I just found out that The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth book in the Gentleman Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch, has been officially scheduled for a September release. This is one of my favorite current fantasy series. It's about a thief called Locke Lamora, who pulls off some of the most brilliant and entertaining heists in fantasy literature, all set in a pretty uniquely dark world. The series begins with "The Lies of Locke Lamora" and while it's sequels haven't been considered to live up to the greatness of the first entrance by most (including me), I feel the entire series is really excellent. The thing is that while each book includes some kind of clever dickery, every book does something different. Book 1 centers on a revenge plot, book 2 is a pirate story, while Book 3 is a romance novel. I think if you go with the expectation that each book will be something truly different, you'll appreciate the excellence the sequels offer much more for not doing what Book 1 does, even if you still think 1 is the best. And with book 4, it looks like we're getting a war story....
But I didn't actually make his topic just to plug a great fantasy series. This was a pretty nice surprise to me. Book 3 had released in July 2014, so it's a 2 year and change wait. But Book 2 had been released in 2008, making the wait between 2 and 3 something like 6 years. So I had been expecting the wait to be atleast another 2 years if not more, which would have been something I wouldn't have minded at all, which is not the reaction I see to most authors that take more time. But this made me think of GRRM and Rothfuss, who are both 4 or 5 years out on the next books to their series and still no word of how long it will take to finish. I'm a huge fan of all these authors and you can be sure that I'll be reading their next work the moment they release. But when I look at most fans here, I don't see people actually happy or excited about the next books, I just see them bitter that they don't have them yet. Which is something I don't really find reasonable.
First, it often frames the authors in a perpetrator-like roles, like they are intentionally keeping you from getting the books either out of laziness or spite. I mean, we've all seen the accusations of laziness or disinterest or 'trolling' that GRRM gets just for not having Winds of Winter ready by now, especially since the show is officially spoiling future content. Which I get to the extent that this was something I didn't want to happen and wish wasn't the case, but it's also not something I consider to be GRRM's fault. There is nothing to suggest that GRRM has been anything but trying the best he could to finish the series and get everything out, but he doesn't want to release anything that he doesn't believe is ready. And even if you believe the quality of the books isn't up to snuff to when he was releasing them in a more timely manner with (a correlation people often like to bring up, as if it is evidence of some kind of causation), the problem with coming to any kind of conclusion is that the creation process he goes through is closed to us, so it's impossible to know his actual schedule. True, he might be not working as much as he can...but he could also be working like a workhorse in trying to write the series, putting it 80 hours a week. The only actual insight we have is that every day that passes means he's not satisfied with the final product and the day that he says it's done is when he is with satisfied with it. Besides that, and his handful of broad talks about his process, we don't actually have information of how much he does. And if there is anything certain about the creative process, it's that it works differently for everyone. He's hardly the only author (or hell, only artist in general) that is slow in finalizing his work, while other authors are fast.
That's the first issue I see, inconsideration. The second is a kind of entitlement. I mean, whats the actual reasoning that you need or should have the book now? This is something that I thought about a lot. Do authors actually 'owe' the fans something. In some cases, like if fans pay in advance for a product ala Kickstarter, then yes, but the only circumstance, and as far as I know, no author has done something like that. In every case, they make a book, and we pay them for that book. If we like the book and want to see the sequel, that's fantastic, but is that emotional investment in the characters of that book necessarily automatic investment in the next book? That's arguable, I guess, but for me, no. Again, caring is great, but it's not tangible, so I don't think that translates to being entitled to a tangible product. "I care about your product, therefore I am owed it (or the opportunity to by it anyway)." isn't something that logically follows to me. But again, it's a sentiment I see often brought up in threads about it, and it carries a tone of resentment, as if the author is late on giving everyone their dues. No, when he wrote a book, you paid for it, and got it, and that was the end of it. Having respect for him or having emotional investment in the characters is not something anyone that entitles anyone to more of his work, however much they may want it.
