In an interview with Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger this week, George R. R. Martin — who is 65 years old — displayed some anger at those who express doubt that he’ll be able to finish the Song of Fire and Ice series due to his age and health. “I find that question pretty offensive,” he said. “So f**k you to those people,” Martin retorted, throwing up a middle finger.
In the interview, Martin also took umbrage with fans who complain that he attends events, like football games, or screenings, or travels instead of writing, though he also notes that he only writes at home. He will not write in hotels. Or on trains. Or in planes. So, anytime he’s away from home, he’s not writing (and because of publicity commitments to the HBO series, he is often away from home).
No. He still doesn’t know when the next book will be ready, though he also admitted in the interview that he writes slower these days. Some of that is age, while part of it is because he has to deal with merchandizing, the show, the video game, and speaking to journalists all the damn time.
However, as he’s noted before, he knows how the book series will end. David Benioff and Dan Weiss (showrunners of the HBO series) also know how it will end, although they do not necessarily need to follow Martin’s conclusion. He’s sold the rights to HBO, he says, and while he consults (and even writes an occasional episode), he technically has no say in what HBO does with the series going forward.
Source: Tagenzeiger, which has video of the interview.
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That’s cute. Now, actually finish the books.
So it’s unreasonable to think that a 65-year-old fat guy who wrote slower than a 1st grader BEFORE he became a highly visible and busy producer of a popular TV show might not finish two(or more likely three) 1000+ page tomes before he dies?
Fuck him
I think a certain portion of it is “fuck you for reducing me as a human being into your book writing slave”. He doesn’t owe you shit. I say this as a huge fan of the series and the books, and GRRM himself. At the end of the day, he is a person. From the 30 seconds I met him, he is actually a really cool person.
LOL! Brilliant.
Yeah, basically from his perspective a lot of his “fans” are saying “you’re not allowed to die until we’re done with you!” and it’s understandable that he’d be prickly about that.
I would argue by deliberating creating something worthy of a fan base in order to make money, yes, yes he does owe fans something. He created a product, the product created demand, he needs to meet the demand. He’s not writing these for the fuck of it, he’s writing these for the money he gets when people buy them.
Basically he’s saying that he will give us something but fuck you for wanting it. Solid logic on his part
And yeah, he’s not finishing the series
@leave1942 Right — But if he doesn’t want the money he would get for the future books, or if he is willing to wait to get said money for years, that’s his choice. Did Seinfeld owe it to his fans to do more seasons? Do the Foo Fighters owe their fans to put out more CDs? Hell no. If the artist wants to put out more art, he should do so. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t. Either way, he owes fans nothing.
@Hingle McCringleberry He kind of DOES owe something to the people who invested their time and money in him thus far. If you went to a restaurant and they served you an appetizer, the soup and salad, and then said “The chef doesn’t feel like cooking any more, get the fuck out of here” you’d be pissed, correct?
@DaisyCutter So if the Owner comes out and goes, I’m so sorry, but our Chef, he… he… had a heart attack… He’s dead. You’d look the guy in the eye and go GET MY FUCKING BEEF WELLINGTON YOU BASTARD!
@Hingle McCringleberry Of course not….but last I checked, Mr. Martin is still very much alive. If the owner came out and said “We can’t finish your meal, our chef decided he’d rather make a grilled cheese sandwich, beat off, and watch the Jets game” I’d be livid.
@DaisyCutter That’s where the analogy falls apart. He isn’t employed for life. He writes books for your consumption, you buy them, you consume them. He doesn’t owe you more because you want more. He’s 65 years old, he has more money than he could ever spend. Maybe he wants to enjoy the last 10 years of his life. He’s not entitled to that because you want to know what happens to a character he writes about? I’d be bummed if he stopped writing to, but cmone, he’s a human being. It’s his life, if he wants to go to a ballgame, people shouldn’t be bitching about it.
@Hingle McCringleberry He doesn’t owe us anything but he is capitalizing on his promises for something new. Therefore he should deliver on his promises.
@Leave1942 I think he also has to be sensitive to the fact that many of his fans were Wheel of Time fans as well and don’t want to see a repeat of that. For those who don’t know, The Wheel of Time series was an epic fantasy series penned by Robert Jordan. Jordan died before he could finish and Brandon Sanderson had to be brought in to finish the series.
I feel a heart attack coming on just looking at him.
Strange, that’s also what Dustin says to the people that read his articles
Thats acutally what he says to the research before he writes them, and also to grammar.
& you know….basic facts.
It’s in his contract that he writes one episode per season, usually one of the big ones: the purple wedding & backwater being the two ones that immediately come to mind.
GRRM’s contract. not sure why this comment showed up in this thread, apologies.
I say his grammar is shit, and then I realize I spelled actually wrong. Fuck.
God, looking at that photo, I doubt most people would guess that he’s “only” 65.
