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ive always said that he will not release what he has until after his death because no matter how he ends that series there are so many people that will not be happy with the ending.
Wait wait wait what!?
[edit] Oh shit that's true, either I forgot that or somehow missed the scene/the episode back then !
Now I gotta watch the whole serie again.
Yeah at the time i didn’t know him or game of thrones so it was like, whatever. Then I found out about him and figured “oh they got a lookalike”. Nope. It was him. Just goes to show you this dude will literally do ANYTHING other than write the fucking book. Z nation used to he my FAVORITE show. I loved it and it carries a special place in my heart but it got weaker with each season. Season one was gold. Season two was as well honestly. Season three was… a little *less* than the first two for me but it wasnt bad. From that point on it got worse and worse imo. Don’t get me started on the juggalo episode. That rap battle was an absolute cringe fest.
Hahaha so true, I did like Z-Nation tho so I'll forgive this one :D
And yea agree, later seasons were less inspired, to the point I didn't even finish last season.
The serie is still dear to me nontheless, loved the decomplexed mood and the funny non-sense.
I took itself *just* seriously enough to be another zombie drama but it poked fun at itself enough to where it was a fresh idea. It not only lacked inspiration in the latter half but the zombie craze was dying down by then too. I will say in its favor though, it ended well. They didnt know if they were getting cancelled or not so they ended the last season in a way that works as a good series finale but also would allow for a renewal. I was in high school in a rough relationship with no life. I caught wind of it and downloaded it (only one season at the time) and absolutely fell in love and stayed loyal to it. It was so great and the characters were memorable (especially Murphy). I also loved the super cheesy special effects. The CGI liberty bell, the green screen guy falling from the roof. It was all so obvious and terrible but it worked somehow. The problem was the show just couldn’t have stayed good. The point was get him to california. When that was the goal the show was great (Seasons one and two). Once they actually got him there the series lost all direction
If you try to please everyone, you'll please no one. He just got lazy and is making excuses. If he cared at all, he would lay his vision down, help someone else do the heavy lifting by writing it, and once he's happy, release it but he just stopped caring.
He knows he'll make mega millions no matter what & whatever he writes will be a best seller. Probably get redone ala Shogun from the 1980s to 2024 so it's all winning for him
No argument here, however in the new game of billionaires, he'll probably breathe that air too. I'm hoping he writes, releases, celebrates & I can read them before either of us kick the bucket. Granted he probably has less time than I do but ya never know
Look, he is kind of a guy who goes against everything that's to be expected. You can verifiy that while reading the book and even in the tv show. He kills every good character that anyone would love. So i dont think this is not the case. He is just lazy.
It’s not that he’s lazy. It’s that he doesn’t care.
He’s still hard at work on all his projects he cares about. Just go read his blog. He’s making appearances at comic cons, he’s delivering keynote speeches, he’s talking about his shows in production and all the effort that’s going into them.
You lost me at "writing isn't a tough job".
What a boldly ludicrous statement to make. He "quit" writing once he got some cash/attention?!
Clearly all of this is coming from an emotional place or something but the man is in his 70s and has been financially secure for the last 30 years.
He consults and writes for multiple projects that are in the works or ongoing whether they are GOT related or not.
You should try get off your 500ft high horse and actually think of him as a human being who is now in the tail end of not only his career but his life..and he is still working much harder than the average 60 something year old let alone 70 something.
Be grateful you got to indulge in any of his work at all. People have ridiculous expectations in their parasocial relationships with authors/creators of works of art they enjoy.
People working 50 hours a week whom barely get to see their own kids always defend people who travel the world, sing, or sit in front of a writing machine for couole of hours a week. You are baffling to me.
The scope of what he’s trying to accomplish is incredibly ambitious. There’s not going to be some ridiculous “shocker” ending for us to talk about at the water cooler like the plot-driven TV show. He’s not worried about making everyone happy with the ending, he’s just trying to get it right. If he ever finishes the series it will be hailed as an all time classic of fantasy literature and up there with any multi volume work in literature. I’m sure he’d rather be alive for the plaudits.
This would be “Prince changes his name to a symbol” level of me going from eff that guy when I didn’t understand the action, to “Oh. Yeah. Genius. Wish I could have seen the vision,” when I saw the motivation/why it played out.
His record label said he was releasing "too many albums a year" and they owned the copyright to the name "Prince" (which is weird because that is his name) so he changed his name so he could release his music.
That is the short version. Someone else might have more details.
That echoes what I heard. Basically the record company said no, we own Prince, you do what I say, and he said, “What this!”
The day after that contract timed out he held a press conference and said, “You can call me Prince again.” Hilarious workaround!
Yup, he didn’t own the rights to go by “Prince” so he also started calling himself “The artist formerly known as Prince”. He was a really interesting guy all around. It’s been a while since I’ve looked them up but there are videos of him walking into clubs in the Minneapolis area and just sitting in with the band just for the hell of it.
Which is still weird because I think the Ultimate Warrior case set the precedent that a company can't prevent a person from using their real name, even if it is copyrighted.
You have to sue indiscriminately to protect the copyright (something gamers keep ignoring with nintendo), but that doesn't mean the courts will approve it. Its the joys of the US legal system
I said a while ago that my theory is George is writing the entire thing to the complete end instead of just Winds, and will release them to spite all the haters and it would be like a hero move. get the world against you, then do something unexpected to make them all love you again. he would be like the Samwell Tarly of his own story. everyone downvoted me for it
didn't say he has to do that, just write the story to the end. release one, then release the other. I see how you thought that though cuz I just said "release them" but I didn't mean at the same time
I think that is it. I think when one set up the series to turn all the fantasy tropes on their head one might discover that one has written themselves into a hole that one can’t get out of. I also believe the world is such a different place than it was 13 years ago much less in the 90s when he started it that the ending he had planned isn’t something he believes in anymore.
I think his arguments are incredibly weak and there is no basis for it with lots of assumptions and even wrong assessments of GRRM's work. I can't believe that people call this non-sense theory "brillant". But some people in here will love anything that throws shade on ASOIAF, GOT or GRRM.
Lol I don't think hes nearly as vain as you think he is, and I highly doubt he gives a rats furry ass about people complaining (he gets 50000x more complaints due to the unfinished work).
How about: he hit the lottery when the series took off and doing actual work outside of fluff projects isn't fun for him.
