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How big is an endorsement for a book by GRRM for you?


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For me it it non-excistent. I don't believe writers because they're usually driven by the publishers in these endorsements. 

If you (I guess) as a reader of fantasy stories would give me a recommandation of an unknown tale I would give it a lot more credit to it than a heavily media-trainend maybe influenced by publishers writer of stories

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1 hour ago, Deepbollywood Motte said:

For me it it non-excistent. I don't believe writers because they're usually driven by the publishers in these endorsements. 

If you (I guess) as a reader of fantasy stories would give me a recommandation of an unknown tale I would give it a lot more credit to it than a heavily media-trainend maybe influenced by publishers writer of stories

Hmm. That's a totally interesting thing I've never considered. 

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None. There's usually a financial string attached to anything a published author says. I can see why Martin's pushing his own lesser known works all the time in the case of Wild Cards(even if the premise of it isn't particularly interesting to me) but anything beyond that, just seems like there's a grain of salt attached.

Some of my favorite books are by people you've never heard of. The beautiful thing about the lesser known authors is that they'll often actually communicate with their fans.

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19 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

Also, what books have you read that he recommended that you've found,

I've just acquired the first book in 'The Last Kingdom' book series by Bernard Cornwell off the back of watching the TV series. George is quoted in the synopsis endorsing Cornwell's ability to write great battle scenes, he also mentions this fact in his Not A Blog.

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It wouldn't make anything an auto-buy for me but I would be willing to check out something he recommends. Just because I enjoy The George's writing doesn't mean the two of us necessarily have the same taste in reading.

And while there are publishers and other considerations involved, most writers will not give a positive recommendation for a book they haven't read and enjoyed.

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I started to read Robin Hobb’s books before I read ASOIAF and GRRM had endorsed them. Obviously didn’t factor into my choice though since at that point I hadn’t no idea who he was. And like a lot of others an endorsement itself wouldn’t sway me. Might be persuasive if I knew a bit more behind the quote perhaps, or if there was also a more in depth review/summary associated 

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2 hours ago, Wizz-The-Smith said:

I've just acquired the first book in 'The Last Kingdom' book series by Bernard Cornwell off the back of watching the TV series. George is quoted in the synopsis endorsing Cornwell's ability to write great battle scenes, he also mentions this fact in his Not A Blog.

So is it interesting? Dull? I really enjoyed the series it inspired.

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23 minutes ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

What makes you say that? 

Because it would be too risky. As soon as someone finds out you gave a positive blurb for a book you haven't read, or actually hated, your credibility drops to zero. And if people don't trust you, they won't buy your books.

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8 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

So is it interesting? Dull? I really enjoyed the series it inspired.

Yes, most definitely. And GRRM is correct, brilliant battle scenes. The Beeb’s TV adaptations is really pretty good too. It speeds things up and glosses over some stuff and makes a few changes but even book fans seem to be fine with them. There are currently  9+ books in the series I believe. And they all finish with a nice author’s note about the actual historical events that inspired the book, including where he took liberties with history.

of course the best books by Cornwell is the Warlord Trilogy. It’s a reimagining of the Arthurian legend and it’s fantastic

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There are several authors I would not know of, but for GRRM's endorsements. There are several more that I do know of but wouldn't have read another work of, that I have done because he brought them to my attention again. His tastes and mine don't always and necessarily align, but he is a really good reader and he keeps up with what is going down in American SFF, as well as being very well read more generally. So he is kind of valuable as a book critic, especially for US SFF.

I also love and respect the way he always speaks as someone who really has read the book he is talking about. Other authors feel free to claim things about Jane Austen or E L James that anyone who did read the book would know that they did not. In every interview I have ever seen or read, when he comments on a book that is not his, it is a book he has read thoroughly. I'm sure he would be thrilled to be number one in the Great American Read, and think he stands a very good chance, but he seems just as aware as I am that it is a disparate list, as much a popularity contest as anything, and even keener than I am to promote Great Expectations. 

His endorsement does not in itself mean a lot to me. For instance, in the Great American Read, his minion's tastes are closer to my own. A lot of his book recommendations seem to be aimed at people who are not me. I'm beginning to think I could maybe live a full life without ever seeing another Thrones novel, as long as he never brought out another Wildcards novel. Surely when he talks of  'all you wildcard fans' he knows what a select group of readers he is addressing. Also he has said things about LotR (eg. Aragon's tax policy) that I fundamentally object to, the more so because it is crystal clear from the first paragraph of Game of Thrones that he is one of the very select group of readers that care about Lord of the Rings at least as intensely as I do. So he knows as well as I do that what he was saying was over-simplification if not outright deception, that Tolkien had a thorough knowledge of all Aragon's tax policies by the time he had written the book from front to back, but decided to compress the entirety of Aragon's rule into one sentence when he re-wrote it from back to front, rather than give interviews where he threw out hints that 'a lot of things happened' in Aragon's rule, and that the 'ending will be bittersweet', while he divided his time between defending the Disney animated film ('the film is the film, the book is the book'), and writing a fourth book of the trilogy that dealt mostly with the amortisation rates and customs duties of Gondor and ended with Frodo leaving for Greyhaven, while he dealt with the tax problems he had been running into ever since Walt had dumped that first truckload of benjies on his doorstep.

