don't bother me until then." So these new authors have trouble even getting a foothold. And then Neil "stick of butter" Gaiman decides he needs to white knight for an immensely rich and privileged author whose lack of discipline and lies pissed off his fans.

So I don't want to hear any bullshit from these authors begging readers to take a chance on new authors or new series. Sorry, you ruined that by defending George. Readers are not your bitch.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

This is the specific thing that pisses me off about the "George is not your bitch" thing. Nobody is ever going to bully readers into wanting to read series that will never be finished. Given that, how many up-and-coming authors have been screwed by George's mistakes? New authors need their first book to do well. They need readers to take a chance on it. But many readers simply don't do that anymore, because they got burned by George. Vast numbers of fantasy readers now say "sorry, I'll read the series when it's done. Don't bother me until then." So these new authors have trouble even getting a foothold. And then Neil "stick of butter" Gaiman decides he needs to white knight for an immensely rich and privileged author whose lack of discipline and lies pissed off his fans.

So I don't want to hear any bullshit from these authors begging readers to take a chance on new authors or new series. Sorry, you ruined that by defending George. Readers are not your bitch.

New authors should do as most authors in history did.
Write an autonomous, self-sufficient, complete novel that isn't a thousand pages long, and create a world and characters compelling enough that you may leave the door open to future stories.

If you're an up-and-coming author and you already have plans for a 10-book saga before your first book is even finished, you're probably not going to deliver what you think you want to deliver anyway.

 

[Madflavor]

Now straight up saying that Wild Cards is more important to him than ASOIAF. What a world.

He destroyed his legacy.

And now this is his legacy. When he passes, there will be a brief window where people will say RIP and that he created an amazing world, but his reputation for being the guy that created an amazing story and wouldn't finish what he started, will overshadow his work.

 

[kruis]

And now this is his legacy. When he passes, there will be a brief window where people will say RIP and that he created an amazing world, but his reputation for being the guy that created an amazing story and wouldn't finish what he started, will overshadow his work.

He'll also be remembered as the creator of a TV show that became a global phenomenon in the 2010s but was surprisingly quickly forgotten after an awful and universally despised final season. A Game of Thrones could have been a contender for the best TV show of all time but instead became something people don't even want to think about anymore.

And now GRMM is ensuring that the same thing will happen to his legacy as an author. When GRMM dies without completing the A Song of Ice and Fire series, those books will be quickly forgotten too. My guess is that sales of the ASoIaF have plummeted after the ignomious ending of the TV series and very few new readers today will want to tackle an unfinished 5000 page fantasy series. But at least readers today will still have a feeble hope that GRRM will ultimately finish what he started. But when he dies, ASoIaF dies with him. People will still be reading the Lord of the Rings books 100, 200 or 300 years from now. But GRRM's name and unfinished magnum opus will be completely, utterly forgotten.

 

[winjer]

He'll also be remembered as the creator of a TV show that became a global phenomenon in the 2010s but was surprisingly quickly forgotten after an awful and universally despised final season. A Game of Thrones could have been a contender for the best TV show of all time but instead became something people don't even want to think about anymore.

And now GRMM is ensuring that the same thing will happen to his legacy as an author. When GRMM dies without completing the A Song of Ice and Fire series, those books will be quickly forgotten too. My guess is that sales of the ASoIaF have plummeted after the ignomious ending of the TV series and very few new readers today will want to tackle an unfinished 5000 page fantasy series. But at least readers today will still have a feeble hope that GRRM will ultimately finish what he started. But when he dies, ASoIaF dies with him. People will still be reading the Lord of the Rings books 100, 200 or 300 years from now. But GRRM's name and unfinished magnum opus will be completely, utterly forgotten.

It wasn't just the final season. Even during the 5th season, there was already a drop in quality. And then it just kept on getting worse and worse. Until it culminated on a steaming pile of excrement.

 

[Madflavor]

I mostly blame GRRM for Game of Thrones fall off, because even though I hate Weiss and Benoiff, I have to admit they were masters of the craft when it came to adapting existing material. Having seen things like The Witcher, Wheel of Time, The Hobbit, and other botched fantasy shows and movies, I feel confident admitting that.

But obviously when it came to writing their own material, they were dogshit and absolute hacks. It was outright tragic, offensive and historical how bad Season 8 was. I think everyone was bracing for disappointment after Season 7, but nobody could've prepared for that. That said if GRRM finished the books like he said he would, we might be having a different conversation.

