History of the NAB: 2009

In anticipation of the newest addition of NAB History, which will be complete sometime in July, I’m going to frequently repost each prior edition, you can find 2005,  2006, 2007 , and 2008 here. For those that don’t know I have painstakingly went through each and every post by George R. R. Martin, line by line, and offered my opinion when appropriate. Why you may ask? To show that people DO have a reason for being upset and impatient. I always provide the date and title of his post, so if you think I’m misquoting George you can easily go search and find out yourself; however, I do provide links from time to time. Thanks for reading and I hope you find this to be an interesting and entertaining read.

While 2008 turned out to be a small moment with a big beginning, 2009 was the year of the Blowback.  Many frustrated fans rose to voice their frustrations, while bloggers attempted to silence their dissent; however, viewed through the lens of the NAB you wouldn’t have known that anything special happened, other than a kickass discount on a Windhaven novel.

In 2009 we were lectured on whose bitch was whose, and who was that bitch that wasn’t, updated on why George wasn’t going to update his update page, informed about his generous sale of personalized, moldy, water-damaged RPG games, and Shawn Speakman led the charge to stifle dissent with his article, “In Defense of George”, other bloggers quickly picked up the mantle and followed suit.  Criticism of all things George was on the verge of being squelched, and many frustrated fans were about to accept that they were not allowed to question the newly crowned Messiah: George R.R. Martin.  When a little known blog roared out of the wilderness, and in their typical drive-by fashion, knee capped the opposition.

Let us venture once more down that road in history, and see what’s become of that timeless, unpublished, unfinished classic that has been many years in the waiting.

January 3rd, 2009

NEW YORK TIMES Confirms Satanic Pact

And in the beginning George wrote about football? Of  course what else did you think he’d write about?

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January 4th, 2009
Vance Book Selling Fast

We’re down to the last 50 copies of the signed limited edition, and the trade hardcover is more than half sold out. If you’re game for a copy of this book, we suggest ordering soon.”….

You could always check out sites like Amazon that sell this book for $2.00.  Just saying.

Speaking of books in short supply, I should also mention that I now down to four (4) remaining pristine copies of the huge, lavishly illustrated GAME OF THRONES rpg book from the defunct Guardians of Order. Once those are gone, only the water-damaged copies will remain.

I wonder why he’s holding on to those water-damaged copies for?

NFL-> 1
4-Sale-> 1
WC-Anth-> 1

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January 5th, 2009
Guardians of Order RPG

The pristine, undamaged copies of the Guardians of Order GAME OF THRONES rpg book are now all gone. Sorry.

That’s great!  Good for you!  I love how you keep your quality standards sky high!

I do still have some copies with minor water damage available at $55 plus shipping, and some with major water damage available at $20.

What?  Didn’t this company go out of business?  I don’t remember ever reading about Nintendo, XBox, or Sony struggling to sell games, much less going out of business.  How fun could this game be, and why would I want a damaged one for $20-$55?

Parris said: “Although George’s stock of the gorgeous Guardians of Order RPG limited
edition is now depleted, I still have a few copies.

Those copies will be donated to charity auctions for good-deed-doing
over the next few years.

I knew it!  I knew they would consider donating water damaged games to be tacky; however, selling them on the Internet is not.

For some strange reason comments were disabled.

NFL-> 1
4-Sale-> 2
WC-Anth-> 1

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January 7th, 2009
Grumpy Old Phan

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January 10th, 2009
Repent! The End is Near!

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January 11th, 2009
Too Late! The End Has Come!

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January 20th, 2009
Goodbye, W. — Hello, Hope,

The worst president in my lifetime has finally helicopted off into the sunset.

He’s left his successor a quagmire almost unparalleled in American history; two wars, the worst economy since the Great Depression, an eviscerated Bill of Rights, a bleeding Constitution, an international reputation that could hardly be lower.

George W. Bush was no savior.  I’ll give him that, but worst president ever? Hello Jimmy Carter!

Bill of Rights?the Constitution?  Both parties, Republicans and Democrats have been ignoring that for a long time!  Where have you been living?

