Waiting for the next book in a series? What's your worst waiting experience?

dgiharris · Apr 8, 2009

HI all,

So, I picked up George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones and blazed through that bad boy in 3 days.

Then I went threw Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and lastly A Feast For Crows (which was written in 2005 BTW)

Now i'm ready for the next book, went to Barnes and Nobles and guess what. It is not Avialable.

WTF?

Release date is Sept 2009.

He's had since 2005. What the hell man.

So this got me thinking. What is the worst wait that you've had to endure?

Any rules you now following becuase of your experience.

Mel...

kikilynn · Apr 8, 2009

Right now Im waiting on book 9 in the sookie stackhouse series, it comes out next month though. I've been waiting over a year for it...at least it's not that long for you.

Phoenix Fury · Apr 8, 2009

Heh. Martin's known for two things outside of his quality writing (although that can be overstated--I'm kind of lukewarm about his stuff myself): killing off characters like there's no tomorrow, which I think you've brought up in another thread, and the incredibly slow release of his books. Martin's started entering Jordan territory in some people's minds because of this trait, and he's gotten so many inquiries about the release date that he's pretty defensive about it at this point. Pat Rothfuss had a pretty funny blog entry about this subject, too, since he's also gotten some grief for the delay in releasing the second book of his series.

Cranky · Apr 8, 2009

The wait between The Wastelands and Wizard and Glass in King's Dark Tower series was pretty heinous for me.

blacbird · Apr 9, 2009

Heathrow Airport, shortly after a terrorist incident in Europe, while I was deathly ill with the flu.

caw

Prozyan · Apr 9, 2009

For me, its the wait between Dean Koontz's Seize the Night, released in 1999, and Ride the Storm, still unreleased with no target date in sight.

By the way Mel, you said you'd come back and let us know if you were gonna kill any of us for pushing you to finish AFFC . . . do I need to make sure all my doors and windows are locked tonight?

RobJ · Apr 9, 2009

The Time Machine, by H G Wells, was published in 1895. The sequel, The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter, was published in 1995. That was a tough wait.

Anyone else heard the rumour that it's going to end up as a trilogy?

Cheers,
Rob

gothicangel · Apr 9, 2009

At the moment I'm waiting for Matt Hilton's debut novel. He's been talked about so much since landing his book deal as the new Lee Child I'm dying to see if he is going to live up to the hype.

SPMiller · Apr 9, 2009

I laugh at your impatience. The wait between books three and four of Martin's series was five years. I've waited another four years since then. That's nine years, in case you can't add. You've only had to wait a few days. Quitcherbitchin.

Also, I have bad news. The release date for the next book is not September 2009. It isn't even finished yet. Don't believe any release date you see unless it's on GRRM's personal website.

You're probably looking at 2010 or later.

Linda Adams · Apr 9, 2009

Worst experience? There was a cozy mystery series about an art forger. I actually got interested in it researching to see what genre I was going to write in. I enjoyed the book so much that I went to the author's Web site to see what else she had. I noticed she had a contest for a painting based on a question from the book, so I entered. I won the painting. I heard from the author, sent my information to her (the painting was of my grandmother in the Renoir style). The agent contacted me and did a press release. The painting was supposed to be done in conjunction with the publication of the next book in the series.

Then nothing for a while, except for occasional emails that the author was working on it. Then she finally finished it and sent it to me, and that was it. I'd thought this was to promote the book, and it didn't seem like anything else had happened. I checked in the bookstore, but no other books were out. Visited the Web site again--the publisher had cancelled the series. That's the first time I'd ever seen evidence showing that if a book doesn't sell well, the publisher will drop it.

Nivarion · Apr 9, 2009

HE DIED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST BOOK!!!!

I almost swore off unfinished series when he did that.

nevada · Apr 9, 2009

my wait's not been long but frustrating. I love Andy Mcnab, he's a UK writer, and every time he releases a hard cover, the bookstore here, Chapters, has it listed as being available. we (my sister and I) are assured that yes, definitely, they will have the hard cover and it'll be out in a few months. And then, sometimes a few days after the hard cover release date, we get told, oh sorry, they changed their minds they're waiting for the trade paperback release, so then it's another six months. Grrrrr. much nashing of teeth.