 

[Valonquar]

Which is more confusing:
Jared Leto keeps getting cast in things
GRRM keeps getting GoT sequels \ prequels made even though the ending to GoT was so awful the fandom caved in on itself.

 

[jason10mm]

New authors should do as most authors in history did.
Write an autonomous, self-sufficient, complete novel that isn't a thousand pages long, and create a world and characters compelling enough that you may leave the door open to future stories.

If you're an up-and-coming author and you already have plans for a 10-book saga before your first book is even finished, you're probably not going to deliver what you think you want to deliver anyway.

The problem here is that PUBLISHERS want that long series. So authors are in a bind. Readers were burned by GRRM and so have less tolerance for a new series, book 1, billed as "The FIRST installment of an epic long running sure to be awesome fantasy series!" while publishers absolutely want a first book with 2-3 more right behind it and the allure of annual releases.

Trilogies in fantasy are practically mandatory. There are relatively few series, past the 80's, that could either be episodic (which was kind of the model prior) or allowed to be endless. I had countless trilogy sets on my shelf as this was a way to package a single story in 3 installments that an author could reasonably deliver. By the 90's we started seeing way more open ended series, with Wheel of Time, Malazan, ASOIAF, and (I didn't read many of them but I think they are long serialized stories) Shannara and that Sword of Truth series. Even today I think fantasy is getting wrangled back into contained sets of 3-5 books, with Abercombie, Correia, and Lawrence. Though I admit I'm not nearly as well versed in the genre as I once was.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

I accepted a long time ago that someone, hopefully Brandon Sanderson, would finish the series for him.

 

[DrFigs]

I would like Tad Williams to finish the books personally. George already owes much of that first book to Tad to begin w/.

 

[jason10mm]

I accepted a long time ago that someone, hopefully Brandon Sanderson, would finish the series for him.

Page one of Sandersons Winds of Winter:

Jaime looked at Cersi, his sister. She gazed back at him, reflecting how similar their eyes were to each other.

"Sister dear, I had the most horrible dream."

"Whatever was it about, brother dear?"

"I dreamt....I can barely put it to words, allow me to profane thy ears with this madness, but I dreamt that you and I.....engaged in......well....had CHILDREN together! Gasp!"

"I am shocked, brother, how could this be when it is WELL KNOWN that the Baratheon Stork brough all of my children to me, it was witnessed! Never speak of this again!"

"I shan't! Now do you want to listen while I relate the Fifteen Scientific Principles behind the Great Wall of the North and why EXACTLY it repels the Others?"

"No Jaime, such talk is too much for my delicate lady ears, relate it all to your brother the Sober Dwarf while I go pray."

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Page one of Sandersons Winds of Winter:

Jaime looked at Cersi, his sister. She gazed back at him, reflecting how similar their eyes were to each other.

"Sister dear, I had the most horrible dream."

"Whatever was it about, brother dear?"

"I dreamt....I can barely put it to words, allow me to profane thy ears with this madness, but I dreamt that you and I.....engaged in......well....had CHILDREN together! Gasp!"

"I am shocked, brother, how could this be when it is WELL KNOWN that the Baratheon Stork brough all of my children to me, it was witnessed! Never speak of this again!"

"I shan't! Now do you want to listen while I relate the Fifteen Scientific Principles behind the Great Wall of the North and why EXACTLY it repels the Others?"

"No Jaime, such talk is too much for my delicate lady ears, relate it all to your brother the Sober Dwarf while I go pray."

I literally don't give a fuck, as long as it gets finished.

I'll decide if I love or hate it only after it's finished, instead of this speculative bullshit.

 

[jason10mm]

I literally don't give a fuck, as long as it gets finished.

I've little doubt that someone will cobble together his notes/unfinished chapters once he passes. Otherwise I just consider S8 of the show to be the "broad strokes" version of how it will end. Thus Bran rules after Jon (or perhaps Arya if Jon stays dead and she replaces him in some capacity) kills Daenerys after she wipes out most of the King's Landing folk and then the story could presumably continue.

I wonder if, like LOTR, there is a "magic breaking" moment at the end that would remove the direct supernatural elements and then allow the world to basically evolve into ours, or at least into a similar one. ASOIAF is so character focused that I'm not really sure what areas are worth exploring, perhaps some Targaryen bastard going back to Old Valyria? What little of that region we got is fascinating. I'm curious what lore the cancelled HBO show with Naomi Watts was pulling from, either direct from GRRM or just whipped up from the little we got in the books of the First Men time. Maybe he does have his version of a Silmarillion out there?

She looks awfully Targaryeny for someone waaaaay before the Targaryens gain dragons and come to Westeros.