NFL-> 4
4-Sale-> 2
WC-Anth-> 1
Politics-> 1

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January 27th, 2009
More Miniatures

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Two articles got things rolling this year one was by Shawn Speakman, and the other by Liota over at FTBG. Shawn wrote In Defense of George, and Liota wrote In Offense of George.  Which one do you think was better written?

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February 1st, 2009

Calendar Woes

We are having some major problems with the 2009 Ice & Fire calendar.

For that I am sincerely sorry. I want to make a public apology to all of my readers who paid for a calendar and have not received one.

Imagine that.

Most of those writing also say that their emails to the Dabel Brothers have gone unanswered. I want to apologize for that as well. Les Dabel still answers MY emails, for what it is worth, and when I forward a complaint to him he seems to get on it right away and resolve the situation.

The LAST thing I need right now is to be embroiled in this mess, but embroiled I am, so I’ll do my best to help.

Why are you complaining about this?  You chose to do business with this company, and you receive royalties, so quit acting like an innocent bystander!

Again, I’m sorry. I’m going to do everything in my power to see that all of get what you paid for by the time all of this is done.

We are talking about a calendar here, and so you can put this into perspective I’ve already received my 2011 calendar in the mail!  Six months in advance as opposed to one month late, and counting.  For the record I actually use my calendar which is why I buy them in the first place. So anyone who says that the purpose of the purchase is the pictures isn’t true for me because I need and use a calendar.

A number of you have also said that you will never do business with the Dabel Brothers again. That, of course, is your choice. Some of you have urged me not to do business with the Dabel Brothers again. That’s MY choice.

This is one of the reasons why people get upset with George.  He’s talking to people who haven’t received the product that they purchased.  Their upset, and with good reason, but they don’t blame George for this they however, don’t want to go through this mess again.  That’s why their telling him not to do business with Dabel Brothers.  It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear, so when he says, “That’s MY choice.”  People hear, “I’m still going to do business with Dabel Brothers because I choose too!!”

There’s no excuse for any of the things that have happened here (though there are some partial explanations, at least, which I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs), but it should be said in defense of DBPro that they do at least put out a quality product.

He probably could’ve ended his letter with the last quote because if you were one of the people waiting for your calendar you were probably swearing at your computer.  However, there is no excuse for this, but that doesn’t mean George won’t offer a few anyways.

Wow

Ahhh!  Now that he finished talking about the calendars, time to move on to football talk!

NFL-> 5
4-Sale-> 3
WC-Anth-> 1
Politics-> 1
Miniatures->1
CalendarWoes-> 1

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February 2nd, 2009
More On the Calendars

(That’s February, by the way. Jon Snow was January).

Isn’t that an awesome picture!  You can print it off, and hang it on your wall where your calendar normally would go!

February 4th, 2009
A Night at the Tarn House

And besides, you can’t imagine how good it feels to have finished something.

Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.

This is the post where I officially ran out of patience with George.  In a debate with Shawn Speakman, Shawn told me that I was looking for a dark meaning in that quote, and that George only meant that he loved having people read his work.  The link is above, so you can make the call.  Am I right, or was I wrong for being upset?

However, surely his fans will hold him accountable right?

sudyn  wrote: “Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.” = legendary! =)

I can relate to that, I think^^ I tend to start lots of things and they seem to pile up quite a bit… sometimes I get them done. sometimes I don’t. <_< when I actually do get something done, I feel as proud as an idiot

Unfortunately, sudyn he’s not talking about doing the dishes he’s talking about his professional career.

behnnie wrote: “Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”

I feel much the same way, I think. As much as I enjoy the sound of the keys clicking away when the words are in my head begging to get out, most of the time it’s not like that at all and I can’t wait to be through the damned thing so I can finally sit back from my computer and say ‘There. I’ve completed something.’ And that feeling? The one that accompanies sitting back and reviewing the beauty of completeness? Oh it’s a beautiful thing!

