Movies and TV Game of Thrones Thread - Page 81

**BigRedChief** · 02:53 PM

Feel free to discuss any future speculation, theories. Anything from the books is fair game to post. Everything that has been broadcast on TV or from HBO. No spoilers needed.

If you watched or know the events that will take place in a unaired episode that has not been broadcast on HBO, you must put all the information and comments in a spoiler tag.
Do not post any media of any kind involving actual content from unaired episodes without being in a spoiler. The only exception to the spoiler rule is content publicly posted from HBO and or the GOT actor themselves. Teasers, promos, trailers etc.

Any person unable to follow the spoiler rules will be banned from this thread. 14 days for first offense. Perm banned from the thread for a 2nd offense.

Third Eye · 01-02-2016, 01:43 AM

Mr. Martin has been making end of 2015 posts all day and a number of fans were hoping for some good news regarding WoW. Unfortunately, the news was not so good.

http://grrm.livejournal.com

January 2nd, 2016, 12:24 am
Last Year (Winds of Winter)
The last post from the Lost Post, and the one you've all been waiting for.

Back when this was one long long long post, before Live Journal sent it to the cornfield, I mentioned opening with Dickens' line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." So it was for me in 2015. I've spent much of the day recreating (in Cliff's Note summaries) my own personal "best of times" from the previous year, all the wonderful things that went down for me in 2015, the awards and the publications and the bestseller lists, the cons and the parties, the travel, all the exciting new projects underway at HBO and right here down the street in Santa Fe. But inevitably that brings me to my own personal "worst of times," and that is considerably less fun to blog about, so do forgive my reluctance to do so.

You wanted an update. Here's the update. You won't like it.

THE WINDS OF WINTER is not finished.

Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, "I have completed and delivered THE WINDS OF WINTER" on or before the last day of 2015.

But the book's not done.

Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. (Those 'no pages done' reports were insane, the usual garbage internet journalism that I have learned to despise). But there's also a lot still left to write. I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.) Chapters still to write, of course... but also rewriting. I always do a lot of rewriting, sometimes just polishing, sometimes pretty major restructures.

I suppose I could just say, "Sorry, boys and girls, still writing," and leave it at that. "It will be done when it's done." Which is what I have been doing, more or less, since... well, forever. But with season 6 of GAME OF THRONES approaching, and so many requests for information boiling up, I am going to break my own rules and say a little more, since it would appear that hundreds of my readers, maybe thousands or tens of thousands, are very concerned about this question of 'spoilers" and the show catching up, revealing things not yet revealed in the books, etc.

My publishers and I have been cognizant of these concerns, of course. We discussed some of them last spring, as the fifth season of the HBO series was winding down, and came up with a plan. We all wanted book six of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE to come out before season six of the HBO show aired. Assuming the show would return in early April, that meant THE WINDS OF WINTER had to be published before the end of March, at the latest. For that to happen, my publishers told me, they would need the completed manuscript before the end of October. That seemed very do-able to me... in May. So there was the first deadline: Halloween.

Unfortunately, the writing did not go as fast or as well as I would have liked. You can blame my travels or my blog posts or the distractions of other projects and the Cocteau and whatever, but maybe all that had an impact... you can blame my age, and maybe that had an impact too...but if truth be told, sometimes the writing goes well and sometimes it doesn't, and that was true for me even when I was in my 20s. And as spring turned to summer, I was having more bad days than good ones. Around about August, I had to face facts: I was not going to be done by Halloween. I cannot tell you how deeply that realization depressed me.

Early August saw me back east for my nephew's wedding and an appearance with the Staten Island Direwolves. I took advantage of the visit to have another sit down with my editors and publishers and told them that I didn't think I could deliver by Halloween. I thought they'd be sick about it... but I have to say, my editors and publishers are great, and they took it with surprising equanimity. (Maybe they knew it before I did). They already had contigencies in place. They had made plans to speed up production. If I could deliver WINDS OF WINTER by the end of the year, they told me, they could still get it our before the end of March.

I was immensely relieved. I had two whole extra months! I could make that, certainly. August was an insane month, too much travel, too many other obligations... but I'd have September, October, and now November and December as well. Once again I was confident I could do it.

