Comment by mtnygard | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mtnygard | Hacker News Reader

Past purchases don't buy future books, true.

George is a free human not a slave to our desire for _content_, also true.

But I also understand fan frustration. When Gaiman wrote that, "A Game of Thrones" was already 15 years in the past. "A Dance With Dragons" had been promised for 2005-ish and was still 2 years in the future.

Since "GRRM is not your bitch", George has published 10 books, of which one advanced the core story of ASoIaF. Meanwhile, on his not-a-blog, George's infrequent posts usual refer to how busy he is while simultaneously telling fans they just need to be patient.

It's been 11 years since the last book in the main ASoIaF story line. _26 years_ after reading "A Game of Thrones" I'm not even mad. I've just given up. I'll just put this in the same category as Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai saga or Coleridge's Kubla Khan: brilliant but never-to-be-finished.

I mean - I guess it depends on how we define "bitch".

I agree he's a free human who can make his own choices - but he made a few choices that I find distasteful - Primarily: He lies through his fucking teeth.

I read the first three books of his series in middle school - I was 13 at the time. I VIVIDLY remember how he promised not only that book four was coming soon, but that the problem was that it was so much content his editor was making him break it into two books.

Then five years passed. Not a peep. No updates, no content. He happily wrote a poem anthology and a quartet of short stories in between - but not a peep on where his two books of content were.

Finally - as I entered college, he got around to publishing book four. And that was the last book I read from him. Not only was it not the quality of the first three, it left out literally half of the cast of characters.

Now - he's doing it again with the end of the series: He's very gung-ho to get good publicity by talking shit about how he'll focus on the series, and how much content he has, and how these books are the shining rainbows of everything his fans want.

Then he can't handle even small amounts of flak - like: You PROMISED this was coming, where is it?

Basically - I think he's an utter bitch. Not because I think I can boss him around (I don't) but because he acts like a little bitch - he makes promises he knows he won't keep for the attention and fawning of his fans.

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