Where would we be without procrastination?

sweetmartin  wrote: Half Songs!!!
after some experiences with one similar song,i hope the stories in that anthology are all finished,and without aftersongs.

That’s pretty coherent!  Way to go sweetmartin, but what are aftersongs?  Sweetmartin was an entertaining poster over at the IsWinterComing forum, but I always felt that he understood English better than he said he did.  That quote, in my mind, proved to me that he indeed understood English fairly well.

warforged_hero  wrote: “And besides, you can’t imagine how good it feels to have finished something.

Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”

Thanks for this. The world feels less lonely now.

What is this guy talking about?

benjaminmarsh  wrote: Nothing makes me buy a book faster than having your name on it George .

Oh well. Some people will buy anything.

February 7th, 2009

Some Love For Longclaw

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Reno in 2011
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Love Them Librarians
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February 11th, 2009
Dear Dolphins

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February 15th, 2009
Wild Cards Meets SPQR

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February 16th, 2009
Last Chance for FEVRE DREAM

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February 17th, 2009
One Monkey Off My Back

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February 19th, 2009
Calendar Update

Les Dabel again makes a post on the NAB and apologizes again, no calendars, but you’ll get what you paid for…someday.

Stay on Topic, Please

If you want to comment, great, but please stay on topic.

Off topic posts will be deleted by my diligent and tireless assistant, Ty, whose duties include policing this Not-A-Blog for such and stamping them out.

If you stop and think about it, Ty has a awesome job!  He’s the personal assistant to a man who doesn’t write, so he basically gets paid to sit around and hit the delete button.

Hugo Nominations Due

For Your Hugo Consideration: Best Artist

For Your Campbell Consideration: Best New Writer

For Your Hugo Consideration: Best Novella

For Your Hugo Consideration: Best Fanzine

For Your Hugo Consideration: Me

But Enough About the Hugos

Wild Cards Discussion

A Dance With Dragons

No, it’s not done.

Notice how this post begins, and also pay attention to the tone of this post.  Lets be honest, most people come here looking for updates to A Dance with Dragons, so when they see the title of the post they get excited.  His readers are excited, but the tone of the post is one of irritation.

Yes, I am aware that more than a year has passed since my last update. A lot of you have been emailing me to point that out. Thanks, but really, I did know. Unlike many of you out there, I got my copies of the Song of Ice & Fire calendar, so I knew what date it was.

Yep, definitely irritated and cranky, and notice the low blow he throws in there.  Whether or not it’s an intentional low blow or not is irrelevant.  It’s a low blow if you’ve paid for a calendar, and haven’t received yet.

No, I’m not planning to update the update, for reasons stated in the update itself. Until such time as I can write, “It’s done,” it will remain the last update… aside from what I may say here from time to time, on my Not-A-Blog.

Why even have an update page then, why not just remove it from your site?  An update page that tells you the book isn’t finished, isn’t an update page.  An update page that doesn’t update until the book is finished, isn’t an update page because all authors tell someone when their finished.

I made a lot of progress on the book in the first half of 2008. So much so that I was optimistic that I would be done by the end of the year. Unfortunately, I did not make much progress on the book in the second half of 2008. Indeed, I made some regress.

Typical George R. R. Martin update:  I finished a bunch of chapters, but they all sucked, so I started over again.

Some of the reasons were literary, arising from problems in the narrative itself. I’m not going to discuss them here, because I really do not like talking about questions I am still wrestling with on a work in progress. It never helps. Art is not a democracy, and these are problems I need to solve myself.

Some of other reasons for the delay have nothing to do with the book itself. They’re extra-literary, arising from other things in my life. I could sketch out some of them here, sure, but what good would it do? Those who are inclined to understand would send me messages of sympathy and support. Those are not so inclined would dismiss them as “excuses,” or even “feeble excuses.” A few will even go so far as to accuse me of lying.