But then, they never really emphasized the purple eyes and quite the hair color of the book Targaryens which really sets them apart. Probably too fake looking, as we've seen in HotD when it's done poorly.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Have Brian Herbert finish it. His Dune sequels were great! /s

 

[The Sum of Zero]

I've little doubt that someone will cobble together his notes/unfinished chapters once he passes. Otherwise I just consider S8 of the show to be the "broad strokes" version of how it will end. Thus Bran rules after Jon (or perhaps Arya if Jon stays dead and she replaces him in some capacity) kills Daenerys after she wipes out most of the King's Landing folk and then the story could presumably continue.

I wonder if, like LOTR, there is a "magic breaking" moment at the end that would remove the direct supernatural elements and then allow the world to basically evolve into ours, or at least into a similar one. ASOIAF is so character focused that I'm not really sure what areas are worth exploring, perhaps some Targaryen bastard going back to Old Valyria? What little of that region we got is fascinating. I'm curious what lore the cancelled HBO show with Naomi Watts was pulling from, either direct from GRRM or just whipped up from the little we got in the books of the First Men time. Maybe he does have his version of a Silmarillion out there?

She looks awfully Targaryeny for someone waaaaay before the Targaryens gain dragons and come to Westeros.

But then, they never really emphasized the purple eyes and quite the hair color of the book Targaryens which really sets them apart. Probably too fake looking, as we've seen in HotD when it's done poorly.

To be honest, I haven't seen past season 3 of the show (though I've read up to A Dance With Dragons). I probably should, at this point.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

It has been 5215 days since the release of A Dance with Dragons.

If Winds of Winter is estimated to be 1500 pages with an average of 300 words per page, that's 450,000 words.

450,000 words / 5215 days = 86.3 finalized words per day on average for WoW to have been released today.

 

[LordCBH]

GRRM is an overrated hack. Like finish the fucking book, George. It's been 14 years.

 

[Emerson]

I believe the ending he had in mind was sort of in line to how the show ended and once he saw the awful reception to that he probably thought "well fuck this then".

The broad strokes are the same I'm sure, but the problem is probably not that GRRM is put off by the reception, but simply because he has no idea how to get from where he is to where he wants to end. He's written 5 books and he's barely cracked the start of Act 2 of his original planned trilogy arc. It's inconceivable he could finish the series in two more books but he's trying to force it, and it doesn't work. So he writes and rewrites endlessly, getting frustrated by his inability to make it work. He's a perfectionist so he won't submit a bad manuscript, but he can't figure it out so he will never submit anything.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Fatman will always be Tolkien's bitch

 

[jason10mm]

The broad strokes are the same I'm sure, but the problem is probably not that GRRM is put off by the reception, but simply because he has no idea how to get from where he is to where he wants to end. He's written 5 books and he's barely cracked the start of Act 2 of his original planned trilogy arc. It's inconceivable he could finish the series in two more books but he's trying to force it, and it doesn't work. So he writes and rewrites endlessly, getting frustrated by his inability to make it work. He's a perfectionist so he won't submit a bad manuscript, but he can't figure it out so he will never submit anything.

Then he could have gone the Wheel of Time route of endless novels.

Literally no one would complain if we got MORE then 2 books, we just want SOMETHING. If he was sitting on hundreds of chapters of "Filler" we would have that hot book in our hands because I'd argue most of Feast/Dance was filler already, the tight plotting of the first 3 books has already slipped. But folks seem to accept, or even like, these "unabridged" versions over a truncated experience focused on plot development over character and scenery.

It's possible that he just thinks the story is shit. The humor doesn't land, the characters are paper-thin, the layers and subtlety are gone. But if that were the case I think he would just bring in help if he thought he couldn't do it or was listening to people stopping him from publishing. So he has the clarity to want a certain level of quality. Even if there were more merennesse knots in the story he COULD just pound that nail in and move past it, most folks would forgive a few "why don't the eagles drop the ring in" sidesteps to get to the rest of the story.

 

[JeTmAn81]

What does this dude think the word "priority" means

 

[Rentahamster]

Sometimes I wonder if in an alternate timeline where the TV show didn't exist, and D&D didn't fuck shit up, would we have Winds of Winter by now.

 

[PrefectAboro]

It's crazy because I've been thinking of pulling the trigger of getting ASOIAF box set on amazon. I've only seen Game of Thrones HBO once, and doing a first rewatch. Taking in all the lore/behind the scenes/history/special features. I'm ITCHING to read the books. Is the Mass Market Paperback edition worth owning for 60 bucks? Or should I spend more money and get the more expensive (paperback or leatherbound editions)?