Here it is, the first of January. The book is not done, not delivered. No words can change that. I tried, I promise you. I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I've now blown the end of the year deadline. And that almost certainly means that no, THE WINDS OF WINTER will not be published before the sixth season of GAME OF THRONES premieres in April (mid April, we are now told, not early April, but those two weeks will not save me). Even as late as my birthday and our big Emmy win, I still thought I could do it... but the days and weeks flew by faster than the pile of pages grew, and (as I often do) I grew unhappy with some of the choices I'd made and began to revise... and suddenly it was October, and then November... and as the suspicion grew that I would not make it after all, a gloom set in, and I found myself struggling even more. The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became.

Look, I have always had problems with deadlines. For whatever reason, I don't respond well to them. Back in November, when I returned to Northwestern to accept my Alumni Award, I told the Medill students that was why I started writing fiction instead of getting a job on a newspaper. I knew even then that daily deadlines would kill me. That was a joke, of course... but there was truth in it too. I wrote my first novel, DYING OF THE LIGHT, without a contract and without a deadline. No one even knew I was writing a novel until I sent the completed book to Kirby to sell. I wrote FEVRE DREAM the same way. I wrote THE ARMAGEDDON RAG the same way. No contracts, no deadlines, no one waiting. Write at my own pace and deliver when I'm done. That's really how I am most comfortable, even now.

But I won't make excuses. There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO, not David & Dan. It's on me. I tried, and I am still trying. I worked on the book a couple of days ago, revising a Theon chapter and adding some new material, and I will writing on it again tomorrow. But no, I can't tell you when it will be done, or when it will be published. Best guess, based on our previous conversations, is that Bantam (and presumably my British publisher as well) can have the hardcover out within three months of delivery, if their schedules permit. But when delivery will be, I can't say. I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out.

I am going back to my stance from last March, before all this. It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it.

Having said all that, I know what the next question will be, because hundreds of you have already asked it of me. Will the show 'spoil' the novels?

Maybe. Yes and no. Look, I never thought the series could possibly catch up with the books, but it has. The show moved faster than I anticipated and I moved more slowly. There were other factors too, but that was the main one. Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of GAME OF THRONES that have not yet happened in the books. For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers. This year, for some things, the reverse will be true. How you want to handle that... hey, that's up to you. Look, I read Andy Weir's novel THE MARTIAN before I saw the movie. But I saw the BBC production of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL before I finally got around to reading Susanna Clarke's novel. In both cases, I loved the book and I loved the adaptation. It does not need to be one or the other. You might prefer one over the other, but you can still enjoy the hell out of both.

Of course, there's an aspect to our situation that did not apply to either the Weir or Clarke cases. Those novels were finished before they were optioned, adapted, and filmed. The case of GAME OF THRONES and A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is perhaps unique. I can't think of any other instance where the movie or TV show came out as the source material was still being written. So when you ask me, "will the show spoil the books," all I can do is say, "yes and no," and mumble once again about the butterfly effect. Those pretty little butterflies have grown into mighty dragons. Some of the 'spoilers' you may encounter in season six may not be spoilers at all... because the show and the books have diverged, and will continue to do so.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ALL FIVE SEASONS AND READ ALL FIVE BOOKS, STOP HERE!

Just consider. Mago, Irri, Rakharo, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Pyat Pree, Pyp, Grenn, Ser Barristan Selmy, Queen Selyse, Princess Shireen, Princess Myrcella, Mance Rayder, and King Stannis are all dead in the show, alive in the books. Some of them will die in the books as well, yes... but not all of them, and some may die at different times in different ways. Balon Greyjoy, on the flip side, is dead in the books, alive on the show. His brothers Euron Crow's Eye and Victarion have not yet been introduced (will they appear? I ain't saying). Meanwhile Jhiqui, Aggo, Jhogo, Jeyne Poole, Dalla (and her child) and her sister Val, Princess Arianne Martell, Prince Quentyn Martell, Willas Tyrell, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Lord Wyman Manderly, the Shavepate, the Green Grace, Brown Ben Plumm, the Tattered Prince, Pretty Meris, Bloodbeard, Griff and Young Griff, and many more have never been part of the show, yet remain characters in the books. Several are viewpoint characters, and even those who are not may have significant roles in the story to come in THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING.

GAME OF THRONES is the most popular television series in the world right now. The most pirated as well. It just won a record number of Emmy Awards, including the ultimate prize, for the best drama on television. It's an incredible production with an incredible cast and crew.