That’s the part that really bothers me. For the record, I have never lied about anything having to do with A DANCE WITH DRAGONS or the series as a whole. I have been wrong, yes. I have been wrong lots of time, especially when I’ve tried to predict how long it will take me to complete the book, or when it will be published. Being wrong is not the same as lying. Since the very beginning of this series, I have been guilty of being over-optimistic about how long it would take me to finish the next book, the next chapter, or the series as a whole. I cannot deny that. I have always been bad with deadlines…

That was a montage of quotes, but feel free to go back and read it in it’s entirety.

Was he lying?  I don’t think so, but what I did find out is that there was a wealth of information out there, that George shared with others that he didn’t share on his blog, or website.

Another thing, if you know your overoptimistic and aren’t good with deadlines why keep making them?

That’s the main reason why I no longer want to give any completion dates. I am sick and tired of people jumping down my throat when I miss them…..I am trying to finish the book by June. I think I can do that. If I do, A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will likely be published in September or October.

I pieced that quote together.  After posting that he doesn’t do completion dates he gives us a completion date.  I can’t make this stuff up.

The INSTANT that I finish the novel and put it in the mail to Bantam, I will post that fact here, just as I did for SUICIDE KINGS a few days ago. Until and unless you read that announcement here, believe nothing you hear from any other source.

Thanks for your continued support… and for your patience.

Well wasn’t that uplifting?  I think this is where his fan base officially split into two groups.  It probably already was split, but this is the first time that George acknowledged it.  He gave one update for his loyal supporters, and one for his disgruntled fans.

To My Detractors

(If you are not one of my detractors, this is not about you. Thanks for your support).

Notice how he hasn’t taken the time to define what a detractor is.  A detractor could be anyone whose even a little bit impatient.  Also, people don’t like to be patronized by strangers.

I have to admit, the rising tide of venom about the lateness of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS has gotten pretty discouraging. Emails, message boards, blogs, LJ comments, everywhere I look (and lots of places where I don’t), people seem to be attacking me, defending me, using me as a bad example of something or other, whatever.

I’ve decided right now that this section deserves a post of it’s own.  I’m going to do George a favor, and rewrite this post the way it should’ve been written.  This never should’ve been posted, it’s horrible.

Some of you are angry about the miniatures, the swords, the resin busts, the games. You don’t want me “wasting time” on those, or talking about them here.

Some of you are angry that I watch football during the fall. You don’t want me “wasting time” on the NFL, or talking about it here.

Some of you hate my other projects….For reasons I don’t quite comprehend, the people who hate those projects seem to hate WILD CARDS even more. You really don’t want me working on that, “wasting time” on that, and posting about it here.

Some of you don’t want me attending conventions, teaching workshops, touring and doing promo, or visiting places like Spain and Portugal (last year) or Finland (this year). More wasting time, when I should be home working on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

Whether their children or adults, people generally hate crybabies, and that’s how he comes off to me.  This post is obviously meant to jin up sympathy, a “poor me” post.

Okay, I’ve got the message. You don’t want me doing anything except A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Ever. (Well, maybe it’s okay if I take a leak once in a while?)

Translation:

NFL-> 6
4-Sale-> 8
WC-Anth-> 5
Politics-> 1
Miniatures->1
CalendarWoes-> 3
Hugos->6
Conventions->2

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February 20th, 2009
Thanks

The flood of support I have received in the last day has been overwhelming.

Yes, there are some dolts and loonies out there. But by and large, I have the best fans in the world.

In regards to all you dolts and loonies out their, don’t forget to buy my books when they’re published.

February 22nd, 2009
And Speaking of Limited Editions…
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February 25th, 2009
Time Is Running Out

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February 28th, 2009
Last Day

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March 2nd, 2009
Once More, the Calendars

It’s now March, and I think… hope… that we are almost done with the calendar business.

Only 10 months left, and still no calendars.

Look, another picture from the calendar that no one has!

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March 4th, 2009
March Madness

Over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few extra copies of many of my foreign editions, on just about all my books. A few of them are pictured here in this blog post….

The prices listed (minus five bucks) would include Book Rate / Media Mail shipping within the United States. For overseas or international shipping, there would be an additional charge…..

And yes, I do take PayPal. In fact, it’s my preferred method of payment…And needless to say, I’d be glad to sign the books, and personally inscribe them upon request.

