Well Martin smells profit, Martin can get off his a** and writes. Looks like the fifth book entitled "A Dance with Dragons" is due out September 2011 (hardcover) and December 2012 (trade paperback).http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/george-r-r-martin/dance-with-dragons.htm Right on the tale of his HBO mini series. No long 5 year wait.. The titles to the final two books in the series have been announced as "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring".
... no no no wait a minute, this bastard has taken so long that he has almost completely lost my interest.. almost, dammit, but I still can't wait to see what happens to my favourite characters. Supposedly, he actually had 1/2 this book written when he finished the LAST one but it made it too long, so he had to eek out a little more and make it in to two separate books... the only thing that's been holding him back (according to one of his blogs a loooong time ago) was trying to un-knot a story line with some of the "kids" (Tommen maybe or the Stark younglings?) that had twisted itself into a place he didn't like it to be.
In any case, bring it , Martin, you slow writing bastard!!
I don't think I'd put too much stock in that though. I saw the same kind of thing last year on the Chapters website, and the release date came and went without a peep. Just for some perspective, I went to the "Way back machine" ( web.archive.org ), and checked the history of the Ice and Fire Update section of his official page ( http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html ). Here's one I found, archived early in 2007, but notice the date at the end of the post:
"...I know, there are lots of writers who write every day, no matter where they are or what they are doing. Alas, I am not one of them. My efforts to write in hotel rooms and on airplanes have never produced much. I need to be here at my desk, on my own computer, with all my reference materials around me, and ideally I need to be left undisturbed for a good chunk of time if I'm to have any hope of getting real work done. That hasn't been easily accomplished of late.
The good news, however, is that my travels are over for the rest of the year. There are no more conventions, readings, or promotional tours on my schedule until 2007, so for the next six weeks it will be just me and my PC. I am still hoping to be able to complete A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by the end of the year... although that will depend in large part on how well and how quickly the writing goes from here.
Having said that, he's said a few times that he's getting close. The issue was that he had put the Starks in such dismal situations, he wasn't sure how to fix things. Last time he gave any real information about how things were going, he said he only had a few chapters to finish, but I think that was last spring.
The problem as I see it is that he has too many other projects on the go (his Wild Cards series, plus the GoT series, in which he's heavily involved, plus he seems to do a crapload of traveling for appearances at conventions, etc.) Still, it all seems to me that although he may be genuinely busy, he's still a HUGE procrastinator.
Doesn't REALLY solve the problem though. Assuming GRRM had a plan for the kids, he'd now have to come up with a new plan, causing even MORE of a delay. Also, Starks are barely in the picture these days (with the exception of Jon Snow, who technically isn't a Stark). Yes they still get chapters written about them, but for the time being they're hardly a concern for those in power. Anyone who's read Feast for Crows, please feel free to correct me.
Here be spoilers, for those who haven't read the books.
I think their stories are important, but not terribly exciting at the moment. I think Sansa's going to wind up being pivotal from a political standpoint, and Arya's story has the potential to be one of the more exciting ones, assuming she graduates to the ranks of the faceless men. Bran will probably figure more prominently in Dance with Dragons, especially since he's now beyond the wall, and in the company of the Wight (Other?) who used to be a man of the Watch (I want to know if he's going to turn out to be Ben Stark). Jon Snow's story is going to be huge of course, since he's the Lord Commander of the Watch, and Rickon... well... who cares?
So yes, they're all under the radar, but I think their stories are arguably the most important of the series (or they'll wind up that way).
July 12, 2011?? That's crazy soon for something we thought he wasn't even finished writing. It must've been through a few drafts then already. Heck, they've got to be going to press soon to be able to pump out enough volumes to meet demand.
Home
Calendar
Search
Register
Login
Print Thread
Report to Moderator
Logged
E-mail
Private message
