Tag Archives: George R.R. Martin

Books/Literature

Game of Thrones… 2018 edition

I haven’t watched a single episode of the Game of Thrones TV series, though I have little doubt it is as good as the shows millions of fans claim.  Neither have I read a single one of George R. R. Martin’s books (formally called A Song of Ice and Fire) upon which the TV show was based but, again, I’m quite certain they are as good as the fans similarly claim (and many of them say the books are far better than the TV show).

Having said this, and being a cultural/book nerd, despite the fact that I’ve neither seen nor read any of the Game of Thrones stuff I’ve followed the ins and outs of the show and the delayed release of the final two books of the series.

If you’ve been living in a cave these past ten years or so:  George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books -of which there are currently five released, are supposed to have two more before concluding.

The first book, A Game of Thrones, was released in 1996.  Book two, A Clash of Kings, was released in 1998.  Book three, A Storm of Swords, was released in 2000.  Book four, A Feast of Crows, was released in 2005.  The last released book (to date) is A Dance With Dragons, was released in 2011.

As you can see, the first three books were released two years apart each.  With book four, it took Mr. Martin 5 years.  With book five, 6 years.

If you’re keeping track of time here, 7 years have passed since the release of book 5 and, according to James Whitbrook over at i09.com, you shouldn’t expect book 6’s release this year:

Please try to be surprised: George R. R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter is definitely not coming in 2018

So here’s the thing: The TV show has already gone farther along in the story than Mr. Martin has with his books.  The show will, unless Mr. Martin is hiding the proverbial rabbit in his hat, conclude well before the final book (or perhaps the final two!) are released.

And there are those who wonder if the two last books will ever be released.

Here’s the thing (and I don’t mean to be grim here): Mr. Martin is currently 69 years old.  That’s not ancient, by any means, but if we are to assume that Book 6 gets released, say, next year, that means it will have taken him 8 years to release it and, by that time, Mr. Martin will be in/around 70 years of age.

Again, this is assuming the book, which has been delayed quite a bit, will indeed be released next year.  If it isn’t, well, add another year to the author’s age.

Now, if it takes him another 8 years to finish the last book (and that’s an optimistic estimate, considering each subsequent book has taken progressively longer to get done), Mr. Martin will be 78 years old when this book is released.

While it is certainly possible Mr. Martin will live to that age, one begins (again, getting grim here), to worry about his longevity and, subsequently, the possibility the series will get finished, at least in book form.

Though I haven’t read any of the books, as an author currently working on the conclusion to my own series, I’m intrigued -and I hope, if only for the series’ many fans!- to see if Mr. Martin gets the work done.

Books/Literature

The Winds of Winter…coming?!

If you were today, Tuesday, March 7th 2017, to look at the literary field and pick out some of the bigger names/books around, you’d likely list, among others, the works of Stephen King or J. K. Rowling.  Perhaps, today, you might be in the mood for Neil Gaiman or James Patterson.  I hear George Orwell is making quite a comeback, too.

(I’d love to include myself in this list…perhaps one day?)  😉

Another very big name on the list is George R. R. Martin.  His Game of Thrones fantasy series became red hot -and positively volcanic- after HBO started their adaptation of the series.

Most of you who are fans of Mr. Martin’s books know all too well that the HBO series has already leaped over the last of Mr. Martin’s published novels and will very likely end well before the final book in the series is released.

If it is ever released.

There are those who are growing increasingly pessimistic about the chances of the series ever being published/finished.  Currently, fans await The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the seven book series and that means there remain two books to be released while it looks like HBO will finish the storyline -granted, one which is their own at this point though they did consult with Mr. Martin as to where he intended to go with the story- well before the last book is released and possibly before the second to last book is released.

Amusingly, Mr. Martin is still involved in other literary properties he’s started up, including the superhero universe of the Wild Cards.  On February 28th he tweeted about the publication of the latest Wild Cards book and that earned him this amusing rant by Patrick Redford theconcourse.com:

F#$k off, GRRM!

Mr. Redford’s very small post essentially wonders where The Winds of Winter is and why this Wild Cards novel is even being announced.

Let me tell you, I see Mr. Redford’s point.  I’ve been a fan of book series and there is nothing more infuriating than waiting for an author to finish up a series.  It’s almost as frustrating as starting a series and then finding it fades away over time.  For example, I was really, really into David Weber’s Safehold series (currently running 9 books worth, which is apparently the entire first “big” story line) but after four books and what appeared to me to be minimal advancement, I jumped off that particular boat.

With my Corrosive Knights series, which in the end will run eight books long, six of which are now available, I’ve tried mightily to a) give readers something new and interesting with each new book and b) not overstay my welcome.

Because I’ve experienced both the writer’s and the fan’s side of getting into a novel series, I can certainly sympathize with Mr. Redford and the many who are impatient to read the next Game of Thrones book but, likewise, can sympathize with Mr. Martin as well.

The fact of the matter, and I’ve mentioned this many times before, writing a novel is not an easy task.  In my case it takes incredible concentration and patience.  How many of you out there can write a 100,000 page (or longer!) work, then spend many, many months revising and re-revising and re-re-revising this same work until you’re satisfied it is ready for release?

In my case, I’m writing alone.

In Mr. Weber’s case (and I suspect Mr. Martin’s as well), I’m certain he has staff to help him keep names and characters in some kind of order.  Even so, these are books filled to the brim with at times hundreds of different characters and getting everything to “work” in the course of the story is not an easy task.

And let’s face it, some suspect its not made any easier when, like Mr. Martin, you’ve probably already made more money than you’ll ever spend on the success of both the novels and the HBO series.

Why bother finishing up the series, they may wonder, when its being done for you?

I can’t speak specifically for Mr. Martin but I will say this: If my Corrosive Knights series was a successful HBO show and I was down, as I currently am, to the last two books in that series and it was looking like the show would “beat me to the punch”, I’d still finish the two books I was working on.

Writing for me is a part of my being and its impossible to stop.  Further, I don’t have everything all worked out.  New ideas pop up and I can’t help but wonder when/if the last two Game of Thrones books come out they prove to be very different -moreso than anyone thought- to the HBO series.

If I had the entire story line of Corrosive Knights already planned out to the smallest detail, trust me when I say that the series would have been done years ago.

I suspect the same can be said for Game of Thrones.