A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Spoiler-Filled Discussion

It's like getting an extra episode...

 

More GoT = Win

 

As long as they use those extra 5 minutes for something useful. There is a surprising amount of fluff already in some of these episodes considering how bare-bones a lot of the story threads were forced down to.

 

They've released a new making of video.

 

I thought they were splitting ASOS into two seasons?

 

They are, but then they're also bolstering the runtimes as well. Sweet.

 

New sample chapter from The Winds of Winter:

http://georgerrmartin.com/if-sample.html

 

Some sad news, Wilko Johnson, the former Dr Feelgood guiatarist, and Ilyn Payne on Game of Thrones, has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/09/wilko-johnson-terminal-cancer

Cancer Sucks.

 

I saw that elsewhere today. I didn't initially like the Dorne storyline but now that I'm re-reading the books, I like it better - I've just passed the Red Viper's arrival at King's Landing. The machinations which Oberyn has regarding marrying his offpsring to surviving Targarean children are quite interesting.

Very sad. My father-in-law died from cancer in that region. As with Patrick Swayze and Brian Lenihan, former Irish finance minister, cancer in that area is basically unsurvivable, as far as I can see.

 

^^^ Steve Jobs, too, but of a slightly different variety. Yes, very sad. He was truly excellent as the King's Headsman and never had a single word of dialog. He will be missed.

 

I'm sorry to hear about that.

 

We know from the bits from Arianne II, which Martin read at a convention about a year ago, that Arianne is at Griffin's Roost. So, she traveled from Sunspear to Griffin's Roost within the span of two chapters. Back in ADwD, a journey like this would've taken 12 chapters.
So, here's to hoping that Martin finally ramps up the pace.

 

Publication date is now 2015.

 

Ugh...

 

Apparently there was a Tyrion chapter online, in which Victarion finally reaches his destination. So yes, if that's right, GRRM has indeed ramped it up. Write like the wind etc.

 

Both Arianne chapters, plus the Victarion chapter where he finally reaches Slaver's Bay and the Tyrion chapter set at the same moment, were originally written for ADWD and moved out of it during the editing process. So if he's picked up the pace, it happened during the writing of ADWD, not since then. And I'm not convinced that two travelogue-heavy Arianne chapters during which the most significant event is Storm's End being captured, offstage, are a hopeful sign in terms of narrative momentum. At the very least, the opening chapters are going to overlap the end of ADWD, and move at that pace for a while.

I don't believe Martin has changed his stance on the publication date, which is that 2013 is out of the question but he's still hopeful for 2014. Personally I think 2015 is more likely, but we'll see.

 

There's also a Theon chapter, set before the battle between Stannis and Boltons/Freys, so chronologically it takes place before the last Jon chapter. It was also a chapter originally written for ADWD.

 

There are also chapters for Arya, Sansa/Alayne, and Aeron Greyjoy written for ADWD but moved to TWOW, though none of those have been read at conventions or made available as samples yet. Which means that virtually all of the 200 manuscript pages Martin had completed as of the middle of last year was stuff he'd already had when he started work on the book.

 

Two more years, and he essentially has had the first 200 pages or so already finished for a year? Yikes...

yeah, his odds of finishing the series before GoT show ends are slim to none. Kinda steals his thunder if the tv show spoils his end before he gets to write it. Even if they go in a different direction than he does, it's not really a positive for him...

 

Well, he doesn't give updates on his progress anymore, except "I'm working on it" ... So who knows, maybe he writes 50 pages a day or maybe he got stuck with the next Meereenese knot. Yeah, we'll probably get the end of the story from the TV show.