Board 8 > GRRM to publish new ASoIaF book, but not Winds of Winter

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/25/17280908/george-r-r-martin-grrm-game-of-thrones-song-of-ice-and-fire

A prequel of short stories about the Targaryens, apparently.
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-.-
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"Dany's going over!" ~Vince McMahon
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Cool, I wasn't expecting TWoW anyways
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He also basically confirmed Winds will not be released in 2018...
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What a shock. He should really consider passing the series off to a real author before its too late. I feel sorry for the people who live for this series.
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In his blog post he actually refers to it as part 1 of the "GRRMillion." So the obvious parallels were quite intentional. Too bad he couldn't follow Tolkien's example where it counts, and actually deliver a complete Lord of the Rings before spending the rest of his life dicking around with the Silmarillion.
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RyoCaliente posted...

He also basically confirmed Winds will not be released in 2018...

Didn't he want to originally get it out two seasons ago in like 2015?
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Yup. He's either had a real bad couple of years writing-wise, can no longer be bothered to write it, or is contractually obligated to let the show finish first or something.
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Sometimes writers just get stumped at the end of their own stories because it didnt come together the way they wanted

Pat Rothfuss has been dicking around on book 3/3 of Kingkiller for roughly the same amount of time.

GRRM just happens to be unbelievably arrogant and not all that likable on top of that.
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Eddv posted...

Pat Rothfuss has been dicking around on book 3/3 of Kingkiller for roughly the same amount of time

Don't remind me
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Honestly I expect if it ever is released, it will release out of nowhere. Like, oh hey Winds is coming out in three weeks btw.
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I wouldn't expect him to even want to release it while the show's ongoing. Now that he can't get it out ahead of the show, I feel like it'll just get overshadowed.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I wouldn't expect him to even want to release it while the show's ongoing. Now that he can't get it out ahead of the show, I feel like it'll just get overshadowed.

Yeah, but people complain about the latter seasons way more than about the earlier seasons. He can still make something people appreciate.
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In that case, might as well wait until the show is done and then he can take every fan complaint into account.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

In that case, might as well wait until the show is done and then he can take every fan complaint into account.

That's the most positive way to look at things!

I've only read the first book anyway. I mean to read the others eventually.
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RyoCaliente posted...

contractually obligated to let the show finish first or something.

This is the most logical reason tbh
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If that was true, then why would he have claimed he was going to get WoW out before season 5 or whatever?
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my theory, just based purely on speculation, is that GRRM had been losing interest ever since people started figuring out all the twists of the series ahead of time. keep in mind GRRM has been writing for a long time and only a small portion of his life as a writer has been during the age of the internet.

when A Song of Ice and Fire started there was barely any discussion about it, but the creation of fan message boards and such allowed readers to share ideas and to come to conclusions very quickly. on top of that it didn't help that the popularity of the series exploded during that time. GRRM was originally planning to have a series that ended with some big twists, but everyone had already figured them out by the end of the first book.

after writing the big climax events at the end of the third book his writing has considerably slowed down; all that's left is for him to reveal the endgame twists that we all know are coming, and at this point he's basically going through the motions. now, on top of all that, the show has overtaken the books. there are millions of television viewers who have already seen the end of his story before he even finished writing it. that... just sucks. I can imagine why he woudn't be very motivated anymore.

it kinda sucks but hey if he never finishes writing the next few books I can always imagine that the Lighthouse theory is true and it can never be fully disproven.
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First off, what's the lighthouse theory?

Second off, what you say is very possible, but it's obvious that he still has an interest in writing or else he wouldn't have made a book about the Targaryens. Assuming you're right, I wonder if he's tempted to change the twists.
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Anagram posted...

Second off, what you say is very possible, but it's obvious that he still has an interest in writing or else he wouldn't have made a book about the Targaryens.

well, yeah. he's now more interested in writing other stories than he is in finishing A Song of Ice and Fire.

Anagram posted...

First off, what's the lighthouse theory?

all series spoilers

the short version is that stannis is about to wreck the frey army and then fake his own defeat to in order to destroy the boltons. if you don't remember stannis is supposedly currently "trapped" in a small village due to the weather, and the frey forces are marching to rout his weakened army. jon receives a letter claiming that Stannis was defeated but we never see the result of the battle.

it's based on the weirwood tree on the island out in the middle of the lake on the island, the watchtower located in the town where stannis is camping, the sample chapter where he catches karstark as the traitor in his camp, and the scenes where stannis men are shown digging out the ice even though there aren't anymore fish to catch. essentially what he's going to do is use karstarks to send bad info to the bolton/frey forces and lure them into thinking that stannis is in a bad position, when actually he's been sitting in the exact spot where he wants to fight. with the heavy cover of the blizzard they're going to use the weirwood tree as a false 'lighthouse' making it appear as the watchtower in the village. the frey forces will march toward what they believe is the watchtower and will instead be led out onto the ice. the weakened ice will be collapsed to take out the vanguard of the opposing army.

there's several ways things can go after that but needless to say stannis is in a much better position than it seems. his entire military career is also filled with him winning victories over opposing forces by using subterfuge so this is definitely well within reason to expect out of him, and there's some pretty decent evidence to support it. of course we'll never know how the battle turns out until the next book comes out, and that may never happen.
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Ah, neat. Thank you for that, I thought I was up to date on my ASoIaF theories, but apparently I was not.
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it's been years since the last book came out and the fanbase is pretty rabid. there's actually a lot of analysis behind the plotting, politics, and military tactics in the north since that was some of the most interesting material to come out of the last book.

one guy in particular has written like a dozen essays just about stannis and his influence on the wildling/northern/night watch politics in the last book. can't remember his name right now though, but I could probably find the website again if I cared.
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I like reading fan theories too. I remember years ago I'd read crazy theories about Star Trek, it was fun.
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