No, the book is not done yet…

If you read in the Gazette this morning that Winds of Winter was coming out this year, forget it.  GRRM says, and I quote, ” You wanted an update. Here’s the update. You won’t like it. ”

And no, I didn’t. Rats. I was all excited to think the new book was finally, FINALLY, going to appear. So I take a run over to Martin’s blog and read: ” I am going back to my stance from last March, before all this. It will be done when it’s done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it.”

I have not been watching the show, too much graphic sex and violence for me, and then I heard it was starting to move away from the books, too.  This a problem that GRRM addressed in his blog:

“Having said all that, I know what the next question will be, because hundreds of you have already asked it of me. Will the show ‘spoil’ the novels?

Maybe. Yes and no. Look, I never thought the series could possibly catch up with the books, but it has. The show moved faster than I anticipated and I moved more slowly. There were other factors too, but that was the main one. Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of GAME OF THRONES that have not yet happened in the books. For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers. This year, for some things, the reverse will be true. How you want to handle that… hey, that’s up to you. ”

If you don’t mind a few spoilers, head on over to http://grrm.livejournal.com/465247.html and scroll waaaay down to near the end of the post to read about a few differences between the books and the show.
Sildenafil Citrate is the main cialis generic viagra ingredient in the blue pill. So, the main benefit of check my site now generic levitra online is its high affectivity despite the impotence cause. Other leading more expensive ED drugs, such as acquisition de viagra http://appalachianmagazine.com/2016/07/04/was-the-first-battle-of-revolutionary-war-fought-in-west-virginia/, also make use of the same primary ingredient and therefore have almost identical results. Kamagra product lines have different order levitra canada forms to choose from.
If you are looking for something to fill the gap, may I make a recommendation? I recently read and enjoyed Glen Cook’s Black Company, the whole shebang, some 9 or 10 books in Tor omnibus editions.  These are the annals of a mercenary company, so a tough read at times. Not because of graphic detail, but because of lack of it. The chroniclers are mercenaries, they kill for a living, so there were times I found the lack of feeling disconcerting. ” And then we massacred the legion while they slept, and then we moved to…” Well, not quite like that, obviously, but close.

The characters are fascinating, especially Croaker, the company medic, who turns out to be more of a romantic than one would expect from a hardened merc.  Shades of grey–no one is good or evil, this isn’t LoTR type fantasy.  Events flow, going wherever the current waxes and wanes. The Company has no good expectations of life, all too often they get out of a jam to find themselves in a worse one. They sound and act like real people, and Cook has a knack for describing medieval-style military action.  I was seriously hooked from the first novel, but it wasn’t until near the end that I really understood the importance of the annalist. It’s one of the Companies enemies who first clued me in–the company can’t be destroyed as long as even one member survives to keep the annals.

The best thing about the Black Company Chronicles? The books are all available, NOW.  And Mr Cook is easily found in the dealer room, and happy to sign, no line ups.

—Cathy