
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011
Yes, I know. You’ve all seen publication dates before: dates in 2007, 2008, 2009. None of those were ever hard dates, however. Most of them… well, call it wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes, whatever you like.
This date is different. This date is real.
Barring tsunamis, general strikes, world wars, or asteroid strikes, you will have the novel in your hands on July 12. I hope you like it.
from George R. R. Martin’s website
Naturally, as a recent fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I was over the moon on Thursday, bobbing through class and life like a buoy. Since I won’t be able to watch Game of Thrones until it’s released on DVD (or I make a friend who has HBO), these were certainly glad tidings. I can only imagine what it must be like for people who read A Feast for Crows the day it came out and have been waiting ever since. Actually, I don’t—several people (several of whom I don’t even know!) have been very vocal to me about how much they hate being forced to wait… and wait… and wait. It’s been interesting, being new to the fandom and all, to examine the issue of George R. R. Martin’s debt to his fans—or, as Neil Gaiman puts it, “entitlement issues“. (His words! Not mine!)
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