Thanks for all your help in clearing off my shelves and storage lockers.

Does he have to make it sound like he’s selling garbage?

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March 11th, 2009
The Calendars Are Here

FYI, the Ice & Fire calendars have just arrived here from DBPro for signing.

Didn’t it ever occur to him that he should’ve been signing these back in 2008?

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March 12th, 2009
The Calendars Are Signed

I’ve defaced ‘em all. (See? Sometimes I finish SOONER than I estimate!!!)

Miracles will happen.

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March 17th, 2009
Calendars Are Gone

Three huge boxes of signed calendars have been picked up, and are on their way back to the Dabels at DBPro. Everyone who paid for an autographed calendar should have it soon.

How exciting!  Now this is efficiency that we’ve never seen before!

April 1st, 2009
A Partner for the Dance

I have finally come to the conclusion that I need a partner for the DANCE as well, a collaborator to help me finish the remaining books in A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.

April Fools!

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April 15th, 2009
I Hate Computers

I’ve wasted all day dealing with a computer catastrophe. I have no idea what’s happened, but all of a sudden I’ve lost all of my saved incoming unanswered emails. Several thousand of them, including important business correspondence from agents, editors, interviewers, convention runners.

Didn’t he just finish waste a ton of time retrieving emails, just so he could delete them?

I have four different virus protection programs, two of them supposedly running constantly

FOUR anti-virus programs!   No wonder why he hates computers, it must be slow as hell!

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April 19th, 2009
Calendar Cancelled

I have instructed my agent to ask the Dabel Brothers for an immediate termination of our contract.

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April 21st, 2009
Signed Calendars Mailed

Just got an email from Les Dabel, who assures me that, “ALL the signed Calendars are now out except 60 of them which we will drop off the post office tomorrow morning. Thanks.”

I thought they were already in the mail? Only 7 months left!

ADWD->1
NFL-> 8
4-Sale-> 15
WC-Anth-> 13
Politics-> 1
Miniatures->3
CalendarWoes-> 8
Hugos->9
Conventions->3
HBO-> 1

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April 24th, 2009
My Tower o’ Babel

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May 4th, 2009
May

It’s May, and this should be my last post about the 2009 calendars. Les Dabel tells me that all of them have now been shipped. Yes, even the autographed ones I signed in March. Yes, every single last one. He also tells me that they sent out some scarce HEDGE KNIGHT comic books, to help make up for the delay. The promised “extra content” — samples from the 2010 calendar — obviously could not be included, since the 2010 calendar has been cancelled.

Wow. A free comic. Seriously, how about a refund instead?

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May 26th, 2009
Buried Treasures

To start with, we found another box of the deluxe limited edition hardcover of the GAME OF THRONES rpg from Guardians of Order. And since they were safe in storage, these copies are NOT horribly water-damaged.

After telling everyone that all he had left were waterlogged rpg’s he suddenly “discovers” a new stash?

Think about it, when that company went out of business, and gave George all those RPG’s, surely somewhere in that contract listed the exact number of games that George received.  So between George and his two assistants someone had to know that not all the RPG’s were located in George’s house.  When people refer to GRRM as a snake oils salesman they should link to these posts because these posts are inarguable.

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June 22nd, 2009
Guarded Optimism

I almost hate to say anything here, for fear of jinxing it… but for what it’s worth, the last six weeks or so have been the most productive period I’ve had on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS in… well… a year at least, maybe several.

Why is it that every time we get an actual update I feel like he’s whispering to us?

In the last three days I’ve completed three new chapters. Not from scratch, mind you, these were all chapters that had been partially written, and in some cases rewritten, for months if not years. But they’re finally done, and I’ve just reread them, and I’m almost convinced that they’re Not Crap.

He’s ALMOST convinced that they’re not crap.  Which means he’ll probably finish three more chapters that were partially written 8-10 years ago, and realize that these chapters don’t mesh with the other chapters, and will need to rewrite the ones that he was ALMOST convinced weren’t crap, because they were indeed crap all along. *sigh*

We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

I have a GREAT idea too!  Why not wait until tomorrow to write this post! Then you could remove all the “almosts’ and “maybes” and have a real update.

