If GRRM was utterly brilliant, he would have ADoS ready to be published a month after the series ends.
He will never, ever, get better publicity than that and interest would be at an all time high as the reviews pour in explaining that GRRM’s ending is different than the TV series. Above the fold, the world over.
If you will recall, he released ADwD a month after the end of Season 1. He owned 6 of the top ten bestsellers on Amazon (different covers!) – and five of the top 10 on the NY Times Bestseller list for the next three months. Counting collections, hardcovers, trade paperback versions, and alternate covers of his books, I think he had something like 11 or 12 of the top 20 on Amazon at one point. It was insanely profitable publicity.
He got rich off of it.
As brilliant as it would be for his publisher, I don’t think it will happen. George just doesn’t have the drive for it that he once did, that much is clear.
Oddly, there is also something to be said for the buzz that goes along with a series that has not yet been finished. It drives interest in a way that one that has been completed somehow does not have. I expect that “magic” will mostly end with the conclusion of the TV series though.
I think the reason we waited 11 and a half years to resume the Tyrion/Dany/Jon storylines in ADwD is because GRRM had no idea what TO write. So he wrote AFFC as a stalling tactic and then lengthened it to make a book out of it.
The abandonment of the planned five year gap killed his plans for the series. He had to change it. A lot. He has never really recovered from that issue. And fame and fortune hasn’t helped much, either.
The rich irony is that the TV series gives us back the whole intent of the “five year gap” anyway. The children grow up and get bigger. It cannot be stopped and it needs no explanation. The viewer sees it.
A visual medium works better for some things. This is one of them.
They can easily finish the storylines to a satisfying conclusion. Martin has clearly started to go down the road of bloated writing with his last 2 books and is in danger of pulling a Jordan where the series just drags on endlessly. I would be completely fine with them finishing it on their own if GRRM cant get his butt in gear.
Looks like Madonna is a fan
She posted that on her Instagram.
Yeah I saw that one linked off of HuffPo. As a fan Dany Cosplay goes, while older of course, Madonna does a pretty good job of it. It’s not like she had a Hollywood costume and makeup team here with this selfie taken in her bathroom. Looks like she went to her walk-in closet and pulled out some old costume pieces to make it work. Very well done cosplay as far as that goes.
RickH
5026
And now they are kicking around the idea of finishing with movies. It appears that maybe everyone wasn’t on the same page after all, and HBO is included in the vast group of folks frustrated with Martin’s low productivity.
I wouldn’t read too much into that. He’s already walking the comment back.
Meanwhile, he’s cancelled his cameo in the upcoming season. Can’t justify taking that much time off to film in Croatia. So that’s good news.
My feeling is that Martin is essentially a canny working-class guy. For a working-class person, the mindset is that lucky chances don’t come by very often, so if one comes along you milk it for all it’s worth. (In nearly every interview he jokes about “truckloads of money”.) So I think he was doing that - stretching it out as much as possible without losing too much quality. And even though the last few books have been fillery, it’s still been good writing for the most part, and worth reading (i.e. he’s not being totally cynical, and he still obviously cares a lot, but he was milking it). But I think he realizes that if he times the ending of the series right, he can basically retire rich and have his family’s provision assured for all eternity. So I think he probably will get his finger out of his ass pdq.
That having been said, I would love to watch the series itself on the big screen. Who here wouldn’t pay every week to see these episodes on a big screen?
Funkula
5030
Complete with 3d exposition titties!
Picked up 4 bottles last night, had some on draft, and got a free t-shirt, Ommegang glass, coaster and some plastic pendant thingee:
— Alan
Shit, I’ve been hitting up stores around Seattle every day this week and none of them have it. Even talked to the beer stewards, and they say they don’t know when it gets in.
Check this blog post:
It’s actually not entirely helpful but I’m thinking it should be this week for you guys, maybe the end of this week. Ommegang had actually been a lot more helpful looking at rough release dates in the past, this time not so much.
— Alan
Yeah, I’ve been hitting stores that are official Ommegang distributors, listed on the Ommegang web site. Ugh.
olaf
5035
I picked up a couple of bottles of this at my local grocery store Monday or Tuesday of this week. Have not tasted it yet. Saving it for Sunday!
I had their Take the Black earlier in the year (or maybe last year?) and didn’t like it.
I still have a few of those. Not a fan of porters.
I do like Fire & Blood though. Had another draft tonight with a former co-worker at the same whole Whole Foods.
— Alan
Dafuq is this, the wine appreciation society is thataway -> :)
Counterpoint: Thanks for the heads up – I’m stopping off at my local beer store on the way home to hopefully pick some up for Sunday. (Three Ommegang distributors in town, one surely has it.) I love a good red ale.
a) it’s not wine
b) it’s GoT
:)
— Alan
Woohoooo, free HBO weekend on DirecTV. Recorded all three seasons. Of course, I’ll have to wait until the next free weekend to catch up on the current season beyond the first episode next year, but now for an absolute orgy of GoT viewing…