 

[jason10mm]

It's crazy because I've been thinking of pulling the trigger of getting ASOIAF box set on amazon. I've only seen Game of Thrones HBO once, and doing a first rewatch. Taking in all the lore/behind the scenes/history/special features. I'm ITCHING to read the books. Is the Mass Market Paperback edition worth owning for 60 bucks? Or should I spend more money and get the more expensive (paperback or leatherbound editions)?

60 bucks??? You can get the 5 book paperback boxed set for $28 on amazon right now. Do that.

Or better, buy used so you don't reward GRRM for not finishing the series already

 

[Wilhelm_85]

It's crazy because I've been thinking of pulling the trigger of getting ASOIAF box set on amazon. I've only seen Game of Thrones HBO once, and doing a first rewatch. Taking in all the lore/behind the scenes/history/special features. I'm ITCHING to read the books. Is the Mass Market Paperback edition worth owning for 60 bucks? Or should I spend more money and get the more expensive (paperback or leatherbound editions)?

The first three books are still great achievements in storytelling and worth reading. However, I'd stop there unless the series is somehow completed one day.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Fatman will always be Tolkien's bitch

Agreed, I'm in the apparent minority that despise what the GoT's financial / TV success brought to fantasy. It's just trashy in a pointless way. I'd prefer a world where he didn't even finish the first book.

 

[RJMacready73]

Id love to read the books but fuck starting a massive series like that with no ending, it's been years and he still hasn't finished Winds of Winter and when he finally does he's another massive book to start/finish which will arguably be his hardest to date, wrapping up his great saga in a way that removes the bad taste from the show and cements his legacy... He's no chance, he'll be long dead before he gets 100pages into it

 

[Emerson]

Then he could have gone the Wheel of Time route of endless novels.

Literally no one would complain if we got MORE then 2 books, we just want SOMETHING. If he was sitting on hundreds of chapters of "Filler" we would have that hot book in our hands because I'd argue most of Feast/Dance was filler already, the tight plotting of the first 3 books has already slipped. But folks seem to accept, or even like, these "unabridged" versions over a truncated experience focused on plot development over character and scenery.

It's possible that he just thinks the story is shit. The humor doesn't land, the characters are paper-thin, the layers and subtlety are gone. But if that were the case I think he would just bring in help if he thought he couldn't do it or was listening to people stopping him from publishing. So he has the clarity to want a certain level of quality. Even if there were more merennesse knots in the story he COULD just pound that nail in and move past it, most folks would forgive a few "why don't the eagles drop the ring in" sidesteps to get to the rest of the story.

It's not a simple matter of another book or two.

GRRM originally envisioned a trilogy. The first book of that trilogy turned into 3 books. He wanted to skip 5 years and move on with the story, but found he was spending too much time recounting the interim, so he decided to write the interim. That's books 4 and 5. He has only just barely begun the original book 2 story arc towards the end of ADWD.

There's absolutely no reason to think that his original books 2 and 3 wouldn't also take 3 books each to properly tell, just as the original AGOT turned into AGOT-ACOK-ASOS. So he probably would need another 5 books to actually tell the story he originally wanted to tell. He knows that will never happen. He can't just pump out another 6000 pages before he runs out of time. But he also can't cram it into 2500. So he's stuck, and getting more frustrated every year.

 

[Lord Panda]

I would like Tad Williams to finish the books personally. George already owes much of that first book to Tad to begin w/.

His Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy are among my favourite books.

 

[Embearded]

 

[Trilobit]

He can't just pump out another 6000 pages before he runs out of time. But he also can't cram it into 2500. So he's stuck, and getting more frustrated every year.

At some point you just have to bite the bullet and take a combination of cocaine and psilocybin and chocolate to get rid of the writer's block.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

It's crazy because I've been thinking of pulling the trigger of getting ASOIAF box set on amazon. I've only seen Game of Thrones HBO once, and doing a first rewatch. Taking in all the lore/behind the scenes/history/special features. I'm ITCHING to read the books. Is the Mass Market Paperback edition worth owning for 60 bucks? Or should I spend more money and get the more expensive (paperback or leatherbound editions)?

I bought every book pre owned in Charity shops for £1 each. It helps the TV show made the books extremely accessible. Why buy giga deluxes when you can get the same reading material for barely anything? I just finished Storm and it becomes apparent even back in S3 onward how mediocre the show is compared to the books.

If GRRM doesn't finish it then oh well, not the first time I've read something that "ends" unfinished.