Anyway, I know I don’t talk about DANCE frequently here, and that’s not going to change. Sorry, but I’m never going to be one of these writers who blogs daily about how many words they produced today.

Sorry, but the expectation is always going to be there, especially since you have an update page on your website, and also because you update people on every other piece of work that you’re working on.

But I am making a small exception now because… well, I’m feeling rather jazzed right now, and for the first time in a very long while, I think I can see a glimmering that might just be a light at the end of the tunnel.

What could that glimmering light possibly have been from?

Now if I can only slash through the Meereenese knot that I’ve been worrying at since 2005, I may actually start to get excited.

You have to begin to wonder what kind of mess that knot is.  He’s been struggling with is since ’05 or ’06, and still hasn’t been able to get it to work.  My prediction: Complete disaster.

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August 13th, 2009
Your Hit Parade

Here’s a catchy tune that will leave you humming.

(And no, I’m not. Though Parris and my editor both claim I’m their bitch).

A song titled: George R. R. Martin isn’t your bitch.  Stay classy George, stay classy. . .

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September 3rd, 2009
Dancing

Taking another whack at the Meereenese knot today. I’m going to try breaking two largish chapters into four smallish ones, changing the order of events somewhat, and weaving them all together. Maybe that will work a little better.

Does that sound like a creative wall problem to you?  It sounds like a structural problem to me. One that you only work out after working on it nonstop until the answer reveals itself, and then you can go back and be creative, but maybe I’m wrong. I’m not an author.  Oh and by the way is he saying that the knot is only two chapters?

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September 11th, 2009
A Smidge of Progress

I decided to take a break from tearing and fumbling at the Meereenese knot, and completed a chapter about another character today. A character who is very far from Meereen.

Finishing the chapter felt good. Especially since it also completed that character’s arc for the book. Admittedly, she has only two chapters in DANCE, so I am not sending up any flares.

Only thirty-eight more POVs to wrap up…

Since he’s been working on this knot for 5 years, I think perhaps the last thing he needs to do is take a break from it, because it sounds like he’s already taken a rather extensive break from it.

38 POV’s? That threw people for a loop! 

ichthyosaur  wrote: Think of it as only 6.164414² more POVs to wrap up

A dork with a calculator trying to be funny will never be funny.

claybugg wrote: Thirty-eight! How many POV chapters are typically in the books? I’ve never thought about it.

If he had 38 POV chapters left he’d basically be saying he never started writing the book.

hippoiathanatoi [aka Ran] wrote: Your recent cluing spree has left me somewhat manic. I’m now trying to figure out if 38 POVs is a reference to THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS and what that could possibly mean…

I think I know who the character is, too, so that’s quite exciting.

The funny thing about this, that to believe that there was a hidden meaning behind “38 POV’s”, you’d have to believe that he put some effort into the NAB.

It actually got so bad that George had to drop in and explain himself.

grrm  wrote: Yes, that’s an exaggeration. A number I pulled out of the air.

sigh

Some of you guys take every word I say much too literally. I suppose I need to start using those “I’m just kidding” icons when I’m kidding, but I’m afraid I am not of the icon generation.

I don’t actually know how many POVs I have. More than I intended, definitely, but less than thirty-eight. Way less.

Guess I should go count ‘em.

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mug_of_brew  wrote: First time posting.
I created a livejournal account just to tell you how excited I am that you completed another chapter! Even if you had seventy-seven more chapters to write I’m so happy your that much closer to completing DANCE. Keep up the good work!!! And thank you for being such a dedicated and original artist. You have truly had a profound affect on my love of literature. Your my favorite author (well maybe second compared to Alan Moore, but I still love you).

Yuck!  I think mug_of_brew may have had one to many brews. . .

jaydici  wrote:I’ve been rereading the series and I discovered that it has been over 1100 pages since we last heard from Bran (I’m not 100% sure because I don’t know how many pages the Jon, Tyrion, and Dany sample chapters are, and published it’s been 1099 pages.) Any chance of an extra Bran sample chapter being posted while we wait patiently?