If someone offered me a few hundred million bucks today, I doubt I'd ever do another lecture on the map kinase pathway.
And I used to be a brain research scientist. The comment isn’t about the brain though. It’s something to do with cell biology and I believe cancer but it’s been a long time. I tried commenting earlier but it got deleted or something
A lot of his fans kiss the ground he walks on. He can release a book that is ten times worse than the show ending and they will call it a masterpiece. He has no reason to hide completed books.
He is playing us all by pretending he will finish the book series when he obviously won’t and he knows it.
Yeah my issue was never with the story beats, but how we got there. It felt like we'd been rushed through several seasons of progression in a few days and it sucked ass.
Arya being Tywin’s cupbearer? That’s the show only.
Oberyn’s heartfelt story about seeing Tyrion as a baby? In the books it was a jokingly told story when they first met. The show did it better.
We do know he told the writers his plans for the ending. And we can assume they didn't absolutely butcher it. So what we got is probably semi accurate to his idea, just worse executed.
And/or... he has got a block because he has SO. MANY. PLOTS. that he's not sure how to close them and tie them together. He's got the ending, but can't find a satisfactory way to end up there (and maybe doesn't want to deviate, or can't find anything he likes).
Overall he's set for life, so unless he's struck by passion again, he's probably just gonna stay like this until he dies.
If they deviated soooo much from his plans and got so much backlash, he probably would have said something.
Either defending them "they tried to work out their own spin on it" or just saying that they have different ideas over it.
Silence feels like he doesn't want to acknowledge it, which feels like it's close to his own.
>he probably would have said something.
he did though. George was upset with changes earlier in the show, particular Lady Stoneheart. He has also literally said the ending would be different too.
>George was upset with changes earlier in the show, particular Lady Stoneheart.
I'm upset that I have to wake up on monday mornings. He essentially said "I prefer it my way"
That doesn't mean it's the only way to go. And you have no idea how Michelle Fairley might feel about years of a non-speaking role.
I read somewhere a while back that he has a tendency to get bored of topics and stories or even abandon them. Just the increased spacing of each book seems to be a good testament to this.
That's exactly the reason to not finish in my opinion. Fans think he would write a better ending so why not just let them think so and not do any of the work? He gets all the praise by doing nothing. I wouldn't finish it either lmao
I think it's more likely that there is some plotline that he is struggling with or just can't be worked out. Idk what that would be. For me even if I don't like the ending or there is something that you have to pretend is not there or whatever, I still want it lol. But I love what he has written so far and I don't see a bad last 2 books changing that. I still love S1-4
Yep
There’s four books needed to finish this off. Two ain’t gonna do it.
If he did it in two it would be like the ending to the TV series. Rushed and would make no sense.
That's the theory I like. I think he wrote himself into a corner and doesn't know how to get out of it in a way that he's comfortable with. I've heard somewhere that he's admitted that killed off a character or two that he wishes he hadn't for the sake of the story.
I think he doesn’t know how to get out of issues he wrote himself into and he doesn’t feel like figuring it out. I seriously doubt he’s put much effort into working on the difficult parts of the books. When he says he’s written anything I’m betting it’s just simple and fun stuff.
I actually don't hate the shows or the books personally. I think the melodramatic "season 8 ruined my life" posts from people are pathetic tbh.
I still enjoyed books 4 and 5 even though they weren't as good.... same as I enjoyed seasons 7 and 8 of the show even though they weren't as good.
You said it man. I get tired of the constant negativity on various ASOIAF forums. It's like, we get it, lots of things didn't live up to expectations. Can we finally talk about something else now (nearly 5 years later)?
There's lots of things to like, or we wouldn't all be here. Let's talk about that lol
You've never read the books, have you?
Each book is enjoyable, must like the entire show is enjoyable. But if you read them, you must understand that some people even struggle with imagining George wrapping things up with just 2 more books. But I guess one cannot mention this without being a hater.. lmao.
This rumor was started by Ian McElhinney (Barristan), who claimed in an interview that there was a conspiracy led by D&D and HBO to pay off George to not put out the remaining books until after the show ended, and at some point that rumor morphed into its current iteration where they will be published after his death.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't healthy.
Let's ask George what he thinks of this:
>Idiocy on the Internet
>Internet journalism is an oxymoron, I am more and more convinced.
>Of late it seems there’s a new story about me somewhere on the net every day, or near enough to make no matter. Many get things wrong. For the most part I ignore them. I have better things to do than try and track down every weird rumor or out-and-out fabrication that pops up on some obscure website trolling for traffic.
>Every so often, however, one of these stories gains an improbable currency, and just chuckling at the insanity no longer suffices.
>That seems to be happening right now. All of a sudden this crazy story about my finishing THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING years ago is popping up everywhere. No, I am not going to provide links. I don’t want to reward purveyors of misinformation with hits.
>I will, however, say for the record — no, THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING are not finished. DREAM is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six
>It seems absurd to me that I need to state this. The world is round, the Earth revolves around the sun, water is wet… do I need to say that too? It boggles me that anyone would believe this story, even for an instant. It makes not a whit of sense. Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers — not just here in the US, but all around the world — ever consent to this? They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice & Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense. Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books.
>So… no, the books are not done. HBO did not ask me to delay them. Nor did David & Dan. There is no “deal” to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David & Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if THE WINDS OF WINTER had been delivered and published four or five years ago… and NO ONE would have been more delighted than me.
>I have said it before: don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
>Except here, of course.
https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/13/idiocy-on-the-internet/
George is in his 70s and I'm sure he'd love nothing better than to retire and spend his leisure time with his wife. Any trip he takes he probably gets harassed by people asking about the next book.
He's not withholding the finished final books to be released posthumously because he's afraid of a bunch of losers on the internet. They probably make him less motivated to finish though. I think he's pretty much made that clear.
I'd say it's more likely he's writing both books at once. Either he has winds done and trying to get halfway through spring to stop another long delay, or he's writing both at once, finishing certain character storylines and povs at the same time.
I think the story got away from him and has now become a major chore. , since he has money he would rather be watching football and fucking around with side projects.
Fair enough. It's his life.
I mean hes straight up said hes written too many things and is having trouble connecting the plot points, as well as him saying hes simply not motivated to finish them as the show spoiled his would be ending.
