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Let's talk about those books that probably aren't ever going to be published, but you still cling to the last shred of hope. They pop up all the time in various threads, so here's a space where you can scream "Where's the new GRRM/Rothfuss/Lynch/etc. book?!" as often as you want :)

And now it's time for a breakdown:

(GR no longer allows href links <_<)

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If you want to talk about this from the writer's point of view, go here: When things take a while

You mention the three that I want the most!

I can understand the AGOT one. I mean, GRRM has definitely overextended himself with new TV series (both related to AGOT and not), scripts, speaking engagements, set visits, his bookstore, his movie theater, the list goes on and on. And what would his motivation be to publish the book? The HBO series outpaced his writing and ended years ago.

Lynch I think is just out of steam. He started strong, followed up with a good showing after that, but I don't think he intended to actually go much further.

Rothfuss is the one that surprises me most. He clearly knows where he wants to take the story and he has revealed the least in his books about how Kvothe's past leads to his present. Does anyone know why it is taking him so long to publish The Doors of Stone?

This is why I removed them from my TBR! I'm waiting in vain, I am. I didn't mean to sound like Yoda- it just came out that way!

I would really have liked another book in Seanan McGuire's Indexing series, because the second book left so much unresolved, but given that the Kindle Serials program seems to be over I don't expect anyone will ever pick up the series.

(I don't think YouTube links have ever worked as href, or at least I remember having a lot of trouble last time I tried to put a YouTube in a review. Text href seems to work: Test to homepage.)

Rothfuss is the one that surprises me most. He clearly knows where he wants to take the story and he has revealed the least in his books about how Kvothe's past leads to his present.

Rothfuss is actually the one that makes the most sense to me. There are quite a few plot points we know must occur in Doors of Stone due to what we know of the present situation, with the roadmap already largely laid out. With Rothfuss' personal financial situation well taken care of due to the success of the second two books, I would imagine the idea of a specific deadline for him is not well motivated.

Without having any sort of inside knowledge, I would expect that he is trying to create the perfect book to wrap things up, and due to that has entirely re-written it multiple times. It's a difficult task, given the constraints put in place by the earlier stories, and if I were in his shoes I would be most afraid of delivering a version that was poorly received and ruining the entire series that way.

Links to GR pages still work, but nothing outside of GR. Apparently a bunch of idiots abused them, so GR decided to disable them. Thanks idiots! I (used to) link to Youtube all the time :(

BUT.

Please let's not discuss it in this thread, because I'm going to have kittens! :D Instead let's discuss here: Linking outside Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ disabled

Sounds great!

The one that kills me the most is The City in Stone She wrote it but then there was publisher drama so it was never published. I mean at this point I'd read a .docx file of it just to see how it went.

G.R. wrote: "Rothfuss is the one that surprises me most. He clearly knows where he wants to take the story and he has revealed the least in his books about how Kvothe's past leads to his present. Does anyone know why it is taking him so long to publish The Doors of Stone? "

He, like Martin is doing side projects like World Builders plus he's had some mental health issues (both parents having cancer) to deal with as well as being a compulsive reviser. Here's a blog from 2008 when people were complaining about book 2 being late

Jennifer Roberson has a series that will always be left hanging: Karavans. I think it's publisher-switching that's to blame. (I stopped looking for updates about 8 or 9 years ago, because I no longer care!)

Michelle wrote: "Jennifer Roberson has a series that will always be left hanging: Karavans. I think it's publisher-switching that's to blame. (I stopped looking for updates about 8 or 9 years ago, because I no long..."

from her website: Will you write the fourth Karavans novel?

Absolutely! Dragon Moon, the fourth and final Karavans novel,
will be published at some point, but DAW has declined to do so.
So I will self-publish, but I'm not certain when that will be. I'll
have to carve out time from books under contract. But it WILL be written--I won't leave readers hanging forever!

CBRetriever wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Jennifer Roberson has a series that will always be left hanging: Karavans. I think it's publisher-switching that's to blame. (I stopped looking for updates about 8 or 9 years ago, ..."

But she has been saying that since the Dark Ages; I no longer believe it 😕

Melanie Rawn's The Captal's Tower. Sigh... the third, and final book in a trilogy. The last one, The Mageborn Traitor was published in 1997. Sadly, I doubt it will ever happen.