WINDS OF WINTER should be pretty good too, when it comes out. As good as I can make it, anyway.

Which is a long way of saying, "How may children did Scarlett O'Hara have?"

Enjoy the show. Enjoy the books.

Meanwhile, I'll keep writing. Chapter at a time. Page at a time. Word at a time. That's all I know how to do.

((And yes, this is my final Cliff's Note for the day. You can all go to bed now)).

NJChiefsFan · 01-02-2016, 01:55 AM

**** him.

Godspeed to the readers that have been waiting since 1996. I would be pricing a revolver by now if I was them. Perhaps this isn't rational and it's just the nature of the business, but **** him.

He writes a damn thesis explaining himself, classically not making excuses while making excuses. Almost flippantly throwing in all the extracaricular activities that have distracted him. Like a wedding. A wedding!? That's a weekend out of 6 ****ing years!

Maybe I am being unfair. I probably am. But I know this with every fiber of my being...I don't care how unaware I am of the difficulties of being a writer in his unique situation, NEVER under any circumstances would I let down my long-time readers like this. NEVER would outside popularity take my attention over my loyalty to them. I am not talking about me, **** readers like me. I read all the books in a 2 month stretch, I didn't wait 20 flipping years. To me, all the excuses and realities aside, he failed the people that made his dream come true and made him rich and famous.

Third Eye · 01-02-2016, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

**** him.

Godspeed to the readers that have been waiting since 1996. I would be pricing a revolver by now if I was them. Perhaps this isn't rational and it's just the nature of the business, but **** him.

He writes a damn thesis explaining himself, classically not making excuses while making excuses. Almost flippantly throwing in all the extracaricular activities that have distracted him. Like a wedding. A wedding!? That's a weekend out of 6 ****ing years!

Maybe I am being unfair. I probably am. But I know this with every fiber of my being...I don't care how unaware I am of the difficulties of being a writer in his unique situation, NEVER under any circumstances would I let down my long-time readers like this. NEVER would outside popularity take my attention over my loyalty to them. I am not talking about me, **** readers like me. I read all the books in a 2 month stretch, I didn't wait 20 flipping years. To me, all the excuses and realities aside, he failed the people that made his dream come true and made him rich and famous.

While that is a bit stronger than where I'm at with it, I'm definitely disappointed. Though in reality, even if he had got this one out ahead of next season, there was no chance he would've concluded before the series.

If the show didn't exist, I probably wouldn't even care. i picked up the books sometime before Feast came out, so it's been 10 years or so for me. I'm really only worried about avoiding spoilers at this point with how ubiquitous the show has become.

crazycoffey · 01-02-2016, 06:15 AM

Just enjoy both; I didn't read a lick of the lit before season 4, I will still read WOW when it's done. Snow's book fate was a spoiler for me as a show watcher, but I still enjoyed watching it.

They're like two different versions of the truth, but since it's all fake, you can pick the parts you like more and make one awesome story out of the two.

I personally dont care when GRRM finishes writing, I can understand he's probably in the whirlwind right now. That's gotta be hard to focus.

vailpass · 01-02-2016, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

**** him.

Godspeed to the readers that have been waiting since 1996. I would be pricing a revolver by now if I was them. Perhaps this isn't rational and it's just the nature of the business, but **** him.

He writes a damn thesis explaining himself, classically not making excuses while making excuses. Almost flippantly throwing in all the extracaricular activities that have distracted him. Like a wedding. A wedding!? That's a weekend out of 6 ****ing years!

Maybe I am being unfair. I probably am. But I know this with every fiber of my being...I don't care how unaware I am of the difficulties of being a writer in his unique situation, NEVER under any circumstances would I let down my long-time readers like this. NEVER would outside popularity take my attention over my loyalty to them. I am not talking about me, **** readers like me. I read all the books in a 2 month stretch, I didn't wait 20 flipping years. To me, all the excuses and realities aside, he failed the people that made his dream come true and made him rich and famous.

That's not how writing works.

MagicHef · 01-02-2016, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I guess I'm not getting across the distinction between admiration and grudging admiration.

Nothing she does says 'when I grow up I want to be like that.' It's more, 'she has her POV and her objectives, and she pursues them doggedly.'