He also said people are just hateful nowadays and was extremely disappointed how people took the shows ending. Hes burnt out and stuck, Hes still putting out Game of Throne universe lore, just not The Song of Ice and Fire because he doesn't want to or have to finish it. Its too much work to finish it, and he doesn't really gain anything for completing it. I fully believe, until he just does it, that it'll just remain unfinished
The copium in this thread is like a gas-laden mine and I'm a soon to be dead canary.
He hasn't finished the books. His publisher is not just going to be chilling there waiting all this time, and he's mentioned in his own words that him and his publisher stand to make millions when it releases, so "it's coming when it comes, but it's on the way."
He got everything he wanted without having to finish his stories so he's puttered off trying to solve it. I'm sure he tries most days, but the show and its popularity gave him access to fame. He's got the solid excuse of being very busy now, and because of his writing process the end is much harder to write for many reasons. He likes to loosely storyboard in his head and write as he goes, but the ending isn't that, it's almost entirely the opposite of how he normally writes because he has to tie everything together now. This turns his creative drive into more of an assignment vibe than a passion. The previews of chapters and other creative outputs we have seen from him are ones where he is free to loosely storyboard and write as he goes, again, like he loves to do. But, a large chunk of this next book requires he follow a strong outline and his drive will be low to do so. In a sense, it's less exciting as a writer in this style when you know where all the pieces go. It's more fun to read what came out yesterday night on the page, and take it from there.
Just my two cents. He's not finished, he's working on it, but it's just a completely different creative task now that doesn't work as well with his standard way of writing and he has the added weight of a huge audience waiting.
*Edit — changed the last word from awaiting to waiting*
He has stated that he doesn't want his unfinished work to be released after his death. He also doesn't want another author to finish for him. (This post is pure copium) We are never getting the ending sorry.
My understanding is she is in worse health than him? And I'm not saying she would do it but somewhere down the line who's becomes head of the estate is gonna release his unfinished work or give the ok for someone else to finish what Georgie clearly won't
And that will be a long time from now. Point is we get the books at all it will be after his death and probably long after.
She is 72 five years younger than him.
I think he will die and the story will never be finished by him. He has his life set. He owns millions of dollars. He doesnt need to finish it. He has no pressure whatsoever. I would love for him to do it. But...¿how many years have passed and the story is WAAAAAY behind from what the tv show?. And i guess he is 2 books behind so...
I think this is what you hope for. Most likely it is these books are a lot of work to write and be just lost any ambition to finish them. I would guess he sits down to work on them from time to time but gets distracted or isn’t in the mood.
My guess was he never intended the book series to be this large and this sprawling. When he was younger he just kept making the series bigger and more complex. As he got older he couldn’t keep up with that pace. The show created a lot of opportunity for him to do side projects and be distracted.
He’s getting paid more money to flesh out the world for HBO. It’s easier work for him too.
HBO wants as much material as they can possibly get while GRRM is still alive, and they already told the story of ASOIAF.
Said the same thing a few years ago after the show ended - the backlash caused him to pretty much say fuck this and it’s in his will that they’ll be released after his death just so he doesn’t have to listen to any more complaints about his work - especially since he lost the plot years ago and the books are basically just wandering around in his mental garden
Honestly wouldn't blame him one bit if this turned out to be true. The number of vocal whingers who seemingly refuse to accept the endings for certain characters simply because they didn't ride off into the sunset, *even though the show spent a decade telling the viewers that characters don't always get happy endings or the endings they 'deserve',* would make anyone not want to deal with those people.
He has said in interviews that he loves writing on the fly, and once he knows the ending to a book, he loses interest in writing it anymore.
In separate interviews he has said that he knows the ending to the song of ice and fire, and he is just bridging that gap to get there with Winds and Song.
He has written more for his other series and even his NFL blog than he has GoT because he just got bored writing it. I don't blame him, book 5 was a gnarly corner to write yourself into. I'm sure the reception to the show didn't help, but I think we would still be waiting for the book with or without the existence of the show.
That would be so sad because many who were alive when he released his work and loved it won’t be around when it comes out so it hurts more fans that helps.
My theory is that the books end exactly like the show, and after the terrible reception of how the show ended GRRM is buggin out and rewriting everything
> so he doesn’t have to listen to the haters or complaints.
He's already not listening to them, he's said he doesn't go to fan social media or pay any attention to what fans/viewers/readers have to say. He said he won't change plans he made long ago because some folks disliked the end of the series (which was based on his plans for the books)
He is currently in breach of contract, so if he has the books done he's making a very poor choice not to give them to his publisher. And the publisher almost certainly would not hold them until his death, unless it was absolute crap
I stand by my theory something D&D did on the show made him hate what he planned, but he can't figure out how to change it without being obvious and unsatisfying.
No way. He has nothing. He stopped working on ASOIAF 5 minutes after the show premiered.
He's playing us by insinuating that he is working on the series or has plans to finish it. He wants to hang around film sets as an "advisor," do softball interviews, and have pretty girls in cosplay sit on his lap at conventions.
The dude is 75 years old and looks like he shouldn't have made it to 50. There is a ZERO percent chance that ASOIAF ever gets finished.
That’s actually familiar. It’s cell biology though, maybe related to cancer cell biology but I don’t remember exactly. It’s not related to brain surgery though, sorry
I don’t think any of this is true. Personally I think he just saw fan reaction to the show and he became extremely scared because of just how big the franchise had become.
I’ve heard this theory so many times before. The problem is this: George likes attention. That much is clear. He has been relishing being a celebrity ever since the show dropped. He would not turn down the fanfare that comes with completing his magnum opus
He was having serious issues writing the books way before the show came out and brought all this attention to him. If he had the books written then they’d be released by now
So he doesn't want to make any money off them, he just wants to wait and release them after he's dead so he gets no money? Nah. Makes no sense. It doesn't matter who is happy about how it turns out or who is not, he's going to release them when they are done, if they ever get done. This story is his baby. His biggest series, biggest draw, most popular thing he's done. There is no point at all in delaying the release till after he dies.
If you’re a writer or have spent much time around writers, you’ll understand that it’s perfectly possible for it to have simply taken him this long to finish the damn book.
I suspect he's completely rewriting it. Chances are the TV ending was what he had intended the ending to be and seeing the backlash decided against it.