Seriously. My dad is 66, has recently had quintuple by-pass, has diabetes & he still looks 15 years younger than GRRM.
He looks like my great uncle right before he died in his sleep at the tender age of eighty-five.
He could be the first death-by-neck-beard we’ve seen since the 1890s
You’re obviously overlooking the NFL career of Koy Detmer, which most definitely suffered a death-by-neck-beard.
[cdn1.sbnation.com]
Kyle Orton. Game over.
The best thing you can do is to prove everyone wrong, George.
Also more Hound. Thanks.
umm are you being dick or are you just obtuse regarding the Hound?.
Thanks I’ll hang up and listen.
@JesusAndGrumpy The Hound is never actually seen “Dead” just left to die so many people have the theory that he is actually alive and may come back.
I hope he keels over just so everyone can be little bitches about it.
You sound fun.
I love GOT as much as anyone else. But fuck, give the man a break.
First time I’ve heard some one take a person’s side in argument by wishing death upon the person they are defending.
Welcome to my house of absurdities.
Yeah I mean what are the chances of a famous fantasy writer not being able to finish a sprawling series of books? Oh yeah, Robert Jordan and Wheel of Time… He even joked about ‘writing until they put nails in my coffin’ in his author’s note. Granted that was from a super rare blood disease, but still. I’d feel a lot better if George was flipping the bird whilst on a treadmill.
Hahaha…
but seriously though…
So he’s often away from home, only writes when he’s home and confesses that the writing process has slowed down.
“So are you worried you might not finish them?”
“Hey, fuck you!”
First time I have ever seen him without that hat on. Little bit of a shock.
I’ve begun to come to terms with the fact that he’ll never finish them. Hey, he gave us five of the best books I’ve ever read. Sure, it would have been nice to have an ending, but it’s almost fitting that there won’t be a resolution. Just like in his books, not everybody gets to finish their work before they bite the dust. Anyway, I’ll be damned if I watch whatever watered down nonsense HBO puts out. Fuck that shit
5? Really? I’ll give him 3.5. Books 1-3 are simply fantastic, probably the best book series I have ever read (opinions!). Feast is so boring and long. Dance is a bit better, but also sprawling and kinda boring.
It would actually be a fitting end for the series to have no resolution.
A book reader making pretentious comments about the show!?!?! Well I never…
Show > Books.
That’s right, I fucking said it.
Did you people not read the “dogs fighting through an open fence” article? For Christ’s sake.
@Cdog923 I concur
@shitstorm I agree that books 4 and 5 definitely drop off in quality compared to the first 3. However, they’re entirely redeemed for me by the Brienne story line in book 4 and all the Northern story lines in book 5 (Jon Snow, Manderly, and Theon’s storyline is easily my favorite in the entire series. Part of the reason I’ve sworn off the TV series is because of how they managed to fuck that one up).
As to the rest of ya’ll, I can only assume you’re a bunch of low life illiterates if you really think the half baked, sorry excuse of an interpretation that HBO calls “Game of Thrones” is anything but cold potatoes compared to its source material. “But! But! The books are so long!” you protest, “And it’s so hard to remember all those character names!” Now now, little children, it’s all right. Go watch the television quietly like good little boys and girls.
OMG PEOPLE DISAGREE WITH ME THEY MUST BE ILLITERATE. HOW COULD ANYONE THAT READS HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION FROM MY FAR SUPERIOR ONE?!?!?!?! THE SHOW DIDN’T DO EVERYTHING THEY WAY I WANTED SO IT’S COLD POTATOES!!!!!!!!
Seriously, if you really have read all the books and you still prefer the show… I guess reading is just not for you? Why wold you prefer your characters with reduced motivation and personality, the history of Westeros unrevealed and vague, why would you want LESS depth from your fiction?
As far as populist-pleasing fiction is concerned, this book series really sits at the top of the heap while the show is just merely “good”. Plus book fandom is far cooler than television show fandom because I’m a book fan so obviously.
@George Maharis Take a few deep breaths, man. You’re really working yourself up into a frenzy over there. I don’t think I can say it better than JChez’s first paragraph, so refer to that if you wanna know why the books are better.
I’m with you guys @JChez @DTFGhosts. Especially what you said JChez, you always get more out of a book than a direct adaptation, they just can’t fit it all in and still make a watchable show/movie.
But what I really love about reading is that even with all the extra detail, its still my world, my Westeros in this case. The writer gives it structure, of course, and its always handy to have a map, but its my imagination that gives form to the characters, and builds the cities, and watches the battles play out in epic scale.
I do feel a little sadness when it seems a lot of people can’t do that, they need someone elses vision because they can’t make their own.
This tugboat captain needs to return to his lighthouse, change the bulb, and give us all a little bit more cowbell.
