Ginger Dynamite

wilwheaton:

popculturebrain:

Martin will release ‘The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister,’ a collection of “clever and naughty quips” from the beloved character, this Christmas, mostly because he hates his fans.

George loves his fans. I know this because I’ve spoken with him at length about that very subject. Also, as Neil Gaiman put it so eloquently, George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.

I get that it’s amusing to fire off some snarky joke about how George hates his fans, but wouldn’t it be more interesting to really look at how this book came together? Do you actually think George sat down, stopped what he was doing, and wrote a book of brand new Tyrion Lannister quotes? Oh, wait, that’s not what he did, and I know this because I read the announcement from Harper Collins: “The hardback title will gather together “clever and naughty quips” from the popular character from A Song of Ice and Fire series.”

Or can we apply Occam’s Razor for a moment and consider:

1) Game of Thrones is wildly popular at the moment,

2) Tyrion Lannister is one of the most popular characters on the show,

3) A bunch of business people at Harper Collins saw an opportunity to have an editor cull existing material, add an introduction or a few other words from George throughout, and laugh all the way to the bank.

I don’t know what George is writing at the moment, and while I hope that it’s more ASoIaF, I also hope he’s enjoying the process, because he’s earned it. He owes us nothing, and the only thing we should ever say to George is Thank You.

I totally struggle with “OMG!!! Write faster!! Why you no write my book?!!” and knowing that when an author bends to the pressure to push out words because the fans demand it, we’re usually disappointed in the material. Wil Wheaton and Neil Gaiman are right. George RR Martin is not my bitch.

So, George RR Martin, take the time you need. The anticipation is killing me, but I would rather wait a while longer to read the story you want to tell than to read 1000+ pages where nothing happens and give up on the series out of boredom.