She's born into wealth and power, but has little of it to herself. She's told as a child that her progeny will die tragically before her. But she tries to wield power in the ways she's allowed, and tries bitterly to avoid her prophecy even as she sees it unfolding as foretold. If life were kinder to her, she'd have happy children with her brother and no one would bat an eye, and her children would wield the power she is adjacent to, but denied. Instead, she's shipped off to an arranged marriage, and her kids are despised and killed.

Perhaps its best put this way, you can admire her resolve without admiring her aims.

If Cersei had her way, she's actually be married to Rheagar. It wasn't her fault that Aerys broke off their marriage to get back at Tywin.

ThaVirus · 01-02-2016, 01:16 PM

GoT what if scenario:

Cersei marries Rhaegar as was planned but he still spurns her by presenting the flower to Lyanna at Hareenhal.

I wonder how things would have been different.

unlurking · 01-02-2016, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

**** him.

Godspeed to the readers that have been waiting since 1996. I would be pricing a revolver by now if I was them. Perhaps this isn't rational and it's just the nature of the business, but **** him.

He writes a damn thesis explaining himself, classically not making excuses while making excuses. Almost flippantly throwing in all the extracaricular activities that have distracted him. Like a wedding. A wedding!? That's a weekend out of 6 ****ing years!

Maybe I am being unfair. I probably am. But I know this with every fiber of my being...I don't care how unaware I am of the difficulties of being a writer in his unique situation, NEVER under any circumstances would I let down my long-time readers like this. NEVER would outside popularity take my attention over my loyalty to them. I am not talking about me, **** readers like me. I read all the books in a 2 month stretch, I didn't wait 20 flipping years. To me, all the excuses and realities aside, he failed the people that made his dream come true and made him rich and famous.

So much this.

I've read the series three time. Re-read before each of the last two releases because 7 years is enough time for me to forget so much. Never again. **** him.

Again, **** GRRM.

**BigRedChief** · 01-02-2016, 05:07 PM

Pisses me off. You had 6 years to write the next book in the series. You got rich and lazy. Fine and dandy. I probably would too. But cut the BS of weddings and alumni causing the delays.

Now we are going to be spolied in the books if we watch the GOT TV show. Thanks GRR

keg in kc · 01-02-2016, 09:15 PM

I still don't think they'll be all that much in terms of book spoilers. I think this is when the tv series goes off completely on its own, a trend that we've seen grow each and every season. And even stuff that George has planned to do in the books that he tells them about for the show can and will change while he's writing.

Gravedigger · 01-02-2016, 10:15 PM

I'll laugh my ass off if the show ends up being better reviewed than the books as far as story or events that unfold. Martin doesn't give a shit, he's got his check, and couldn't care less about whether the book readers get any new material. At this rate it'd probably be finished faster if he died off and his family finished it in his memory. I know that's dark and terrible to think about but its true.

**Ragged Robin** · 01-02-2016, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Pisses me off. You had 6 years to write the next book in the series. You got rich and lazy. Fine and dandy. I probably would too. But cut the BS of weddings and alumni causing the delays.

Now we are going to be spolied in the books if we watch the GOT TV show. Thanks GRR

The book is proably going to suck anyways. Look what happened to A Feast for Crows.. he has the ability to drone on and on about essentially NOTHING and then you have to wait another half decade for the next book.

NewChief · 01-03-2016, 03:18 AM

He's never going to finish. The fact that he's told the story to someone else already is probably the source of his block. When the show comes out and his readers have now seen the story that he was going to tell... That would have to be incredibly destructive toward the creative process. Oh well, I'm at peace with it. I hope he is.

ChiliConCarnage · 01-03-2016, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ragged Robin

The book is proably going to suck anyways. Look what happened to A Feast for Crows.. he has the ability to drone on and on about essentially NOTHING and then you have to wait another half decade for the next book.

Agreed. I'm neither surprised by the news nor particularly disappointed. I don't want some half assed book released and I'm sure that's what we'd get. He's lost and/or done.

Since 2000 he's released one book which he had to break into two books because he couldn't figure it out. Neither of which was up to the quality of the first 3. I'm not mad at him. It's not about appearances or the fame the show has brought or a nephew?s wedding. He just can't do it. I'm sure he's under insane pressure from the publishers. A lot of money just evaporated for them.

**BigRedChief** · 01-03-2016, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

I'm sure he's under insane pressure from the publishers. A lot of money just evaporated for them.

