Gaston de Foix

Define "finished".

Encouraging news. I still believe Scott's approach to his fans is better than that of certain other authors whose books are also unaccountably delayed.

I think Season 3 has been set up very well with Victoria Neumann. A shift towards more political maneuvering and more insight into government machinations would suit the story well. The Hughie-Starlight romance has atrophied a little bit. It would be nice for there to be some forward movement: maybe even I don't know they start living together like grown-ups. But I feel like we will also see the return of Hughie's mom in Season 3 just because. Where does Homelander go from here?

How long has the New Yorker been doing it? Although I confess I had not read her poetry before she was picked, I liked The Wild Iris a great deal. And my preference was for a poet, and a lyric one at that. So I'm happy. It seems like a truism, but there are many outstanding writers whose work is Nobel-worthy. So long as the Academy doesn't give it to a genocide-denier, I'm happy.

1. On Rushdie, there were definitely people in England who found a way to blame the fatwa on him. They were wrong, irresponsible idiots and everything that's happened in the last 30-40 years has only strengthened the demonstration of their stupidity. But this is also ancient history to a new generation of critics now. Sure they don't celebrate his freshness but that's like celebrating the freshness of Roth or Updike. Rushdie is a landmark of the global literary landscape. He's not an up-and-coming writer anymore. The problem, IMHO, is his failure to innovate or churn out books of consistent quality. I know you disa 2. Seth has plenty of riots, pogroms and murder in a A Suitable Boy. In fact he preceded both Roy and Mistry in this respect.

Funnily enough, the Tin Drum is a novel Rushdie always cites as a great inspiration. I haven't read Quichotte either. Strong disagree on the quality of Shalimar and Florence though. I will check out the Golden House since you praise it so highly. I think Rushdie is a great writer. He is also a victim of one of most hideous attempts to muzzle free speech the world has seen, and wrote movingly about the effect of the Fatwa on his life in Joseph Anton (which I think is worthy of citation by the Committee if he does win). I hate the fact that his attendance at the Jaipur Literary festival was a matter of controversy and he had to withdraw from an event in his homeland (although I assure you Indians will be quick to embrace him once more if he does win the Nobel). He is also a conceited, self-centered, attention seeking prick. It has little to do with the Fatwa and everything to do with his celebrity/global adulation going to his head. I dislike Padma's score settling in her memoir, but who are we kidding, Padma has always been all about Padma. Anyway, all that said still rooting for him or any Indian to win. First since Tagore for Literature. It should be Seth though for three reasons: 1. India is lyrical and exotic. These are good things. 2. Range: he's written a travelogue, original poetry, poetry in translation, A Suitable Boy, a novel entirely in verse (the Golden Gate), and campaigned for gay rights at a time when it was hugely needed. 3. A Suitable Boy is basically India crammed between covers: the food, the religion, the politics, the philosophy, the math, the music etc. Sure there are Rajas and Nawabs and politicians and lots of anglicized middle class people but all those people did live in India in 1952.

I agree with you it's likely to be a non-European this year. I would prefer a non-American as well. Here's my problem with Rushdie. He deserved to win a decade or two ago on the basis of the Midnight's Children, Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories as well as his non-fiction writing. But every subsequent novel has been worse and worse and his most recent ones were completely unreadable. I've stopped reading his most recent novels preferring to just re-read Midnight's Children. Also he is by all accounts (including Padma Lakshmi's) a sex-obsessed conceited prick who mopes every year when the Nobel Committee gives him the cold shoulder. If it is to be a writer from the subcontinent it must be Vikram Seth, who is also a poet and translator (although opinions on his poetry/translation vary).

I am going to write a novel in which everybody dies in the first couple of pages, and the rest are blank to symbolize the snows blowing over an empty wasteland of graves. Available for $21.99 + P & P and a five star rating on Amazon.

The real hero of the story, Samwise Gamgee, changes from a stumble-tongued gardener into a hero, husband and father.

