Maybe I'm weird, but I think it might just be possible to believe that fans' anger at GRRM is entirely justified, and that there are things that it is not OK to do in response to that anger.
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So, anticipating all the gaslighting on this issue in the next few days, let me just assert: GRRM absolutely did owe his fans an ending to ASOIAF. It is 100% a failure on his part not to do so, and their anger at that is entirely rational and reasonable. Anyone who tells you otherwise is being cruel
aug 22, 2025, 9:24 pm • 28 3 • view
I might also add that the author community's constant slalom between "if you wait for a series to conclude before starting it you are personally responsible for the death of the genre" and "how dare you expect an author to finish a story they've started" is perhaps not the most effective messaging.
aug 22, 2025, 9:41 pm • 33 5 • view
I'm still pissed at ridley scott for optioning Joe Haldeman's classic "Forever War" and then never making it. Instead, makling bullshit and half ass movies. Happy for Joe. He deserves the cash but that story deserves to be filmed.
aug 22, 2025, 10:15 pm • 1 0 • view
that sounds like a licensing problem, which would be a capitalism/copyright/trademark issue, not a creative issue.
aug 22, 2025, 10:24 pm • 3 0 • view
That's fair. I just felt this was related and I've never had a chance to bitch publicly about it and so, I did.
aug 22, 2025, 10:25 pm • 1 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 4:59 pm • 0 0 • view
It also changes things slightly that the most famous quote on the subject has been taken off the table by what has come out subsequently about the speaker. (Only a passing thought - hopefully not enough to bring the wrath of the internet down about my ears)
aug 23, 2025, 7:39 am • 0 0 • view
Has it been taken off the table? People may not quote it verbatim anymore but the sentiment is alive and well, and I'm not seeing any introspection on the fact that perhaps we shouldn't be taking lessons on entitlement, boundaries, and proper creator-fan relations from that person.
aug 23, 2025, 8:58 am • 0 0 • view
The theory I had heard and thought plausible was that the ending in the TV show wasn't a million miles from the one he was going to do and the fan response has left him stuck for an ending?
aug 22, 2025, 9:50 pm • 2 0 • view
he had trouble finishing the *penultimate* book long before the TV show ended, though.
aug 22, 2025, 9:51 pm • 2 0 • view
That was happening in conjunction with the TV show too. I suspect he gets bored when the story is told.
aug 22, 2025, 10:07 pm • 1 0 • view
I mean I find the last mile harder when I know where it’s all going. I can’t imagine what it’s like a million+ words in.
aug 22, 2025, 10:58 pm • 0 0 • view
yeah, but I can also relate to him as someone who's had issues with mental block and not being able to finish some projects on time or at all due to ADHD and other stuff like that, and knew personally a Polish writer who struggled with finishing his series until his death so I'm sad more than mad
aug 22, 2025, 9:47 pm • 3 1 • view
I've made the Brandon Sanderson joke on here before but it's a bit different to do it to the guy's face.
aug 22, 2025, 9:23 pm • 4 0 • view
Brandon Sanderson himself said that it's crass to even discuss him taking over from a living author. Even with Robert Jordan, the estate contacted him, he didn't initiate it.
aug 22, 2025, 9:52 pm • 1 0 • view
This is even before you consider how inappropriate Sanderson would be for Ice and Fire.
aug 22, 2025, 9:53 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm not really familiar with his work TBH, just that he finished Wheel of Time. I fell off that series at book seven or eight when it became clear that Jordan was spinning his wheels pretty deliberately.
aug 23, 2025, 6:05 am • 1 0 • view
Personally I prefer to just wash my hands of him. Funny he spent all those years claiming he was 'deconstructing' Tolkien with a more 'realistic' take. But now it looks more like Martin's so called 'reinvention' was just forgetting the first principles of storytelling
aug 24, 2025, 5:01 pm • 1 0 • view
I think what makes a big difference is what the author themselves has said regarding the work. If GRRM had just said that the hbo series was the end of the story or that he wasn't finishing the books then fine. But he has promised the fan community that there was going to be more.
aug 22, 2025, 9:30 pm • 5 0 • view
Yeah, on top of all the many ways that he's had his cake while still eating it, the fact that he won't just take his lumps and admit that the ending isn't coming is pretty galling.
aug 22, 2025, 9:34 pm • 8 0 • view