A few times I have ordered from amazon.co.uk just so i can get it sooner. But I can't imagine waiting 5 yrs for the next book in a series. I would have forgotten all about the series by then.

Pagey's_Girl · Apr 9, 2009

I had to wait 22 years after White Gold Wielder for The Runes of the Earth. Of course, Stephen Donaldson wrote lots of stuff in the meantime, but still...

*Makes a mental note to surf over to Amazon later and look for a release date for the third book of the last series...*

Kathleen42 · Apr 9, 2009

The Dark Tower series. I actually gave up.

Phaeal · Apr 9, 2009

I'm waiting for the next Pendergast book from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They're pretty regular, so I expect it this summer.

Worst wait? The next Jane Austen novel, or at least an Austenian novel that's as good as one of Jane's. Now THAT'S been a long wait and no end in sight.

WriteKnight · Apr 9, 2009

"The Riverworld Series" - book 'three'. I had to wait two years I think, and here's the kicker. When book three was released, there was a forward from Farmer saying "Hey, sorry it took so long, but more than that - I'm sorry that my publisher has decided this third and 'final' installment, shall be broken into TWO books - so this last book, isn't really the last book at all... you'll have to wait some more."

Man, that pissed me off. Still, a great series.

I stopped reading Jordan's stuff. I've forgotten half of what was going on in Martin's stuff, so I'm not keen on waiting. Fortunately, I just read "Small Favors" from the Dresden series - so I'm up to speed again, and looking for the new one this month. I think Jim Butcher is putting out Dresden books at an awesome pace - and keeping the quality as well. Truly amazing.

Quossum · Apr 9, 2009

The Architect of Sleep

Cruel, cruel author got pissed at his publisher for screwing with his overall plan for the series and so, in his own words, "gave the baby poison to save it from the Nazis." There shan't be a sequel, and the story ends SO tantalizingly...!

--Q

Storm Dream · Apr 9, 2009

Sadly, mine has been Martin.

I'd actually purchased Game of Thrones right when I went off to college, but didn't read it until about sophomore year. Once I started, I was hooked. By the time I was "into it" A Storm of Swords was out in paperback, so I blew through all three of them. I got my roommate and coworker into them. Waited for A Feast For Crows. It came out, I got it for Christmas, and read it...gosh, I think it was as I was graduating college?

And I have been waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

I check his blog periodically. He's been fussing with the next one for quite some time.

Waiting for the next book in Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series was also painful, but mostly because I just love his writing and I was seriously in need of some entertaining space opera. Nothing as bad as Martin. Green was like getting wisdom teeth out; Martin is like...I don't know...ruptured appendix?

*gnashes teeth*

dgiharris · Apr 9, 2009

Prozyan said:
By the way Mel, you said you'd come back and let us know if you were gonna kill any of us for pushing you to finish AFFC . . . do I need to make sure all my doors and windows are locked tonight?

*grumbles* I guess you all are safe. For now. As a rule I give my favorite authors 'one' mistake. Terry Goodkind strung me along with worse dribble than GRRM so taking that into consideration, I will give you all a pass

The ending for AFFC wasn't too bad. THe only thing that upsets me is looking back over that book. I'm now convinced that GRRM didn't plan out his story that well back in books two and three. Given what I know about AFFC, looking back he had a lot of opportunity to set AFFC up much better than he did. And he could have at least cut out 40% of that backstory. My eyes were glazing over and I had to 'force' myself to read through it.

SPMiller said:
I laugh at your impatience. The wait between books three and four of Martin's series was five years. I've waited another four years since then. That's nine years, in case you can't add. You've only had to wait a few days. Quitcherbitchin.

Also, I have bad news. The release date for the next book is not September 2009. It isn't even finished yet. Don't believe any release date you see unless it's on GRRM's personal website.

You're probably looking at 2010 or later.