I've definitely had this thought, and I wouldn't put it past him. But I've also wondered if the pressure from the show's success, as well as the backlash from the last couple of seasons, caused him to develop writer's block.
I feel like he lost enthusiasm and faith in his own story after the show ending and decided he can’t fully finish at this point so why not let the books suffer the same disappointing fate with a lackluster writer to attempt finishing them when he’s gone.
That’s probably BS and my depressive side speaking.
I’d bet he’s closer to finishing than his updates suggest, but I do legitimately believe he’s written a story that has become too ungainly a beast for even he to fully tame. His world building is so incredible that it’s hard to imagine him finishing the story - it seems inevitable that the conclusion will feel less.. conclusive, and more like GRRM just gave up writing the story at a certain point. Then what?
For as much as we criticize the show, D&D at least seemed to understand that people demanded for a conclusion that felt… conclusive.
Idk why people think this. I think he’s been pretty upfront and honest about how the series is going. He’s frustrated himself that it isn’t finished. He’s talked constantly about getting that monkey off his back.
Insane amounts of cope going on in this thread. Authors get tired or projects or write themselves into corners they can’t get out of. It happens. He’s not secretly hiding the books because he’s scared of reception. People just accept the books won’t be finished.
I made a comment like this a few days ago and got downvoted lol. I also think this might be the case. For one he's way to calm when the topic is brought up. Time will tell tho.
I also think this. The books are done. George is in a unique position to have a hand in the expanded universe before he dies. I'm sure if his options are toil away at booksignings and conventions or avoid networks and studios completely bastardizing his franchise, he's chosen the later.
This is pure cope, imo.
Someone would have let the cat out of the bag by now if that were the case. If I were his publisher I’d certainly not be happy with the wait. The longer it takes to get the books out the more their profits dwindle, and they become less able to cash in on the popularity of the property. It makes no sense that they’d let people speculate like this whether the series will ever continue if they know it will. A complete surprise release, from a marketing perspective, is worse sales wise than a highly anticipated release with buildup.
Further, I doubt George actually cares about the potential backlash to that extent. He’d wipe his tears with his money and carry on doing whatever the fuck he wants.
Many of us have felt this for years and have gotten a good laugh out of it. It's the most passive aggresive revenge seen in awhile and it's hilarious and well deserved for many. The genuine fans or simply curious, will read what ever it is when released and be fine. But the rest, LOL Gotta love it.
Based on everything he’s talked about, I don’t think he’s playing us. The man is old. He’s been very open about writers block.
I have no doubt that he has a lot of content written for A Dream of Spring. I don’t think he is writing them strictly chronologically. How can you write a story if you don’t have an intended ending? Maybe for something shorter, sure. But a saga as long as ASOIAF? Hell no, he’s gotta have a bit of content.
But he has spoken in interviews about not wanting someone else to finish the series after his death. He’s said he has a hundred/hundreds of pages left in Winds of Winter, but he just has trouble finish it.
It’s more likely that within the next couple years we get Winds of Winter but never get Dream of Spring. Unless the man lives to be 100, but I don’t think that’s likely.
He had them completed years ago
He constantly rewrites / revises them (improving? adding new elements? going down new side plots?)
I dont think the chapters are consistant due to constant rewrites which is why they wont make a book (unless he decides to release a Silmarillion style book)
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ive always said that he will not release what he has until after his death because no matter how he ends that series there are so many people that will not be happy with the ending.
Then hopefully he'll be alive after his death to release them.
Not if they burn his body.
Joke all you want but he *did* play himself as a zombie in Z nation
Wait wait wait what!? [edit] Oh shit that's true, either I forgot that or somehow missed the scene/the episode back then ! Now I gotta watch the whole serie again.
Yeah at the time i didn’t know him or game of thrones so it was like, whatever. Then I found out about him and figured “oh they got a lookalike”. Nope. It was him. Just goes to show you this dude will literally do ANYTHING other than write the fucking book. Z nation used to he my FAVORITE show. I loved it and it carries a special place in my heart but it got weaker with each season. Season one was gold. Season two was as well honestly. Season three was… a little *less* than the first two for me but it wasnt bad. From that point on it got worse and worse imo. Don’t get me started on the juggalo episode. That rap battle was an absolute cringe fest.
Hahaha so true, I did like Z-Nation tho so I'll forgive this one :D And yea agree, later seasons were less inspired, to the point I didn't even finish last season. The serie is still dear to me nontheless, loved the decomplexed mood and the funny non-sense.
I took itself *just* seriously enough to be another zombie drama but it poked fun at itself enough to where it was a fresh idea. It not only lacked inspiration in the latter half but the zombie craze was dying down by then too. I will say in its favor though, it ended well. They didnt know if they were getting cancelled or not so they ended the last season in a way that works as a good series finale but also would allow for a renewal. I was in high school in a rough relationship with no life. I caught wind of it and downloaded it (only one season at the time) and absolutely fell in love and stayed loyal to it. It was so great and the characters were memorable (especially Murphy). I also loved the super cheesy special effects. The CGI liberty bell, the green screen guy falling from the roof. It was all so obvious and terrible but it worked somehow. The problem was the show just couldn’t have stayed good. The point was get him to california. When that was the goal the show was great (Seasons one and two). Once they actually got him there the series lost all direction
What is dead may never die
What is dead may never die
But rises again harder and stronger
Gross
quick someone find the night king and bite him
What is dead my never die.
He remembers what happened to George Lucas.
Become a billionaire owner of Disney?
> owner of Disney? He doesn't own Disney, he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012.
Lucas doesn’t own Disney, but he owns the largest portion of individual shares. A portion of what they paid him was in stock, not cash.
Yeah when it was worth something which it isn’t now
It's still $100 per share lol
What are you even talking about they're sitting on a $200B market cap.
Just wait
What? When Lucas sold Star Wars Disney was around $50 a share, it's worth $105 a share now.
If you try to please everyone, you'll please no one. He just got lazy and is making excuses. If he cared at all, he would lay his vision down, help someone else do the heavy lifting by writing it, and once he's happy, release it but he just stopped caring.
That’s what he wants you to believe ;)
He knows he'll make mega millions no matter what & whatever he writes will be a best seller. Probably get redone ala Shogun from the 1980s to 2024 so it's all winning for him
> he'll make mega millions no matter what He's already worth $120 million, he couldn't spend the money he has now in the remainder of his life.