We're still waiting for Isobelle Carmody's third book in the Legendsong series, Darkbane. The first one, Darkfall, was published in 1997 and the second, Darksong, in 2003. There was a release date on GR a while ago but now there's nothing. I haven't read the first two yet but my eldest son wants to read the third one.

Robin McKinley's... I think it was supposed to be called Ebon; the follow-up to Pegasus, which I loved. Not exactly sure what happened there, but I think she was struck by personal tragedy and hasn't published anything in years. Doesn't make me mad, just very sad, because I really enjoy her stories and Deerskin is one of my all-time favourites.

G.R. wrote: "Does anyone know why it is taking him so long to publish The Doors of Stone?"

He said basically that he is a compulsive reviser. When he initially wrote the trilogy in 94 it took him 10 years to rewrite 'the name of the wind and release it in 2004. Now so many things have changed from his original rendition that 'doors of stone' is almost completely rewritten.

He also wrote 3/4 of another book about a town near where Kvothe is because he went to further create their currency for 'doors of stone' and since he is a currency nerd, it spurred him into a different direction.

With many of our favorite authors they get a book or two complete before they hit fame and then their world changes. They have to approve new renditions, different cover art, author signings, fan emails etc. In February if I remember correctly, he said he was approximately 3/4 through with the rewrite. However, since he is a perfectionist, it doesn't mean he wont run into a beautiful idea. If that happens he will go back 400 pages and write the book over once again.

Then hopefully we'll get The Doors of Stone by 2031 :)

Has anyone heard any updates about The Thorn of Emberlain?

G.R. wrote: "I can understand the AGOT one. I mean, GRRM has definitely overextended himself with new TV series (both related to AGOT and not), scripts, speaking engagements, set visits, his bookstore, his movie theater, the list goes on and on. And what would his motivation be to publish the book? The HBO series outpaced his writing and ended years ago."

I mean, it sorta feels like he overextends himself on purpose in order to have an excuse not to finish the series. I genuinely believe he doesn't want to write it anymore. Either he has gotten sick of living in that world, or he's just decided its future is more suited to television. It's not really even the fact he isn't going to finish it that bugs me. It's that he keeps leading on his fans and swearing up and down to them that he will finish.

I think he probably experienced a spark of motivation when the ending of the TV show was so poorly received, and maybe the odds of him finishing ticked up a bit with that, if only to "correct" the ending. But I think that'll wane.

Ha, Tor.com article about series that *are* finished! :D

Anna wrote: "Ha, Tor.com article about series that *are* finished! :D

"

There aren't very many!

Michelle wrote: "Anna wrote: "Ha, Tor.com article about series that *are* finished! :D

"

There aren't very many!"

read the comments - there are a lot more and they didn't even list the Thomas Covenant Series, Ru Emerson's series and a lot of older ones

There are zillions of finished series! Might not be a bad idea to start a thread for them in the Recommendations folder, if someone wants to :)

Gotcha. I'm guilty of not reading the comments.

Didn't GRRM get an HBO deal to write spin offs?

Joon wrote: "G.R. wrote: "I genuinely believe he doesn't want to write it anymore...."

Funny thing, if you read 'fire and blood' I got the feeling that around halfway through, some bodies took over. The first half with the arrival was very good but then it does feel like a change happens. I can't explain it but it didn't feel like him anymore and from that point forward the book was as interesting as a high school algebra copy.

Andres wrote: "Didn't GRRM get an HBO deal to write spin offs?"

Yes, not to mention other film/TV deals in the works for many of his earlier stuff, some of which he mentions directly and some which he only hints at on his 'Not a Blog' site. He just has too many irons in the fire, if you ask me.

an interesting conversation from Patrick Rothfuss about "his feelings" when people attack him for not having finished the nexst book



from 5 days ago

I want the next Locke Lamora book as much as anyone else, but I really doubt the constant scrutiny is helping the authors write.

I understand that there are obligations to publishers and (theoretically) to fans. But creative works and good books aren't a plug in and play kinda thing. Feelings do influence how fast and how well they are written. I am pretty sure fandom rage was a significant enough part of why the last (two?) Dresden Files books were delayed, for example.

Rothfuss and Martin have faced constant harrassment from fans who want the next books in their series now. Which is understandable- fans have put in feelings and money and energy into these stories and having them left unfinished is a very scratchy itch. But it doesn't help, and it only delays things further.