OK, that was pretty ranty. Please forgive me. Two years ago I would have said GRRM was my absolute favourite author, and hopefully in two years from now, I will again. But at the moment I'm just 'FTBG'. (Yes, I know he doesn't owe us an ending. And if we ever get to see another book, I would rather it was his best work yet than 'Then Jon came back from the dead, and jumped on a dragon, and proved he was the rightful king and married Dany and they and Sam and Gilly were best friends forever the end' type thing.)

But all that doesn't change the fact that, right now, there is just one book I want to hear about from him. I try to remind myself that if he were to announce it right now, I would still have to get through the next three months somehow. I remind myself that he isn't quite the only one. Hilary Mantel promised me a book on Marat quite some time ago, and I've been very patient, haven't forgotten, still psychically holding her to that promise, for all the good it does. Honestly, I know I don't own him, and would rather he had a rich and revelatory life that enriches his well honed literary craft, but I have found the lack of posts from him on not-a-blog somewhat soothing, and just the thought that he will be coming to a screen near me real soon now to be thoughtful and magnanimous and humble and enthusiastic and evasive about books he hasn't written :bang:.

ETA: Just realised, the interview I was dreading actually happened last week, and due to geolocation software, and nothing thronsey being hyped by HBO right now, I missed it. Bonus!

TL;DR Sorry for the rant. He's especially great for keeping abreast of US SFF.

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On 5/29/2018 at 8:09 AM, Walda said:

There are several authors I would not know of, but for GRRM's endorsements. There are several more that I do know of but wouldn't have read another work of, that I have done because he brought them to my attention again. His tastes and mine don't always and necessarily align, but he is a really good reader and he keeps up with what is going down in American SFF, as well as being very well read more generally. So he is kind of valuable as a book critic, especially for US SFF.

I also love and respect the way he always speaks as someone who really has read the book he is talking about. Other authors feel free to claim things about Jane Austen or E L James that anyone who did read the book would know that they did not. In every interview I have ever seen or read, when he comments on a book that is not his, it is a book he has read thoroughly. I'm sure he would be thrilled to be number one in the Great American Read, and think he stands a very good chance, but he seems just as aware as I am that it is a disparate list, as much a popularity contest as anything, and even keener than I am to promote Great Expectations. 

His endorsement does not in itself mean a lot to me. For instance, in the Great American Read, his minion's tastes are closer to my own. A lot of his book recommendations seem to be aimed at people who are not me. I'm beginning to think I could maybe live a full life without ever seeing another Thrones novel, as long as he never brought out another Wildcards novel. Surely when he talks of  'all you wildcard fans' he knows what a select group of readers he is addressing. Also he has said things about LotR (eg. Aragon's tax policy) that I fundamentally object to, the more so because it is crystal clear from the first paragraph of Game of Thrones that he is one of the very select group of readers that care about Lord of the Rings at least as intensely as I do. So he knows as well as I do that what he was saying was over-simplification if not outright deception, that Tolkien had a thorough knowledge of all Aragon's tax policies by the time he had written the book from front to back, but decided to compress the entirety of Aragon's rule into one sentence when he re-wrote it from back to front, rather than give interviews where he threw out hints that 'a lot of things happened' in Aragon's rule, and that the 'ending will be bittersweet', while he divided his time between defending the Disney animated film ('the film is the film, the book is the book'), and writing a fourth book of the trilogy that dealt mostly with the amortisation rates and customs duties of Gondor and ended with Frodo leaving for Greyhaven, while he dealt with the tax problems he had been running into ever since Walt had dumped that first truckload of benjies on his doorstep.

OK, that was pretty ranty. Please forgive me. Two years ago I would have said GRRM was my absolute favourite author, and hopefully in two years from now, I will again. But at the moment I'm just 'FTBG'. (Yes, I know he doesn't owe us an ending. And if we ever get to see another book, I would rather it was his best work yet than 'Then Jon came back from the dead, and jumped on a dragon, and proved he was the rightful king and married Dany and they and Sam and Gilly were best friends forever the end' type thing.)

But all that doesn't change the fact that, right now, there is just one book I want to hear about from him. I try to remind myself that if he were to announce it right now, I would still have to get through the next three months somehow. I remind myself that he isn't quite the only one. Hilary Mantel promised me a book on Marat quite some time ago, and I've been very patient, haven't forgotten, still psychically holding her to that promise, for all the good it does. Honestly, I know I don't own him, and would rather he had a rich and revelatory life that enriches his well honed literary craft, but I have found the lack of posts from him on not-a-blog somewhat soothing, and just the thought that he will be coming to a screen near me real soon now to be thoughtful and magnanimous and humble and enthusiastic and evasive about books he hasn't written :bang:.

ETA: Just realised, the interview I was dreading actually happened last week, and due to geolocation software, and nothing thronsey being hyped by HBO right now, I missed it. Bonus!

TL;DR Sorry for the rant. He's especially great for keeping abreast of US SFF.

The rant was much appreciated to get your insight. These perspectives are always interesting to hear about from other people. 

If you’re into American SFF, have you ever read any of the Expanse series? (There’s also a show apprarently but I’ve never seen it)

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