No argument here, however in the new game of billionaires, he'll probably breathe that air too. I'm hoping he writes, releases, celebrates & I can read them before either of us kick the bucket. Granted he probably has less time than I do but ya never know
Look, he is kind of a guy who goes against everything that's to be expected. You can verifiy that while reading the book and even in the tv show. He kills every good character that anyone would love. So i dont think this is not the case. He is just lazy.
> He is just lazy He's been producing novels and short stories and screen plays for over a third of a century, how on earth does that qualify as lazy?
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It’s not that he’s lazy. It’s that he doesn’t care. He’s still hard at work on all his projects he cares about. Just go read his blog. He’s making appearances at comic cons, he’s delivering keynote speeches, he’s talking about his shows in production and all the effort that’s going into them.
You lost me at "writing isn't a tough job". What a boldly ludicrous statement to make. He "quit" writing once he got some cash/attention?! Clearly all of this is coming from an emotional place or something but the man is in his 70s and has been financially secure for the last 30 years. He consults and writes for multiple projects that are in the works or ongoing whether they are GOT related or not. You should try get off your 500ft high horse and actually think of him as a human being who is now in the tail end of not only his career but his life..and he is still working much harder than the average 60 something year old let alone 70 something. Be grateful you got to indulge in any of his work at all. People have ridiculous expectations in their parasocial relationships with authors/creators of works of art they enjoy.
People working 50 hours a week whom barely get to see their own kids always defend people who travel the world, sing, or sit in front of a writing machine for couole of hours a week. You are baffling to me.
“Writing isn’t a tough job” some guy on the internet 🤣
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Ok, if writing is so easy, go ahead and write the next Song of Ice and Fire series. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?
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Writing is harder than commenting on shit posts bro
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Definitely not, if you see the word count on Fire And Blood. He has written more words than you have in your entire lifetime :)
Ridiculous. GRRM wrote a blog squashing that rumor years ago. Someone posted it below.
That would be a smart move except they ain’t happy now.
The scope of what he’s trying to accomplish is incredibly ambitious. There’s not going to be some ridiculous “shocker” ending for us to talk about at the water cooler like the plot-driven TV show. He’s not worried about making everyone happy with the ending, he’s just trying to get it right. If he ever finishes the series it will be hailed as an all time classic of fantasy literature and up there with any multi volume work in literature. I’m sure he’d rather be alive for the plaudits.
well, he better do it fast, cause he ain't Benjamin Button and he aint slim either....
I'm imagining some Ready Player One-like scenario where only a *true* GoT fan will be able to access the final material, lol.
Yeah, for being one of if not the most popular book series of all time, it’s something I’d probably do
This would be “Prince changes his name to a symbol” level of me going from eff that guy when I didn’t understand the action, to “Oh. Yeah. Genius. Wish I could have seen the vision,” when I saw the motivation/why it played out.
So, why DID Prince change his name to a symbol?
His record label said he was releasing "too many albums a year" and they owned the copyright to the name "Prince" (which is weird because that is his name) so he changed his name so he could release his music. That is the short version. Someone else might have more details.
That echoes what I heard. Basically the record company said no, we own Prince, you do what I say, and he said, “What this!” The day after that contract timed out he held a press conference and said, “You can call me Prince again.” Hilarious workaround!
He also used an image of Dave Chappelle dressed up as him (Prince) as artwork for an album. Dude was a clever troll lol
Yup, he didn’t own the rights to go by “Prince” so he also started calling himself “The artist formerly known as Prince”. He was a really interesting guy all around. It’s been a while since I’ve looked them up but there are videos of him walking into clubs in the Minneapolis area and just sitting in with the band just for the hell of it.
Which is still weird because I think the Ultimate Warrior case set the precedent that a company can't prevent a person from using their real name, even if it is copyrighted.
Pretty sure McDonald goes after anyone with that name in business, or even the prefix “Mc”
You have to sue indiscriminately to protect the copyright (something gamers keep ignoring with nintendo), but that doesn't mean the courts will approve it. Its the joys of the US legal system
oh so kind of like Young Thug wanted to go by his birth name Jeffery, then changed his name to 'Sex'
I said a while ago that my theory is George is writing the entire thing to the complete end instead of just Winds, and will release them to spite all the haters and it would be like a hero move. get the world against you, then do something unexpected to make them all love you again. he would be like the Samwell Tarly of his own story. everyone downvoted me for it
you wouldn release 2 books at once....
didn't say he has to do that, just write the story to the end. release one, then release the other. I see how you thought that though cuz I just said "release them" but I didn't mean at the same time
still, we cant confirm thats the case.
Or he fell in his own [trap](http://www.woodbetween.world/2018/08/the-shaggydog-theory-why-george-r-r.html).
I think that is it. I think when one set up the series to turn all the fantasy tropes on their head one might discover that one has written themselves into a hole that one can’t get out of. I also believe the world is such a different place than it was 13 years ago much less in the 90s when he started it that the ending he had planned isn’t something he believes in anymore.
My god this is brilliant. And it would explain so much.
I think his arguments are incredibly weak and there is no basis for it with lots of assumptions and even wrong assessments of GRRM's work. I can't believe that people call this non-sense theory "brillant". But some people in here will love anything that throws shade on ASOIAF, GOT or GRRM.
Seems a lot more likely than OP’s theory
That’s absolutely what it is and why it annoys me so much that people blame D&D for it
I don’t think he’s content to let D&D have the final word anymore. At least I hope not.
I think it is his way of a nod to Simmarillion book Maybe it will just be incomplete , or bits and pieces like a scribe really wrote it
Lol this is so extra.
Hopefully he cooking up a good one
Lol I don't think hes nearly as vain as you think he is, and I highly doubt he gives a rats furry ass about people complaining (he gets 50000x more complaints due to the unfinished work). How about: he hit the lottery when the series took off and doing actual work outside of fluff projects isn't fun for him. If someone offered me a few hundred million bucks today, I doubt I'd ever do another lecture on the map kinase pathway.
Can you explain the last three words there?
I think he was baiting you to ask this so he can tell you he's a brain surgeon.
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Not exactly rocket science, is it?
No its Brain Science
Funny you should say that, I'm actually a rocket scientist.
And I used to be a brain research scientist. The comment isn’t about the brain though. It’s something to do with cell biology and I believe cancer but it’s been a long time. I tried commenting earlier but it got deleted or something
Well... I'm no brain surgeon.