It's interesting to note that it's these two ridiculously popular series that have had the most problems with author delays. The lesser known series have publisher or readerships problems. Lynch's situation comes close, but his books aren't iconic enough for the same levels of "when's the next book coming out?" McGuire actually does have multiple irons on the fire at all times and publishes at least four books a year, but I think she mentioned she had an indexing project in the works sometime this year (the project, not the publication).

Anyway, I'm not trying to be preachy, but I do think authors need some amount of mental health for productivity, and leaving them alone might help with that. //shrugs

Sha wrote: "Rothfuss and Martin have faced constant harrassment from fans who want the next books in their series now. "

This is a little disingenuous. In both cases we've passed the decade mark. Fans aren't upset because they want the books "now." They're upset because books aren't supposed to take an entire decade to write. No, they aren't writers and they don't know how hard writing can be. But they look at the other 99.9% of writers who manage to finish a book at least every 3-5 years and figure it's reasonable to ask questions.


And in GRRM's case, it's also because he's lied to them in the past: it's worth remembering that after Feast For Crows came out, GRRM promised that Dance was effectively already done and would be out within a year. It wound up taking six years.

For a book he had said was effectively finished.

(And longtime fans will remember when the series was supposed to be a trilogy.)


Personally, I don't put the two authors in the same category. I chalk up a lot of the backlash Rothfuss is getting to association. GRRM has burned them repeatedly in the past, so fan irritation is warranted, but Rothfuss doesn't have a history of it like GRRM does. People just see another fantasy author taking a decade to write a book and being cagey about why, and they project their irritation with GRRM onto him.

I don't think I'd be as mad at GRRM if he hadn't ended the last book on a cliffhanger - I'm still waiting to find out what Brienne said and if she's killed (view spoiler)[Podrick is dying at this point (hide spoiler)]

Joon wrote: "Sha wrote: "Rothfuss and Martin have faced constant harrassment from fans who want the next books in their series now. "

This is a little disingenuous. In both cases we've passed the decade mark. Fans aren't upset because they want the books "now." They're upset because books aren't supposed to take an entire decade to write. No, they aren't writers and they don't know how hard writing can be. But they look at the other 99.9% of writers who manage to finish a book at least every 3-5 years and figure it's reasonable to ask questions."

COMPLETELY agree. I'll also add that it's incredibly frustrating to watch GRRM very publicly working on and writing any and everything BUT the book(s) that the fans want the most. I think criticism of him for this is entirely fair. He has made explicit and implicit promises to his fans, and he is not upholding them.

What's worse now is that Sanderson is taking over the mast and further fueling the audience as he is a 'compulsive writer.'

Patrick Rothfuss even joked about this saying, "I ask him once, Could you not write so fast?"

The difference is definitely the style. Sanderon is a, I should have all the editing done by the 5th re-write. Where Rothfuss scrutinizes himself until he feels its absolutely perfect. It reads well, it sounds good when he says it out loud, it flows nicely. Then at the end of the day, he starts the next sentence.

Andres wrote: "What's worse now is that Sanderson is taking over the mast and further fueling the audience as he is a 'compulsive writer.'

Patrick Rothfuss even joked about this saying, "I ask him once, Could you not write so fast?"

The difference is definitely the style. Sanderon is a, I should have all the editing done by the 5th re-write. Where Rothfuss scrutinizes himself until he feels its absolutely perfect. It reads well, it sounds good when he says it out loud, it flows nicely. Then at the end of the day, he starts the next sentence."

It's also planning. Sanderson outlines and plans his books super meticulously. So really, before he's started writing, he has already spent a ton of time plotting things out. The writing is almost a formality at that point. He doesn't waste any time trying to figure out what point B is, much less how to get there from point A.

I don't know what type of writer Rothfuss is, but I know GRRM doesn't outline. He writes and writes with no real plan until he backs himself into a corner, then he gives up, throws away weeks or more of writing, and starts a huge chunk of it over, again with no clear idea of where he's going.

Stephen King writes this way as well. But that guy has no problem managing a steady release schedule, even long after he gave up the cocaine.

Becky wrote: "Joon wrote: "COMPLETELY agree. I'll also add that it's incredibly frustrating to watch GRRM very publicly working on and writing any and everything BUT the book(s) that the fans want the most. I think criticism of him for this is entirely fair. He has made explicit and implicit promises to his fans, and he is not upholding them."

