What's the over/under on George RR Martin not dying before finishing ASoIaF?

[stoolcannon]

Dude is ooooooold, not in great physical condition and taking roughly 2,743 years to finish the next book in the series. I'm guessing he's going to croak before he finishes and leave his fans hanging.

I remember meeting Robert Jordan at a book signing back in 2005 not long after he'd been diagnosed with [insert obscure, fatal disease here] and thinking he wasn't going to make the trip. I was of course sad but at least for him he had always been clear about his thousands of pages of notes and hours upon hours of audio notes etc he had been stockpiling so I figured someone would finish. Now we've got Brandon Sanderson writing the last 3 books and so far they are fantastic.

I'm thinking Mr. Martin is not so meticulous with his note taking judging by his blog entries of the million things he's doing that are not in any way related to the series his fans are so ravenous for.

I hope he makes the trip in general because hey, he seems like a pretty good dude. Selfishly though I'm going to be pretty angry at that old SOB if he croaks before he finishes. This is exactly how I felt about Stephen King when he went off and got himself run over before finishing the Dark Tower. He pulled through though fortunately.

I think it's time we take charge and start locking these authors up in bubbles inside of cells and putting them on a strict regimen of diet and exercise to ensure they survive to finish their opuses.

[kernal42]

Considering how long this last book has been in the making, I'm not so sure any of us will still be alive by the time it gets published!

-Kernal

[stoolcannon]

Considering how long this last book has been in the making, I'm not so sure any of us will still be alive by the time it gets published!

-Kernal

Exactly. I have been telling my wife for years I'm going to die when I hit 75 so I've only got 39 years left for him to finish. The old bastard.

[stoolcannon]

There has to be a few more GRRM fans out there on a nerdio game forum. Come one people!

[gurgar78]

There has to be a few more GRRM fans out there on a nerdio game forum. Come one people!

Your post touches places inside me that hurt to visit. Bad places. Places I want to avoid.

[voodoogroves]

As much as I want to see Tamzin Merchant ... er ... I mean ... the HBO version ... yeah ... that's it ... I'd much rather stupid books got finished.

I made the mistake of introducing my wife to them, so now it's my fault there's an unfinished series she can't read. Stupid GRRM.

[~KatsMeow]

I think it's time we take charge and start locking these authors up in bubbles inside of cells and putting them on a strict regimen of diet and exercise to ensure they survive to finish their opuses.

/signed

[kaelis]

*ahem*

"...On Oct 11, 2010 it was confirmed by GRRM’s editor Anne Groell that Martin has finished all but five chapters for A Dance with Dragons, and that the five chapters remaining already exist in partial form. She also teased the hope of the publisher that the manuscript will be finished by Christmas 2010..." Source.

That being said he started writing in 1991, it took him 5 years for the first novel, then 2 for the next 2 and 5 for Feast. Even if this manuscript is in by the end of Christmas - which, knowing Martin, it won't. The book won't be published til mid-late 2011 or even 2012. That's seven or eight years for this one. Considering he has Winter roughly a quater done, I picture that one taking roughly four to five more. With his last book, well, I don't think his perfectionistic attitude will ever let him consider it "properly done", as in his publishing company and editor really need to force him to stick to a deadline for once, else the series will be finished by someone else while he's rolling around cursing in his grave and the fans are mildly disgusted.

[stoolcannon]

*ahem*

"...On Oct 11, 2010 it was confirmed by GRRM’s editor Anne Groell that Martin has finished all but five chapters for A Dance with Dragons, and that the five chapters remaining already exist in partial form. She also teased the hope of the publisher that the manuscript will be finished by Christmas 2010..." Source.

That being said he started writing in 1991, it took him 5 years for the first novel, then 2 for the next 2 and 5 for Feast. Even if this manuscript is in by the end of Christmas - which, knowing Martin, it won't. The book won't be published til mid-late 2011 or even 2012. That's seven or eight years for this one. Considering he has Winter roughly a quater done, I picture that one taking roughly four to five more. With his last book, well, I don't think his perfectionistic attitude will ever let him consider it "properly done", as in his publishing company and editor really need to force him to stick to a deadline for once, else the series will be finished by someone else while he's rolling around cursing in his grave and the fans are mildly disgusted.

He also said 4 years ago that he had enough material for 2 books and was splitting Feast in half. He was apparently only referring to his word count and not the actual content of the story.

[kaelis]

He also said 4 years ago that he had enough material for 2 books and was splitting Feast in half. He was apparently only referring to his word count and not the actual content of the story.

From his blog these were 4-6 finished chapters that didn't fit withthe "flow" of Dance, and so have been pushed back.

[stoolcannon]

From his blog these were 4-6 finished chapters that didn't fit withthe "flow" of Dance, and so have been pushed back.

He only clarified that a loooong time later. I read his blog at least once a week just to see if he's done anything other than sell more miniatures, go to some event for Wild Cards or watch the Jets.

[lugoman]

I hope he abandons Song of Ice and Fire and devotes the rest of his life to bringing back Beauty and the Beast.

[Pwesiela]

Look on the bright side, if he croaks, then HBO has pretty much unfettered decision making for how the story ends. Provided the show manages to not get canceled upon the ending of the now written series...

[xanvar]

I have given up on the series ever being finished. I actually bought one of the books twice because I thought it was a new one since it had been so long since I read it. I have bought a couple of DnD novels twice as well, I guess I should keep a list of books I have...

[brian14]

Which is STILL not as bad as David Gerrold. The fourth book of "Chtorr" series was published in 1992. He had the fifth book "almost finished" since 1998, if not longer.

With that one, I definitely lost hope it will ever be finished.

BTW, I am reading "Feast for Crows" right now -- should be done about tomorrow. I read first three books about 2 years ago, and tried to hold off buying "Feast for Crows" until "Dance with Dragons" comes out, so I could read both at once. Obviously, I gave in!

[Kale_Hagan]

For everyone out there who also liked GRRM, you should check out Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" trilogy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Law

Similar fantasy world, a bit heavier on the magic. It is one of the most enjoyable series I've read in years. It also has the added benefit of having been completed.

Highly recommended.

P.S. I've been reading WoT since 1990, so I'm 20 years in on the wait. GRRM's got nothing on that. But I'm still irritated he won't sit down and pound that puppy out.

[JayDubya]

Which is STILL not as bad as David Gerrold. The fourth book of "Chtorr" series was published in 1992. He had the fifth book "almost finished" since 1998, if not longer.

With that one, I definitely lost hope it will ever be finished.

BTW, I am reading "Feast for Crows" right now -- should be done about tomorrow. I read first three books about 2 years ago, and tried to hold off buying "Feast for Crows" until "Dance with Dragons" comes out, so I could read both at once. Obviously, I gave in!

You and I have very similar tastes. I even donated money to his charity so my friend's name could be in "A Method for Madness". Sigh. 19 years now.... geez.

But I am heartened by news of GRRM's progress. I am concerned that he will have a hard time finishing the series in only two more books - I am wondering if he'll have to kill off a bunch of characters to trim the plotlines.

[Surcus1]

I love this series, but I doubt I`ll see the end of it

I expect the fifth book to be completed at any time, but it doesn`t really help much...the last two will never be seen. Ten years have passed since the excellent A Storm of Swords, probably the best book I ever read.

Ah well, the HBO-version is looking great

[valorik]

I'm trying to lock away the part of me that really loves those books... but I keep rereading them...

I think George learned from turbine about releasing things in a timely manner...