And really, what is the harm that is being done that you don't have the book you want now? A lot of people are worried about GRRM dying and never getting their story ended (which, again, isn't something I feel GRRM can help, as there's no reason to think he isn't working as much as is reasonable already and that the book might just more difficult to get right as such things happen when stories grow to have more and more storylines), but that's not the case for many other authors. So...is it really that unreasonable to be asked to wait? (as an aside, I also find it depressing that if GRRM were to die that people would be thinking "Shit, I'm never going to get the end of the story" instead of "Shit, that man wrote some great stories that will stay with me")
The general point I'm trying to make here is that I don't think agonizing over the release dates of stuff is something that is positive for anyone. It makes a person feel bitter to the author, authors get weary of being nagged about their next books, I don't see it as reasonable and even if it were, complaining endlessly is not going to change anything. The wait for each release becomes is less pleasant the more you focus on it, like how time only goes slower if you concentrate on watching the clock as time moves, and it always puts a negative vibe to the discussion being had when it's brought up. Why anyone would put themselves through that when they don't have to?
I do it by just finding other stuff to read. At this point, I've accumulated over a hundreds books, comics, movies, tv shows, and games all to occupy my time, so if GRRM and Rothfuss and Lynch were to take another 5 years, so what? All that means is that I have more time to read more books before getting to theirs. I'm completely fine with that. As long as I have more stuff to read, especially if it's good, I could wait as long as it takes. And if it gets to the point where I actually need to reread the series to even remember what is going on for the new book, that's great, it means I get to experience what I loved before in a slightly newer way. I get a lot of pleasure rereading stories that I remember the broad strokes and not the details, and comparing my reactions from back then to now. And I don't think I lose any excitement or joy over the news of a new release when it is announced. Maybe you think you'll be more excited if you are agonizing over the release date, but when I saw that Thorn of Emberlain was releasing in a few months from now, I was pretty psyched even though I hadn't thought of the series in a while.
I feel I'm just rambling as I'm somewhat sleep deprived, but it's something I've wanted to discuss for a while. If there is any actual benefit to bitching about how an author hasn't released a book yet, I don't really see it. I'm not going to say I haven't done it, because it being an irrational reaction doesn't stop it from being understandable, human reaction. You want something and you're not going to get it, it's natural to feel like crap about that. But it's never improved anything. Valve will release HL3 when they're good and ready, Miura will release Berserk as much as he feels is fit, and Winds of Winter and Doors of Stone and Peace Talks and many other stuff I want to have will come out in their due time, whatever that may be. In the meantime, I have probably a thousand hours of content in my backlog and it's continuously growing, so if I ever run out of things to do, period, and they still haven't released it, okay, then I'll complain. But in the meantime, I have so much to hold me over, and it's helped me a lot. I'd recommend everyone who is waiting on a new release to do the same.
But I didn't actually make his topic just to plug a great fantasy series. This was a pretty nice surprise to me. Book 3 had released in July 2014, so it's a 2 year and change wait. But Book 2 had been released in 2008, making the wait between 2 and 3 something like 6 years. So I had been expecting the wait to be atleast another 2 years if not more, which would have been something I wouldn't have minded at all, which is not the reaction I see to most authors that take more time. But this made me think of GRRM and Rothfuss, who are both 4 or 5 years out on the next books to their series and still no word of how long it will take to finish. I'm a huge fan of all these authors and you can be sure that I'll be reading their next work the moment they release. But when I look at most fans here, I don't see people actually happy or excited about the next books, I just see them bitter that they don't have them yet. Which is something I don't really find reasonable.
First, it often frames the authors in a perpetrator-like roles, like they are intentionally keeping you from getting the books either out of laziness or spite. I mean, we've all seen the accusations of laziness or disinterest or 'trolling' that GRRM gets just for not having Winds of Winter ready by now, especially since the show is officially spoiling future content. Which I get to the extent that this was something I didn't want to happen and wish wasn't the case, but it's also not something I consider to be GRRM's fault. There is nothing to suggest that GRRM has been anything but trying the best he could to finish the series and get everything out, but he doesn't want to release anything that he doesn't believe is ready. And even if you believe the quality of the books isn't up to snuff to when he was releasing them in a more timely manner with (a correlation people often like to bring up, as if it is evidence of some kind of causation), the problem with coming to any kind of conclusion is that the creation process he goes through is closed to us, so it's impossible to know his actual schedule. True, he might be not working as much as he can...but he could also be working like a workhorse in trying to write the series, putting it 80 hours a week. The only actual insight we have is that every day that passes means he's not satisfied with the final product and the day that he says it's done is when he is with satisfied with it. Besides that, and his handful of broad talks about his process, we don't actually have information of how much he does. And if there is anything certain about the creative process, it's that it works differently for everyone. He's hardly the only author (or hell, only artist in general) that is slow in finalizing his work, while other authors are fast.