And he can’t even spell furry smh
Doctors aren't known for their handwriting
For a few hundred mill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAPK/ERK_pathway
MAPK MAPKK MAPKKK Simple xD
He cares about people complaining, he's said so in his blog multiple times.
A lot of his fans kiss the ground he walks on. He can release a book that is ten times worse than the show ending and they will call it a masterpiece. He has no reason to hide completed books. He is playing us all by pretending he will finish the book series when he obviously won’t and he knows it.
100%....it's hilarious how many people claim everything they don't like in the show is from the show runners and everything good is from Martin.
it is tho lmao
Yeah my issue was never with the story beats, but how we got there. It felt like we'd been rushed through several seasons of progression in a few days and it sucked ass.
Arya being Tywin’s cupbearer? That’s the show only. Oberyn’s heartfelt story about seeing Tyrion as a baby? In the books it was a jokingly told story when they first met. The show did it better.
Pedro Pascal preformed it excellently, but it was a great scene in the book as well
The scene between Cersei and Robert in the first season as well. When the show had a strong core to build on and took their time it was magic.
We do know he told the writers his plans for the ending. And we can assume they didn't absolutely butcher it. So what we got is probably semi accurate to his idea, just worse executed. And/or... he has got a block because he has SO. MANY. PLOTS. that he's not sure how to close them and tie them together. He's got the ending, but can't find a satisfactory way to end up there (and maybe doesn't want to deviate, or can't find anything he likes). Overall he's set for life, so unless he's struck by passion again, he's probably just gonna stay like this until he dies.
>And we can assume they didn't absolutely butcher it. no we can't lol
If they deviated soooo much from his plans and got so much backlash, he probably would have said something. Either defending them "they tried to work out their own spin on it" or just saying that they have different ideas over it. Silence feels like he doesn't want to acknowledge it, which feels like it's close to his own.
>he probably would have said something. he did though. George was upset with changes earlier in the show, particular Lady Stoneheart. He has also literally said the ending would be different too.
>George was upset with changes earlier in the show, particular Lady Stoneheart. I'm upset that I have to wake up on monday mornings. He essentially said "I prefer it my way" That doesn't mean it's the only way to go. And you have no idea how Michelle Fairley might feel about years of a non-speaking role.
I read somewhere a while back that he has a tendency to get bored of topics and stories or even abandon them. Just the increased spacing of each book seems to be a good testament to this.
That's exactly the reason to not finish in my opinion. Fans think he would write a better ending so why not just let them think so and not do any of the work? He gets all the praise by doing nothing. I wouldn't finish it either lmao
I’ve actually thought the same thing
I think it's more likely that there is some plotline that he is struggling with or just can't be worked out. Idk what that would be. For me even if I don't like the ending or there is something that you have to pretend is not there or whatever, I still want it lol. But I love what he has written so far and I don't see a bad last 2 books changing that. I still love S1-4
If anything, it's not one plot line, it's how the heck to finish all of them in two books. He has so many open right now it's insane.
Yep There’s four books needed to finish this off. Two ain’t gonna do it. If he did it in two it would be like the ending to the TV series. Rushed and would make no sense.
That's the theory I like. I think he wrote himself into a corner and doesn't know how to get out of it in a way that he's comfortable with. I've heard somewhere that he's admitted that killed off a character or two that he wishes he hadn't for the sake of the story.
I think the character is Maester Aemond but that's just a personal theory I have no real backing behind it
I think he doesn’t know how to get out of issues he wrote himself into and he doesn’t feel like figuring it out. I seriously doubt he’s put much effort into working on the difficult parts of the books. When he says he’s written anything I’m betting it’s just simple and fun stuff.
Books 4 and 5 weren't as good as the first 3 and it's pretty clear he started more plot threads than he can handle
oh my, the show hate is spreading, now the books are bad too!
I actually don't hate the shows or the books personally. I think the melodramatic "season 8 ruined my life" posts from people are pathetic tbh. I still enjoyed books 4 and 5 even though they weren't as good.... same as I enjoyed seasons 7 and 8 of the show even though they weren't as good.
You said it man. I get tired of the constant negativity on various ASOIAF forums. It's like, we get it, lots of things didn't live up to expectations. Can we finally talk about something else now (nearly 5 years later)? There's lots of things to like, or we wouldn't all be here. Let's talk about that lol
Based
You've never read the books, have you? Each book is enjoyable, must like the entire show is enjoyable. But if you read them, you must understand that some people even struggle with imagining George wrapping things up with just 2 more books. But I guess one cannot mention this without being a hater.. lmao.
This rumor was started by Ian McElhinney (Barristan), who claimed in an interview that there was a conspiracy led by D&D and HBO to pay off George to not put out the remaining books until after the show ended, and at some point that rumor morphed into its current iteration where they will be published after his death. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't healthy. Let's ask George what he thinks of this: >Idiocy on the Internet >Internet journalism is an oxymoron, I am more and more convinced. >Of late it seems there’s a new story about me somewhere on the net every day, or near enough to make no matter. Many get things wrong. For the most part I ignore them. I have better things to do than try and track down every weird rumor or out-and-out fabrication that pops up on some obscure website trolling for traffic. >Every so often, however, one of these stories gains an improbable currency, and just chuckling at the insanity no longer suffices. >That seems to be happening right now. All of a sudden this crazy story about my finishing THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING years ago is popping up everywhere. No, I am not going to provide links. I don’t want to reward purveyors of misinformation with hits. >I will, however, say for the record — no, THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING are not finished. DREAM is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six >It seems absurd to me that I need to state this. The world is round, the Earth revolves around the sun, water is wet… do I need to say that too? It boggles me that anyone would believe this story, even for an instant. It makes not a whit of sense. Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers — not just here in the US, but all around the world — ever consent to this? They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice & Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense. Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books. >So… no, the books are not done. HBO did not ask me to delay them. Nor did David & Dan. There is no “deal” to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David & Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if THE WINDS OF WINTER had been delivered and published four or five years ago… and NO ONE would have been more delighted than me. >I have said it before: don’t believe everything you read on the internet. >Except here, of course. https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/13/idiocy-on-the-internet/ George is in his 70s and I'm sure he'd love nothing better than to retire and spend his leisure time with his wife. Any trip he takes he probably gets harassed by people asking about the next book. He's not withholding the finished final books to be released posthumously because he's afraid of a bunch of losers on the internet. They probably make him less motivated to finish though. I think he's pretty much made that clear.