Then don't take their money. You already have money. Finish the book and sell it to the highest bidder.

Like the previous poster said, 1 book in 16 years that was divided up into 2 books and rambled on for too long and in too many places. So far, his writing peaked in the first 3 books.

01-08-2015, 08:29 PM
BigRedChief Has a particular set of skills Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: On the water Casino cash: $2959627 VARSITY	Game of Thrones Thread Feel free to discuss any future speculation, theories. Anything from the books is fair game to post. Everything that has been broadcast on TV or from HBO. No spoilers needed. If you watched or know the events that will take place in a unaired episode that has not been broadcast on HBO, you must put all the information and comments in a spoiler tag. Do not post any media of any kind involving actual content from unaired episodes without being in a spoiler. The only exception to the spoiler rule is content publicly posted from HBO and or the GOT actor themselves. Teasers, promos, trailers etc. Any person unable to follow the spoiler rules will be banned from this thread. 14 days for first offense. Perm banned from the thread for a 2nd offense. Last edited by BigRedChief; 09-03-2016 at 02:53 PM..
Posts: 79,173

01-02-2016, 01:43 AM	#1201
Third Eye Veteran Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: JoCo Casino cash: $1480860	Mr. Martin has been making end of 2015 posts all day and a number of fans were hoping for some good news regarding WoW. Unfortunately, the news was not so good. http://grrm.livejournal.com January 2nd, 2016, 12:24 am Last Year (Winds of Winter) The last post from the Lost Post, and the one you've all been waiting for. Back when this was one long long long post, before Live Journal sent it to the cornfield, I mentioned opening with Dickens' line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." So it was for me in 2015. I've spent much of the day recreating (in Cliff's Note summaries) my own personal "best of times" from the previous year, all the wonderful things that went down for me in 2015, the awards and the publications and the bestseller lists, the cons and the parties, the travel, all the exciting new projects underway at HBO and right here down the street in Santa Fe. But inevitably that brings me to my own personal "worst of times," and that is considerably less fun to blog about, so do forgive my reluctance to do so. You wanted an update. Here's the update. You won't like it. THE WINDS OF WINTER is not finished. Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, "I have completed and delivered THE WINDS OF WINTER" on or before the last day of 2015. But the book's not done. Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. (Those 'no pages done' reports were insane, the usual garbage internet journalism that I have learned to despise). But there's also a lot still left to write. I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.) Chapters still to write, of course... but also rewriting. I always do a lot of rewriting, sometimes just polishing, sometimes pretty major restructures. I suppose I could just say, "Sorry, boys and girls, still writing," and leave it at that. "It will be done when it's done." Which is what I have been doing, more or less, since... well, forever. But with season 6 of GAME OF THRONES approaching, and so many requests for information boiling up, I am going to break my own rules and say a little more, since it would appear that hundreds of my readers, maybe thousands or tens of thousands, are very concerned about this question of 'spoilers" and the show catching up, revealing things not yet revealed in the books, etc. My publishers and I have been cognizant of these concerns, of course. We discussed some of them last spring, as the fifth season of the HBO series was winding down, and came up with a plan. We all wanted book six of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE to come out before season six of the HBO show aired. Assuming the show would return in early April, that meant THE WINDS OF WINTER had to be published before the end of March, at the latest. For that to happen, my publishers told me, they would need the completed manuscript before the end of October. That seemed very do-able to me... in May. So there was the first deadline: Halloween. Unfortunately, the writing did not go as fast or as well as I would have liked. You can blame my travels or my blog posts or the distractions of other projects and the Cocteau and whatever, but maybe all that had an impact... you can blame my age, and maybe that had an impact too...but if truth be told, sometimes the writing goes well and sometimes it doesn't, and that was true for me even when I was in my 20s. And as spring turned to summer, I was having more bad days than good ones. Around about August, I had to face facts: I was not going to be done by Halloween. I cannot tell you how deeply that realization depressed me. Early August saw me back east for my nephew's wedding and an appearance with the Staten Island Direwolves. I took advantage of the visit to have another sit down with my editors and publishers and told them that I didn't think I could deliver by Halloween. I thought they'd be sick about it... but I have to say, my editors and publishers are great, and they took it with surprising equanimity. (Maybe they knew it before I did). They already had contigencies in place. They had made plans to speed up production. If I could deliver WINDS OF WINTER by the end of the year, they told me, they could still get it our before the end of March. I was immensely relieved. I had two whole extra months! I could make that, certainly. August was an insane month, too much travel, too many other obligations... but I'd have September, October, and now November and December as well. Once again I was confident I could do it. Here it is, the first of January. The book is not done, not delivered. No words can change that. I tried, I promise you. I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I've