I disagree profoundly. The moments of joy in GRRM's books (and admittedly there haven't been many recently) feel earned. Can you really read this passage and not be stirred with the longing for home? Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. As for the failure of good people to improve the world, the jury is still out on that one in ASOIAFverse. And if you read Martin's "fake history" you will see that a number of characters: Aegon, Rhaenys, Jaeherys, Alysanne, Aegon V, Bryndyn Rivers do improve the world. Martin captures the messiness of history in a way few others do (and to be fair to Scott, that's not the story he's telling).

I would recommend Amongst Thieves by Douglas Hulick for fans of the Lies of Locke Lamora. Hulick has stopped writing after Book 2, so there's that....

You certainly feel strong emotion. But even though GRRM does terrible things to his characters his pathos feels less personal somehow. Whereas FitzChivalry is perhaps the most emotionally damaged character in fantasy and you experience it all from his perspective.

I have recommended the Lies of Locke Lamore to someone who is down/sad. Whereas I think you need to have a certain amount of joy in your life to counterbalance reading Robin Hobb.

Did I miss something? We are already in June 2020. That is not an improbable best case scenario, that's cloud cuckooland. Anyway, I do think Thorn of Emberlain will come sooner than WoW and DoS (see Mods, no thread derail) because the book is theoretically finished.

Yes, but not for the obvious reason. I think the storytelling flaws in the show will inform George's decision and make the books stronger than they would have been in the counterfactual world where the show was never made. And this is the first time, I think, that a claim like that could be made about the improvement going from adaptation to source material rather than the other way around.

Yikes. The wrath of Ser Scott is a fearsome thing. Do not ride forth with your lance and shield Ser, my suggestion was for a video game series as an addition to the books. I like books too.

I feel like the Lies of Locke Lamore would make a decent videogame and Camorr would make a pretty cool setting.

That seems like a very fair assessment. I personally don't think RSURS was rushed or a poor novel and re-reading it after the Republic of Thieves made me appreciate a lot of world building and character development I didn't see before. Ultimately Scott will be judged on the strength of the series as a whole and it promises to be some of the funniest and cleverest fantasy written (leaving aside Sir Terry who stands apart from mortals). Obviously the challenge for Scott (as for GRRM) is to sustain the quality of those earlier, brilliant novel(s). And the adrenaline rush of a caper novel doesn't really lend itself to slower notes of character development. But what you lose in concision of plot you gain in epic scope and delayed gratification. Anyway, all of this is to say, he should trust his judgment and publish.

Wert's words have me fantasizing that they might release book 4 and 5 back to back like Butcher is doing for the Dresden Files. But the more rational part of my mind is pointing out that such a happy event depends on the successful delivery of book 5 by Scott at a fairly unprecedented speed.

Thanks. Currently reading A Memory Called Empire based on Wert's review. I'm putting Lions and Sarantine on the to read list.

Lol. And what does the child King/Sith Lord think?

It's funny to come to this thread because I've read the Fionavar tapestry and Tigana multiple times and never really gotten into the other novels. Is it the general consensus that Lions is the best of the rest?

I think Scott is following Rhom's advice....

My humor doesn't always translate well online. It was not an attack on anyone, least of all Jussi. I was just parodying a decade or so of prior online discussions that inevitably turn into the recitation of slogans or intemperate attacks rather than reasoned discussion. Jussi, you have remarkable self-discipline to wait so patiently for the Winds of Winter and not watch GoT. But, I will say, as someone who made the opposite choice, watching the show to the end does lessen the thirst. It's different for Lynch because it's the excellence of his writing, humor, and imagination that brings his novels alive. And as I've said before he's been open about his struggles with mental health and the effect on his writing. One can't help but sympathize.

It will be done when it's done. Every time you ask when the book will be finished, George kills a Stark. I'll be happy to wait forever for the book. Scott Lynch is not my bitch. In all seriousness, I think what as finished was a first draft which required extensive edits and revisions. I still have hope it will come out next year. I hope Scott will post an update for his fans sometime soon.