That's the first issue I see, inconsideration. The second is a kind of entitlement. I mean, whats the actual reasoning that you need or should have the book now? This is something that I thought about a lot. Do authors actually 'owe' the fans something. In some cases, like if fans pay in advance for a product ala Kickstarter, then yes, but the only circumstance, and as far as I know, no author has done something like that. In every case, they make a book, and we pay them for that book. If we like the book and want to see the sequel, that's fantastic, but is that emotional investment in the characters of that book necessarily automatic investment in the next book? That's arguable, I guess, but for me, no. Again, caring is great, but it's not tangible, so I don't think that translates to being entitled to a tangible product. "I care about your product, therefore I am owed it (or the opportunity to by it anyway)." isn't something that logically follows to me. But again, it's a sentiment I see often brought up in threads about it, and it carries a tone of resentment, as if the author is late on giving everyone their dues. No, when he wrote a book, you paid for it, and got it, and that was the end of it. Having respect for him or having emotional investment in the characters is not something anyone that entitles anyone to more of his work, however much they may want it.
And really, what is the harm that is being done that you don't have the book you want now? A lot of people are worried about GRRM dying and never getting their story ended (which, again, isn't something I feel GRRM can help, as there's no reason to think he isn't working as much as is reasonable already and that the book might just more difficult to get right as such things happen when stories grow to have more and more storylines), but that's not the case for many other authors. So...is it really that unreasonable to be asked to wait? (as an aside, I also find it depressing that if GRRM were to die that people would be thinking "Shit, I'm never going to get the end of the story" instead of "Shit, that man wrote some great stories that will stay with me")
The general point I'm trying to make here is that I don't think agonizing over the release dates of stuff is something that is positive for anyone. It makes a person feel bitter to the author, authors get weary of being nagged about their next books, I don't see it as reasonable and even if it were, complaining endlessly is not going to change anything. The wait for each release becomes is less pleasant the more you focus on it, like how time only goes slower if you concentrate on watching the clock as time moves, and it always puts a negative vibe to the discussion being had when it's brought up. Why anyone would put themselves through that when they don't have to?
I do it by just finding other stuff to read. At this point, I've accumulated over a hundreds books, comics, movies, tv shows, and games all to occupy my time, so if GRRM and Rothfuss and Lynch were to take another 5 years, so what? All that means is that I have more time to read more books before getting to theirs. I'm completely fine with that. As long as I have more stuff to read, especially if it's good, I could wait as long as it takes. And if it gets to the point where I actually need to reread the series to even remember what is going on for the new book, that's great, it means I get to experience what I loved before in a slightly newer way. I get a lot of pleasure rereading stories that I remember the broad strokes and not the details, and comparing my reactions from back then to now. And I don't think I lose any excitement or joy over the news of a new release when it is announced. Maybe you think you'll be more excited if you are agonizing over the release date, but when I saw that Thorn of Emberlain was releasing in a few months from now, I was pretty psyched even though I hadn't thought of the series in a while.
I feel I'm just rambling as I'm somewhat sleep deprived, but it's something I've wanted to discuss for a while. If there is any actual benefit to bitching about how an author hasn't released a book yet, I don't really see it. I'm not going to say I haven't done it, because it being an irrational reaction doesn't stop it from being understandable, human reaction. You want something and you're not going to get it, it's natural to feel like crap about that. But it's never improved anything. Valve will release HL3 when they're good and ready, Miura will release Berserk as much as he feels is fit, and Winds of Winter and Doors of Stone and Peace Talks and many other stuff I want to have will come out in their due time, whatever that may be. In the meantime, I have probably a thousand hours of content in my backlog and it's continuously growing, so if I ever run out of things to do, period, and they still haven't released it, okay, then I'll complain. But in the meantime, I have so much to hold me over, and it's helped me a lot. I'd recommend everyone who is waiting on a new release to do the same.