That's where I think the impression that he just doesn't want to write ASOIAF anymore comes from. He has no problem keeping up with his other projects and commitments. He'll go to any convention that will have him. He'll edit any collection he can slap his name on. He just seems to be seeking out things that will occupy his time and keep him away from ASOIAF.

As far as GRRM is concerned, I'm afraid I've become so jaded and disillusioned about all the promises he's made and failed to keep that I've reached a point where I don't want to hear it anymore. Just don't really care anymore to be honest. Fortunately there are tons of other fantastic authors out there who actually deliver.

Joon, agreed again on both the GRRM and Stephen King points. (At this point I would be all in for King taking a couple runs down snow mountain if his work improved again though. The last several I read were... not at all good.)

[Edit - I should clarify in case it wasn't clear that this was facetious - I do not actually want King to relapse. His books aren't doing it for me lately, but... you know. I'm not a monster.]

Kirsi, I'm pretty much the same. I've written off most authors and series and let them go. I will be pleasantly surprised if or when there's a release, but I am no longer pining for them. TMBNET.

I like King's efforts lately just fine for the most part, of the ones I've read. They're much less horror nowadays though.

(I would also submit that some of the ones he wrote while in space were REALLY bad.)

Yeah, some have definitely been hit or miss over the years! I don't see any of the ones I have really disliked on your shelves though.

Joon wrote: "I don't know what type of writer Rothfuss is, but I know GRRM doesn't outline. He writes and writes with no real plan until he backs himself into a corner"


Hahaha. This reminds me of a funny story. I have an associate, "J.L. Doty" who was inspired to write because of star wars. He is an actual laser engineer and thought star wars lasers were ludicrous. So he wrote a huge novel by pen. Then he sent it to a typist to be written in book format so he could submit it. When he got it back he was so excited he read his own book and said to himself, "This is the worst thing I have ever read in my life." So he threw it all away. LOL

Andres wrote: "Joon wrote: "I don't know what type of writer Rothfuss is, but I know GRRM doesn't outline. He writes and writes with no real plan until he backs himself into a corner"


Hahaha. This reminds me of..."

Lol that describes my own experiences reading everything I wrote in college.

I don't know how I ever saw where I was going with my head so far up my own ***.

I never used outlines when I wrote term papers and I never did a rough draft either. Plus no note cards. I was just able to organize everything I'd read and write and this was back when you had to use a typewriter (shudders)

CBRetriever wrote: "I never used outlines when I wrote term papers and I never did a rough draft either. Plus no note cards. I was just able to organize everything I'd read and write and this was back when you had to ..."

Same, but we weren't writing 1000+ page term papers, lol.

Anna wrote: "There are zillions of finished series! Might not be a bad idea to start a thread for them in the Recommendations folder, if someone wants to :)"

I would love to see this. I would also love to see the first post of this actually list the unfinished series in this thread. (I appreciate resources. :)

Andres wrote: "What's worse now is that Sanderson is taking over the mast and further fueling the audience as he is a 'compulsive writer.'


I wish he would be a bit more compulsive with his Mistborn Saga though. I have been waiting five years so far for the return of Wax and Wayne:(

I thought he posted recently that it’s done! Noe we wait for editing etc

Rachel wrote: "I thought he posted recently that it’s done! Noe we wait for editing etc"

umm, it's the editing we've been waiting on from Rothfuss...

Rachel wrote: "I thought he posted recently that it’s done! Noe we wait for editing etc"

We have been told that several times over the years and nothing eventuated each time. I will believe it when I am holding the book in my hands:)

Phrynne wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I thought he posted recently that it’s done! Noe we wait for editing etc"

We have been told that several times over the years and nothing eventuated each time. I will believe it whe..."

Phrynne, I'm right there with ya!

Rothfuss's editor has not received a manuscript, so I guess that what he is doing wouldn't be "editing" by industry standards. He is rewriting, again and again, on his own initiative--or so he has said.

Jacqueline wrote: "We're still waiting for Isobelle Carmody's third book in the Legendsong series, Darkbane. The first one, Darkfall, was published in 1997 and the second, Darksong, in 2003. There was a release date ..."

Yes Jacqueline! I read and liked the first two books years ago. I used to regularly check out Carmody news to see when the final one was coming. I mean, it had a title and all. But now I've just given up. I don't think it will ever happen. I've almost forgotten Bks 1 and 2 anyway, it's been so long. Darkbane.