No. He’s not your bitch.

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October 6th, 2009
Dance, Dance, Dance

Finished a Jon Snow chapter, and have just passed the 1100 page (manuscript pages, the page count in the final printed book will be different) mark on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. That’s counting only finished chapters in something close to final form. I have considerably more in partials, fragments, and roughs.

This is awesome, that means you’re almost done with ADWD, and it should be finished in a year!  Wait a second!  Where have I heard that before?

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December 28th, 2009
Life Is…

… meaningless and full of pain… but sometimes it gives you an unexpected gift

…but not the gift that everyone wants.

That concludes History of the Nab 2009.

Here’s a comparison from the last 2 full years:

–>2008<–              –>2009<–
ADWD->5                     ADWD->5
WC->31                       WC-Anth-> 38
NFL->29                       NFL-> 40
4Sale->32                    4-Sale-> 43
Miniatures->12            Miniatures->13
HugoNom-> 7              Hugos->9
Cons-> 8                     Conventions->17
Politics-> 7                  Politics-> 4
CalendarWoes-> 11
HBO-> 50

My Final Analysis:

When George first started blogging he seemed to enjoy the interaction with his fans. He spoke freely about updates on A Dance with Dragons; however, the last 2-3 years his blogging made a dramatic change.  He began using his blog more as a business blog rather than a personal blog.  Why did this happen…?

I suppose his supporters would say that he has always been editing and that he changed his blogging style because of people like us were hostile to him.  I disagree.  I believe, and I have no proof of this, that he simply ran out of the money that was advanced to him by his publisher.  He then had to replace the lost income, and began editing books and anthologies.  This would be the main reason why we get all the miniature sales, and Wild Card updates, and posts of a similar nature.  With all the updates about his other projects, but none or few on ADWD, I think it’s reasonable to assume that that’s one reason why people doubt that he’s working on it,

George has been horrible on the Internet.  George R. R. Martin was once one of my favorite authors. I have read the NAB regularly since AFFC was published, waiting to find out when Dance would be finished. Over those years I have grown disenfranchised with this author.  I have never written anything on his blog, or sent him an angry email, not even a passive one asking when ADWD would be completed.  Nevertheless, many of his posts appeared to be directly attacking me.

I have wrote this many times: It may be George’s blog, but it will never be what he wants it to be.  It’s never going to happen! He’s an international bestseller and ALL of his fame is directly tied to A Song of Ice and Fire. So when people from around the globe go to his blog; most are looking for updates on his newest novel, not the NFL. Nothing George can do will ever change that.

George can blog about whatever he wants, but imagine that you only go to his blog 2-3 times a year, and every time you go there you get the same thing, NFL updates, miniature sales, Wild Card novels, Anthologies, more sales, and nothing about ADWD anywhere in sight.  So you post a polite little question in the comment section, only to be lambasted by all his “loyal fans”, ignored by George, have your comment deleted, and maybe even banned too. What would that tell you? What would you think?

So between George’s divisive blogposts, and the GRRiMlins who defend him, I think that it’s only natural that more and more people have become frustrated with the author. If George changed his blogging style would we be living in a perfect utopian world where everyone is happily, patiently waiting? Of course not, but I do believe a lot of people who are upset wouldn’t be upset.

As far as ADWD goes, I feel it should have been finished by now.  Simple as that. I’ve read all the excuses out there, but as I’m reading those excuses, other authors are publishing their books, second books, third books, and their fourth books.  While I’m reading all those books, I’m also reading his updates talking about finishing a chapter that he started 3 years ago.

The feeling I get from scouring through his entire blog is that he’ll put off the hardest parts until he absolutely has to finish them, at which time he’ll have a “That’s close enough” attitude.  My expectations for this next book are fairly low.

That about covers it all.  Maybe this will be the year that A Dance with Dragons is finished.

Thanks for reading!