now blown the end of the year deadline. And that almost certainly means that no, THE WINDS OF WINTER will not be published before the sixth season of GAME OF THRONES premieres in April (mid April, we are now told, not early April, but those two weeks will not save me). Even as late as my birthday and our big Emmy win, I still thought I could do it... but the days and weeks flew by faster than the pile of pages grew, and (as I often do) I grew unhappy with some of the choices I'd made and began to revise... and suddenly it was October, and then November... and as the suspicion grew that I would not make it after all, a gloom set in, and I found myself struggling even more. The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became. Look, I have always had problems with deadlines. For whatever reason, I don't respond well to them. Back in November, when I returned to Northwestern to accept my Alumni Award, I told the Medill students that was why I started writing fiction instead of getting a job on a newspaper. I knew even then that daily deadlines would kill me. That was a joke, of course... but there was truth in it too. I wrote my first novel, DYING OF THE LIGHT, without a contract and without a deadline. No one even knew I was writing a novel until I sent the completed book to Kirby to sell. I wrote FEVRE DREAM the same way. I wrote THE ARMAGEDDON RAG the same way. No contracts, no deadlines, no one waiting. Write at my own pace and deliver when I'm done. That's really how I am most comfortable, even now. But I won't make excuses. There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO, not David & Dan. It's on me. I tried, and I am still trying. I worked on the book a couple of days ago, revising a Theon chapter and adding some new material, and I will writing on it again tomorrow. But no, I can't tell you when it will be done, or when it will be published. Best guess, based on our previous conversations, is that Bantam (and presumably my British publisher as well) can have the hardcover out within three months of delivery, if their schedules permit. But when delivery will be, I can't say. I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out. I am going back to my stance from last March, before all this. It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it. Having said all that, I know what the next question will be, because hundreds of you have already asked it of me. Will the show 'spoil' the novels? Maybe. Yes and no. Look, I never thought the series could possibly catch up with the books, but it has. The show moved faster than I anticipated and I moved more slowly. There were other factors too, but that was the main one. Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of GAME OF THRONES that have not yet happened in the books. For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers. This year, for some things, the reverse will be true. How you want to handle that... hey, that's up to you. Look, I read Andy Weir's novel THE MARTIAN before I saw the movie. But I saw the BBC production of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL before I finally got around to reading Susanna Clarke's novel. In both cases, I loved the book and I loved the adaptation. It does not need to be one or the other. You might prefer one over the other, but you can still enjoy the hell out of both. Of course, there's an aspect to our situation that did not apply to either the Weir or Clarke cases. Those novels were finished before they were optioned, adapted, and filmed. The case of GAME OF THRONES and A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is perhaps unique. I can't think of any other instance where the movie or TV show came out as the source material was still being written. So when you ask me, "will the show spoil the books," all I can do is say, "yes and no," and mumble once again about the butterfly effect. Those pretty little butterflies have grown into mighty dragons. Some of the 'spoilers' you may encounter in season six may not be spoilers at all... because the show and the books have diverged, and will continue to do so. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ALL FIVE SEASONS AND READ ALL FIVE BOOKS, STOP HERE! Just consider. Mago, Irri, Rakharo, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Pyat Pree, Pyp, Grenn, Ser Barristan Selmy, Queen Selyse, Princess Shireen, Princess Myrcella, Mance Rayder, and King Stannis are all dead in the show, alive in the books. Some of them will die in the books as well, yes... but not all of them, and some may die at different times in different ways. Balon Greyjoy, on the flip side, is dead in the books, alive on the show. His brothers Euron Crow's Eye and Victarion have not yet been introduced (will they appear? I ain't saying). Meanwhile Jhiqui, Aggo, Jhogo, Jeyne Poole, Dalla (and her child) and her sister Val, Princess Arianne Martell, Prince Quentyn Martell, Willas Tyrell, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Lord Wyman Manderly, the Shavepate, the Green Grace, Brown Ben Plumm, the Tattered Prince, Pretty Meris, Bloodbeard, Griff and Young Griff, and many more have never been part of the show, yet remain characters in the books. Several are viewpoint characters, and even those who are not may have significant roles in the story to come in THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING. GAME OF THRONES is the most popular television series in the world right now. The most pirated as well. It just won a record number of Emmy Awards, including the ultimate prize, for the best drama on television. It's an incredible production with an incredible cast and crew. WINDS OF WINTER should be pretty good too, when it comes out. As good as I can make it, anyway. Which is a long way of saying, "How may children did Scarlett O'Hara have?" Enjoy the show. Enjoy the books. Meanwhile, I'll keep writing. Chapter at a time. Page at a time. Word at a time. That's all I know how to do. ((And yes, this is my final Cliff's Note for the day. You can all go to bed now)).
Posts: 3,445