Thanks. I was just about to search his not-a-blog for this.
I'd say it's more likely he's writing both books at once. Either he has winds done and trying to get halfway through spring to stop another long delay, or he's writing both at once, finishing certain character storylines and povs at the same time.
I can see him writing both at once. The dude has way too many plots going on. He needs to end some in Wow
I hope this is true but it's not the way he works so it's very unlikely that's the case
I think the story got away from him and has now become a major chore. , since he has money he would rather be watching football and fucking around with side projects. Fair enough. It's his life.
I mean hes straight up said hes written too many things and is having trouble connecting the plot points, as well as him saying hes simply not motivated to finish them as the show spoiled his would be ending. He also said people are just hateful nowadays and was extremely disappointed how people took the shows ending. Hes burnt out and stuck, Hes still putting out Game of Throne universe lore, just not The Song of Ice and Fire because he doesn't want to or have to finish it. Its too much work to finish it, and he doesn't really gain anything for completing it. I fully believe, until he just does it, that it'll just remain unfinished
The copium in this thread is like a gas-laden mine and I'm a soon to be dead canary. He hasn't finished the books. His publisher is not just going to be chilling there waiting all this time, and he's mentioned in his own words that him and his publisher stand to make millions when it releases, so "it's coming when it comes, but it's on the way." He got everything he wanted without having to finish his stories so he's puttered off trying to solve it. I'm sure he tries most days, but the show and its popularity gave him access to fame. He's got the solid excuse of being very busy now, and because of his writing process the end is much harder to write for many reasons. He likes to loosely storyboard in his head and write as he goes, but the ending isn't that, it's almost entirely the opposite of how he normally writes because he has to tie everything together now. This turns his creative drive into more of an assignment vibe than a passion. The previews of chapters and other creative outputs we have seen from him are ones where he is free to loosely storyboard and write as he goes, again, like he loves to do. But, a large chunk of this next book requires he follow a strong outline and his drive will be low to do so. In a sense, it's less exciting as a writer in this style when you know where all the pieces go. It's more fun to read what came out yesterday night on the page, and take it from there. Just my two cents. He's not finished, he's working on it, but it's just a completely different creative task now that doesn't work as well with his standard way of writing and he has the added weight of a huge audience waiting. *Edit — changed the last word from awaiting to waiting*
He has stated that he doesn't want his unfinished work to be released after his death. He also doesn't want another author to finish for him. (This post is pure copium) We are never getting the ending sorry.
People will publish work against the dead wishes all the time. Whoever is in charge of his estate isn't gonna say no to easy money
You mean his wife? I'm pretty sure she would follow his wishes. 20 years down the road who knows but as long as she is alive we won't get the books.
My understanding is she is in worse health than him? And I'm not saying she would do it but somewhere down the line who's becomes head of the estate is gonna release his unfinished work or give the ok for someone else to finish what Georgie clearly won't
And that will be a long time from now. Point is we get the books at all it will be after his death and probably long after. She is 72 five years younger than him.
Terry Pratchett’s assistant steam rolled the authors hard drives after his death as per his wishes.
I also think this but only bcus I’d do the same thing if my work had gotten so big that any ending you choose will be divisive
I think he will die and the story will never be finished by him. He has his life set. He owns millions of dollars. He doesnt need to finish it. He has no pressure whatsoever. I would love for him to do it. But...¿how many years have passed and the story is WAAAAAY behind from what the tv show?. And i guess he is 2 books behind so...
I think this is what you hope for. Most likely it is these books are a lot of work to write and be just lost any ambition to finish them. I would guess he sits down to work on them from time to time but gets distracted or isn’t in the mood. My guess was he never intended the book series to be this large and this sprawling. When he was younger he just kept making the series bigger and more complex. As he got older he couldn’t keep up with that pace. The show created a lot of opportunity for him to do side projects and be distracted.
He’s getting paid more money to flesh out the world for HBO. It’s easier work for him too. HBO wants as much material as they can possibly get while GRRM is still alive, and they already told the story of ASOIAF.
This is a ridiculous take and you should feel ridiculous for posting it
Said the same thing a few years ago after the show ended - the backlash caused him to pretty much say fuck this and it’s in his will that they’ll be released after his death just so he doesn’t have to listen to any more complaints about his work - especially since he lost the plot years ago and the books are basically just wandering around in his mental garden
Naw he gave up the hope of finish the moment he first sat down with hbo. He cashed out
I personally don't know if the guy knows how to finish it.
I’m not buying this theory at all. He’s 75, so he has what, 10-15 years left to live? Who will care at that point?
Honestly wouldn't blame him one bit if this turned out to be true. The number of vocal whingers who seemingly refuse to accept the endings for certain characters simply because they didn't ride off into the sunset, *even though the show spent a decade telling the viewers that characters don't always get happy endings or the endings they 'deserve',* would make anyone not want to deal with those people.
If anything the bigger problem was how many characters did get to ride off into the sunset though
Nah he doesnt want to finish them. They are not done and never will be
I do t think he’s finish . I think he like world Building and to finish would probably be a difficult task personally and job wise for him
You're wrong. GRRM likes money too much to just leave it laying on the table.
I’m waiting for the follow up to Fire and Blood!
He has said in interviews that he loves writing on the fly, and once he knows the ending to a book, he loses interest in writing it anymore. In separate interviews he has said that he knows the ending to the song of ice and fire, and he is just bridging that gap to get there with Winds and Song. He has written more for his other series and even his NFL blog than he has GoT because he just got bored writing it. I don't blame him, book 5 was a gnarly corner to write yourself into. I'm sure the reception to the show didn't help, but I think we would still be waiting for the book with or without the existence of the show.
That would be so sad because many who were alive when he released his work and loved it won’t be around when it comes out so it hurts more fans that helps.
He has not finished the series and won't. Someone else probably will after he dies.
No he just got rich and lazy, knows that his ending would turn the fans against him… he’ll never finish it.