He’s not finishing the series. I don’t mind the guy doing his thang. Going out and having fun, whatever. But, he only writes at home, with nothing else going on, and he was slow as shit before the series blew up. Beyond that, once he talked himself into the Meereenese knot, he lost control of the series. Now he has all these prophecies to try to handle, all these converging storylines to manage and that doesn’t even get the biggest parts of the story (Others invasion & Dany’s return).
I’ll be happy if he at least gets TWOW out.
I’m more concerned about Robert Caro finishing his LBJ set.
Thank Goodness Jesus didn’t ask him to write one of the Gospels.
I think its kind of cool to piss a bunch of people off by not finishing HIS story. Im sure he’s taking his time, trying to figure which fan favorite he’ll kill next.
Jar Jar Martin is not your bitch, y’all.
+1
He’s all ready said the Red Comet is going to hit and wipe out everybody and every thing. I’m still pissed at the guy who wrote Girl with the Dragon tattoo. I don’t think he’s really dead, I think he’s hiding out with some skinny chick with a lot of tattoos on a tropical island.
And he’s laughing ass off at that dumb chick who hung out with him for twenty years of obscurity and got nothing for her trouble.
That mother fucker died at 50. FUCKING 50! He planned to write goddamn 10 books out of that. That smoking coffee drinking piece of shit. We should have workout programs for our writers!
Amen to that. Fuck you Larson. 50 is an absolutely ridiculous age to die.
Prove us wrong Hobo Jim…..prove us wrong.
PUT THAT MIDDLE FINGER ON THE TYPEWRITER AND FINISH THESE BOOKS GRRRRRRRRR MARTIN!!!
Your Partner in Christ,
The Internet
Whoever finishes Fire and Ice will probably do a better job than Martin could have.
Considering how Ronald Moore hosed up the Battlestar Galactica (BSG) franchise so badly with that lame finale, perhaps it might not be such a bad idea if someone else had to complete the series instead of Martin. Martin like Moore has written himself into a corner. With BSG, the unbelievable ending was so bad that it not only hosed up the market for reruns of BSG but propelled spinoffs like Caprica into the ground.
Clearly the George we know has already died and been resurrected by the Red Witch! duh, is that not the picture of someone who is decaying. Cmon people figure it out.
Second stage of grief. He’s right to say fuck you to the people bitching that he’s not finishing the books, but he really should take his health a bit more seriously.
Instead of wasting time flipping the bird he could have been typing.
So basically fans are pissed because the dude who is at the age where most companies force people to retire doesn’t want to spend every single second of his life working?
Not every second of his life. Pretty sure people would be happy with a page a day
So people would be happy if he cranked out a page a day just to get it done than do it when he’s inspired to actually try to do good work?
It took a car acciden and some letters from someone on death row to get Stephen king to finish the dark tower, can we make similar arrangements for Martin?
If by “finish the Dark Tower” you mean completely fuck up what had been a promising story then…wait, Jesus Christ that’s exactly what’s going on here!
I plan on locking Martin in a basement and then typing the book myself. Since I won’t be able to attend press or screening events, I will fill up a balloon with jelly and give it a silly beard. That balloon will be my Martin stand-in, and probably give as many interesting quotes as him.
I will start the book off with Margery Tyrell telling someone “Did you hear? The Iron Islands have collapsed in an earthquake and been swallowed up by the ocean. All people from there were actually back for a giant party and now they’re gone too. All of them, there are no Ironborn anymore. And I hear the Boltons were there too, so they’re gone. I don’t think we’ll hear from either of those groups anymore, ever.”
Now all I need is a basement.
“Now all I need is a basement.”
You’re gonna need a lot of jelly too.
No, more.
Prove us naysayers wrong Martin! PROVE US WRONG.
So he says “F you” to those who question his work ethic and longevity, then admits to slowing down and not working very much, whilst slumped obesely and looking very unhealthy. Way to go proving your detractors right, George.
He also fails to mention it is not just the TV show, games and spin offs that soak up his time. He opened a crappy theater, showing crappy movies, which he seems to be visiting every second night. He obsessively watches and blogs about NFL, so Sept-Feb is effectively a write off. He travels on planes, trains and automobiles to at least a dozen conventions in the states and internationally each year, which burn at least a week each.
Face it, he no longer cares if he finishes and the middle finger proves it. So F YOU, George.
Why should he care about making you people happy, you can’t even let the man have some hobbies? Its his damn story, he’ll write when he feels like it, he doesn’t owe you a damn thing and you whiny entitled twits are just going to have to deal with the fact that sometimes you can’t get what you want. Its called being an adult.
He’s one coke line away from a heart attack. And fuck leaving this in the hands of Benioff.
#nostoneheartnopeace
It’s not like the books are brilliantly written anyway. The great thing about the TV show is that it rescues great characters and great story from turgid writing.