Holy crap. IN that case, i'm done with GRRM. Wow, five years to write a book. that is four years way too long. Granted his books are huge and complex so I could give him two years. He wrote AFFCs back in 2004-2005 and we are in 2009 now.

I think my new rule will be to never get involved in a series until at least four books are written. Then at least you get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Come to think of it. I'm having a hard time coming up with a series that was still effective after 4 books. Most of the good ones end after 3 or 4 books.

Maybe that's a good rule to follow

Mel...

BlueTexas · Apr 9, 2009

Another vote for The Dark Tower Series. It was worth the wait in the end.

Mr. Anonymous · Apr 9, 2009

GRRM is very busy. You have to realize he doesn't just sit and work on Dance all day... He has other writing projects, he's been an editor/contributor of several recently released short story collection IIRC, he goes to conventions, he blogs regularly, he has people making swords and busts and games and HBO is interested in making a series out of ASOIAF...

Honestly, I don't know why anyone would start a series and not finish it, but maybe that's just me. Sure he's taking a while. But it'll be out when it'll be out, and I'm not going to delude myself - I will be buying it.

TheIT · Apr 9, 2009

I once picked up a book to read on a plane flight and rejoiced because it seemed to be a stand-alone fantasy novel. As I was reading it on the plane and getting more involved in the story, I started wondering how the author was going to wrap up all the plot threads so quickly until I turned the last page and hit the dreaded "TO BE CONTINUED". Of course, the second book hadn't been written yet. :rant:

What annoyed me was that nothing on the front cover indicated "book 1". If a book is part of a series, TELL ME so I can decide whether I want to invest the time in reading more than one book.

dgiharris · Apr 9, 2009

Mr. Anonymous said:
GRRM is very busy. You have to realize he doesn't just sit and work on Dance all day... He has other writing projects, he's been an editor/contributor of several recently released short story collection IIRC, he goes to conventions, he blogs regularly, he has people making swords and busts and games and HBO is interested in making a series out of ASOIAF...

Honestly, I don't know why anyone would start a series and not finish it, but maybe that's just me. Sure he's taking a while. But it'll be out when it'll be out, and I'm not going to delude myself - I will be buying it.

Stop trying to interject reason into my emotional argument. I'm the READER!!! It's all about me, me, ME!!!! And I want my story now, now, NOW!!!!! In fact, I want it sooner than now. I want it yesterday.

Besides, 'a while' is how long I have to wait at a restaurant for food vs. McDonalds. GRRM has had 5 years and he is not a novice. No excuse IMHO.

TheIT said:
I once picked up a book to read on a plane flight and rejoiced because it seemed to be a stand-alone fantasy novel. As I was reading it on the plane and getting more involved in the story, I started wondering how the author was going to wrap up all the plot threads so quickly until I turned the last page and hit the dreaded "TO BE CONTINUED". Of course, the second book hadn't been written yet.

What annoyed me was that nothing on the front cover indicated "book 1". If a book is part of a series, TELL ME so I can decide whether I want to invest the time in reading more than one book.

THis is a good point. Not only is he slow, but he's sneaky!!!

Mel...

Delhomeboy · Apr 9, 2009

Kathleen42 said:
The Dark Tower series. I actually gave up.

Well it's time to un-give up! They're all out now, so, yeah...get to it!

Matera the Mad · Apr 9, 2009

Quossum said:
The Architect of Sleep

Cruel, cruel author got pissed at his publisher for screwing with his overall plan for the series and so, in his own words, "gave the baby poison to save it from the Nazis." There shan't be a sequel, and the story ends SO tantalizingly...!

--Q

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Waiting for the next book in a series? What's your worst waiting experience?

Disgruntled Scientist

You can find me on occasion.

From the ashes, baby!

Are you one, Herbert?

Toughen up.

Prodigiously Hanged

Soldier, Storyteller

Brony level >9000

Still plays with dolls

crushing on fictional characters

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Arranger Of Disorder

Into the blue memory

Disgruntled Scientist

Back from self-exile land.

Just a guy with a pen & a delusion

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Disgruntled Scientist

Stalking Jennifer Aniston!

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