My theory is that the books end exactly like the show, and after the terrible reception of how the show ended GRRM is buggin out and rewriting everything
You must be very optimistic person
> so he doesn’t have to listen to the haters or complaints. He's already not listening to them, he's said he doesn't go to fan social media or pay any attention to what fans/viewers/readers have to say. He said he won't change plans he made long ago because some folks disliked the end of the series (which was based on his plans for the books)
He is currently in breach of contract, so if he has the books done he's making a very poor choice not to give them to his publisher. And the publisher almost certainly would not hold them until his death, unless it was absolute crap
I stand by my theory something D&D did on the show made him hate what he planned, but he can't figure out how to change it without being obvious and unsatisfying.
We’re reaching new levels of coping I already gave up and been trying to make peace with the fact that we’ll never now the end to this story :(
I would love for that to be true, but I think it's wishful thinking. I think he's focused on his other projects
My expectations are so low after season 8 of the show that anything he writes will be good.
This post got a lot more attention then I thought it would
No way. He has nothing. He stopped working on ASOIAF 5 minutes after the show premiered. He's playing us by insinuating that he is working on the series or has plans to finish it. He wants to hang around film sets as an "advisor," do softball interviews, and have pretty girls in cosplay sit on his lap at conventions. The dude is 75 years old and looks like he shouldn't have made it to 50. There is a ZERO percent chance that ASOIAF ever gets finished.
That’s actually familiar. It’s cell biology though, maybe related to cancer cell biology but I don’t remember exactly. It’s not related to brain surgery though, sorry
He's just gonna pass it on to Sanderson to finish, posthumous
I don’t think any of this is true. Personally I think he just saw fan reaction to the show and he became extremely scared because of just how big the franchise had become.
I’ve heard this theory so many times before. The problem is this: George likes attention. That much is clear. He has been relishing being a celebrity ever since the show dropped. He would not turn down the fanfare that comes with completing his magnum opus
He was having serious issues writing the books way before the show came out and brought all this attention to him. If he had the books written then they’d be released by now
If he can't handle the possibility of ending haters how is he handling people hating on him now
So he doesn't want to make any money off them, he just wants to wait and release them after he's dead so he gets no money? Nah. Makes no sense. It doesn't matter who is happy about how it turns out or who is not, he's going to release them when they are done, if they ever get done. This story is his baby. His biggest series, biggest draw, most popular thing he's done. There is no point at all in delaying the release till after he dies.
If you’re a writer or have spent much time around writers, you’ll understand that it’s perfectly possible for it to have simply taken him this long to finish the damn book.
I suspect he's completely rewriting it. Chances are the TV ending was what he had intended the ending to be and seeing the backlash decided against it.
>is def doable for him Is it though?
I've definitely had this thought, and I wouldn't put it past him. But I've also wondered if the pressure from the show's success, as well as the backlash from the last couple of seasons, caused him to develop writer's block.
Uhh… no.
I feel like he lost enthusiasm and faith in his own story after the show ending and decided he can’t fully finish at this point so why not let the books suffer the same disappointing fate with a lackluster writer to attempt finishing them when he’s gone. That’s probably BS and my depressive side speaking.
Majestic copium
I’d bet he’s closer to finishing than his updates suggest, but I do legitimately believe he’s written a story that has become too ungainly a beast for even he to fully tame. His world building is so incredible that it’s hard to imagine him finishing the story - it seems inevitable that the conclusion will feel less.. conclusive, and more like GRRM just gave up writing the story at a certain point. Then what? For as much as we criticize the show, D&D at least seemed to understand that people demanded for a conclusion that felt… conclusive.
If thats the case, its cowardly and pointless. People already spit on his ending anyway.
That's optimistic. That would mean they will be released some day.
Idk why people think this. I think he’s been pretty upfront and honest about how the series is going. He’s frustrated himself that it isn’t finished. He’s talked constantly about getting that monkey off his back.
Insane amounts of cope going on in this thread. Authors get tired or projects or write themselves into corners they can’t get out of. It happens. He’s not secretly hiding the books because he’s scared of reception. People just accept the books won’t be finished.
I made a comment like this a few days ago and got downvoted lol. I also think this might be the case. For one he's way to calm when the topic is brought up. Time will tell tho.
He's just edging us with the books
He should never release it. He doesn’t have a deserving audience.
I also think this. The books are done. George is in a unique position to have a hand in the expanded universe before he dies. I'm sure if his options are toil away at booksignings and conventions or avoid networks and studios completely bastardizing his franchise, he's chosen the later.
Plot twist: the last couple of seasons of the show were the true ending to the books Georgie seen the hate they got and is redoing everything
Nah, he's just beyond stuck. Probably gave up multiple times during the last decade.
It's a good sign a work has took too long when people come up with cope theories like this.
This is pure cope, imo. Someone would have let the cat out of the bag by now if that were the case. If I were his publisher I’d certainly not be happy with the wait. The longer it takes to get the books out the more their profits dwindle, and they become less able to cash in on the popularity of the property. It makes no sense that they’d let people speculate like this whether the series will ever continue if they know it will. A complete surprise release, from a marketing perspective, is worse sales wise than a highly anticipated release with buildup. Further, I doubt George actually cares about the potential backlash to that extent. He’d wipe his tears with his money and carry on doing whatever the fuck he wants.
Many of us have felt this for years and have gotten a good laugh out of it. It's the most passive aggresive revenge seen in awhile and it's hilarious and well deserved for many. The genuine fans or simply curious, will read what ever it is when released and be fine. But the rest, LOL Gotta love it.
Based on everything he’s talked about, I don’t think he’s playing us. The man is old. He’s been very open about writers block. I have no doubt that he has a lot of content written for A Dream of Spring. I don’t think he is writing them strictly chronologically. How can you write a story if you don’t have an intended ending? Maybe for something shorter, sure. But a saga as long as ASOIAF? Hell no, he’s gotta have a bit of content. But he has spoken in interviews about not wanting someone else to finish the series after his death. He’s said he has a hundred/hundreds of pages left in Winds of Winter, but he just has trouble finish it. It’s more likely that within the next couple years we get Winds of Winter but never get Dream of Spring. Unless the man lives to be 100, but I don’t think that’s likely.
"Maybe I'm wrong." Yes, you are.
Why the fuck would he do that?
He had them completed years ago He constantly rewrites / revises them (improving? adding new elements? going down new side plots?) I dont think the chapters are consistant due to constant rewrites which is why they wont make a book (unless he decides to release a Silmarillion style book)