There’s been quite a bit of controversy over George R. R. Martin lately. From what I gather, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire have gone past the normal concern over the wait for The Winds of Winter, the next book in the series, and are making personal comments about the man’s weight, his seeming lack of motivation, and his dedication to his fans. Apparently, some are even getting very angry about the possibility that Martin may never finish the next installment. I’m saying “apparently,” because, while I’ve seen considerable speculation about these things, I’ve never seen blatant anger toward the author, nor anyone actually abusing him. However, with the amount of “counter-backlash” that is circling the internet these days to defend Martin against these possible aggressors, surely some of this does exist. Continue reading
Tag Archives: George R.R. Martin
A Few Thoughts on Fan Outrage
I freely admit that bitching fanboy is a happy fanboy. In fact that is the first thing I ever said on this blog. I personally practice this on a regular basis, hence my reputation for a sunny disposition. There is, however, a limit to how much fans should become “outraged.” At what point do fans stop being the acceptable bitching fanboy and start to be something far more obnoxious and quite honestly detrimental to geeks as a whole?
To be clear, I’m not talking about the people who complain when a change is made to their favorite comic book. At ECCC, when asked what the public response was to bringing back Peter Parker, long-time Marvel writer Peter David said, “When Doc Ock took over, there were a ton of fan complaints. Now that Doc Ock is leaving, there are a ton of fan complaints.” In general, people don’t like change, and geeks are no exception. Eventually, the uproar over Spider-Man, just like with any other event, will die down and 99% of fans will either forget that the whole thing happened, or just not care. Of course there will be the diehards that won’t let it go, but the only reason the rest of us will remember them at all is by watching all the truly embarrassing YouTube videos they’ve put up. In years to come we can all sit back and laugh at their predictions of the death of the comic industry, all while we read a comic book.
Editorial | Game of Thrones S4E10, Finale Reaction **SPOILERS**
***** SPOILER ALERT *****
This review will be discussing plot points which may be considered spoilers. Consider yourselves warned.
Typically in my editorials, I try to write about geeky things from an academic perspective. Today I say, “Forget all that!” I just want to talk about the AMAZING Game of Thrones finale from last night. I know that emotions were at peak level before the show and that many areas of the internet are suffering from a meltdown after, so this is a great time to discuss the show and what I liked and disliked. Feel free to join the conversation in the comments, or on Facebook or Twitter. (I know that not everyone has gotten to see the show yet, so I’m gonna just drop a page break in here to keep anyone from accidentally being spoiled.)
Filed under Editorial, Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | The (re)Rise of the Anthology
A few months ago, I attended a convention panel on the resurgence of the anthology in which the panelists asked attendees what motivated them to buy anthologies. Answers ranged from famous contributors, to well-known serial publications, such as L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future. This highlights a huge problem that I see in anthology collections: it is difficult to page through them and purchase them on a whim.
Filed under Editorial, Tracy Gronewold
