[Mithfânion]

My favorite authors are sure letting me down. First Tad Williams and his delayed War of the Flowers, then the shock of Martin's Feast for Crows and its six month delay (now April 2003) and now I just received confirmation from Harper collins that David Zindell's second book in the Ea cycle, will be delayed by almost a year. It was supposed to be released in September, but Voyager now tells me that it will unfortunately become Summer 2003. I really enjoyed the first book, The Lightstone, one of the best Fantasies I've ever read.

[Steerpike]

It makes you wish they would finish the books before they start publishing them, like Tolkien.

Hmmm, I wonder how different LOTR would have been if they published Fellowship before Tolkien started on The Two Towers and Return of the King. We would have had to wait 10 years to find out how the story ended!

[jfclark]

It's always been my major complaint about contemporary fantasy authors--they start publishing books before they've finished writing the series.

I realize that most authors are forced by economics to proceed that way. Tolkien had a separate career that allowed him to write as a pastime (albeit as a very time-intensive pastime). Most authors today don't have that luxury--or at least not after they've published their first big novel. Publishers, too, probably don't want to publish all volumes of a series at once.

I believe that publishing before one has finished the series/saga can have serious consequences for the story. Not only do fans need to wait for long periods of time between installments of a series, but the writing suffers. Things are done in the first book that the author later wishes never happened. The author is tempted to let the story get out of hand. Publishers begin to put pressure on the author to lengthen the series. And so forth.

Jordan, God bless him, would never have written The Eye of the World they way he did if he realized that The Wheel of Time would end up being 12-13 books long. I'm sure that the same thing has happened to other authors (Martin, Tad Williams, you name 'em). The Lord of the Rings at least reads efficiently. The writing is generally taut, and secondary plots are shunted off into the Appendices in the Return of the King. If Tolkien were Jordan or Martin, every one of the stories in the Appendices would have been woven into the main plot, and The Lord of the Rings would have been 5 or 6 volumes long.

I, too, am disappointed that we Martin fans will have to wait longer. But I hope the pause allows Martin more time to edit.

[Mithfânion]

I realize that it's not very realistic to expect writers to release all books only when they're written. Publishers too, generally like to know the measure of success of a first book before proceeding with certain series.

Having said that, I do have enormous problems with delays like this. I'd rather no date was listed then that I and other fans have to deal with set-backs like this. Take Martin. He even lists Fall 2002 on his own website. And then, only when confronted with questions with fans, dismissed that date, noting that he really has no idea when it might be out, but maybe in Spring 2003.

Or Tad Williams, who's been saying for a whole year on Shadowmarch that it should be out in the first half of the year, then its a late summer date, and now its not this year at all. It's just disappointing.

I know quality writers have to take their time, but I sign the petition againt raising false expectations.

[JohnH]

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[Mithfânion]

That said, I think it is also rather unrealistic on the fans' part to take umbrage at delays. Authors have more to life than just writing for our gratification.

How empathic of you. If you feel that a sufficient explanation for work not being done on time then I'm sure most writers would be happy to work for a man like you. I on the other hand do object if work isn't finished in time, regardless of the fact that that work is not their entire life. This idea doesn't apply to the rest of the working world either which makes me wonder why it would apply to writers....


I have learned though that release dates mean nothing until a manuscript is delivered

Yes, although that information is usually not disclosed to the public. Unless perhaps you start e-mailing the authors directly.

[This message has been edited by Mithfânion (edited April 27, 2002).]

[JohnH]

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[Mithfânion]

Alright John,I can see where you're coming from. It's clear that we're looking at this from entirely different vantage points.

You seem to have inferred from my post that I'd rather have a book out now than that I would like to have a quality work that I can savour for years. Preferably I'd like a superb work that comes out when its said to come out. If they can't make their deadline by a year John, I'm very disappointed, I feel they've created false expectations. And they have. Now, if a delay means a better book I don't have problems with it. This should go without saying. What I do have a quarrel with is the idea of raising expectations and then consistently failing to meet them. I'd prefer it then if the set release date for a book was very carefully estimated.

John, when I said that I'm sure writers would love to work for you, I was commenting on such a hypothetic relationship and not on the one that there currently is between a reader and a writer. It's just that you seem to be very empathic for writers who don't deliver and disappoint loads of readers, but you have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for those express their disappointment. That's really an irritating aspect of your posts. At the very least there should be empathy for both parties.

And the whole notion that an author should be more concerned with 'timely production' over quality work is downright absurd

You seem to be of a mind that whenever a work is delayed, it must be because the author couldn't live upto the set quality standards. I have my doubts about that. There have been heavily delayed works in the past that could still be passed off as drivel. Quality is not a necessary concommitant to delays. Which I'm sure you know, I'm just exaggerating a bit to make the point clearer.

My only beef is with authors who create false expectations. And my beef with your post(s) is that you don't have any empathy for that at all, whereas you find it totally absurd of us readers, to take umbrage at huge delays.




[This message has been edited by Mithfânion (edited April 28, 2002).]

[JohnH]

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[ChrisW]

YeAH and Martin sooks so what to ya expect http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif.

Anyway you have "Eye of the World" sitting in your house somewhere so why don't you read that while ya waiting http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif. Ok i'm being serious here for a second. I really do think you should give WoT a chance. You may have heard bad things that have put you of it but a lot of what you say you like in fantasy is in the series.You may dislike parts of it(most likely the female PoVs) but i'm pretty sure there are parts that you will appreciate. If you ask me thats why WoT is so popular. It has something in it for everyone.