01-02-2016, 01:55 AM	#1202
NJChiefsFan I've Made a Huge Mistake Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: NJ Casino cash: $5750423	** him. Godspeed to the readers that have been waiting since 1996. I would be pricing a revolver by now if I was them. Perhaps this isn't rational and it's just the nature of the business, but him. He writes a damn thesis explaining himself, classically not making excuses while making excuses. Almost flippantly throwing in all the extracaricular activities that have distracted him. Like a wedding. A wedding!? That's a weekend out of 6 ing years! Maybe I am being unfair. I probably am. But I know this with every fiber of my being...I don't care how unaware I am of the difficulties of being a writer in his unique situation, NEVER under any circumstances would I let down my long-time readers like this. NEVER would outside popularity take my attention over my loyalty to them. I am not talking about me, ** readers like me. I read all the books in a 2 month stretch, I didn't wait 20 flipping years. To me, all the excuses and realities aside, he failed the people that made his dream come true and made him rich and famous.
Posts: 12,235

01-02-2016, 06:15 AM	#1204
crazycoffey .......... Join Date: Dec 2006 Casino cash: $5127901	Just enjoy both; I didn't read a lick of the lit before season 4, I will still read WOW when it's done. Snow's book fate was a spoiler for me as a show watcher, but I still enjoyed watching it. They're like two different versions of the truth, but since it's all fake, you can pick the parts you like more and make one awesome story out of the two. I personally dont care when GRRM finishes writing, I can understand he's probably in the whirlwind right now. That's gotta be hard to focus.
Posts: 28,332

01-02-2016, 01:16 PM	#1207
ThaVirus You gotta kill a few people Join Date: Sep 2007 Casino cash: $1902369	GoT what if scenario: Cersei marries Rhaegar as was planned but he still spurns her by presenting the flower to Lyanna at Hareenhal. I wonder how things would have been different.
Posts: 44,411

01-02-2016, 05:07 PM	#1209
BigRedChief Has a particular set of skills Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: On the water Casino cash: $2959627 VARSITY	Pisses me off. You had 6 years to write the next book in the series. You got rich and lazy. Fine and dandy. I probably would too. But cut the BS of weddings and alumni causing the delays. Now we are going to be spolied in the books if we watch the GOT TV show. Thanks GRR __________________ Time is worth more than money.
Posts: 79,173

01-02-2016, 09:15 PM	#1210
keg in kc oxymoron Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: OP/KC/Whatever Casino cash: $9556299	I still don't think they'll be all that much in terms of book spoilers. I think this is when the tv series goes off completely on its own, a trend that we've seen grow each and every season. And even stuff that George has planned to do in the books that he tells them about for the show can and will change while he's writing.
Posts: 58,682

01-02-2016, 10:15 PM	#1211
Gravedigger Plays to win the game! Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lees Summit Casino cash: $7223101	I'll laugh my ass off if the show ends up being better reviewed than the books as far as story or events that unfold. Martin doesn't give a shit, he's got his check, and couldn't care less about whether the book readers get any new material. At this rate it'd probably be finished faster if he died off and his family finished it in his memory. I know that's dark and terrible to think about but its true.
Posts: 7,582

01-03-2016, 03:18 AM	#1213
NewChief In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Fayetteville, AR Casino cash: $9630204	He's never going to finish. The fact that he's told the story to someone else already is probably the source of his block. When the show comes out and his readers have now seen the story that he was going to tell... That would have to be incredibly destructive toward the creative process. Oh well, I'm at peace with it. I hope he is. __________________ In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. - H. L. Mencken
Posts: 21,760