Yet Another Brief Rant

[grrrm]

I will return to my discussion of AFFC in my next unnecessarily-long post, but right now, I feel the need to call attention to a couple issues raised by our Loyal Readers in our comments section.  These issues, as you might have guessed, have to do with the absurd gall demonstrated by our esteemed Secretary of Weight. (Did that one work for you?  I

Comments

Fourth part

[anonymous]

At that point, several of the people you’re touring with turn toward you, angry. “Didn’t you hear The Man?” one man snarls. “He *said* he didn’t want to talk about it!”

“Yeah,” adds a woman with a firm nod, “don’t be impatient. You should instead be kissing The Man’s shoes in gratitude for the four models he’s already produced. And look at all this shiny stuff!”

“But the Mark IV was just an advance version of the Mark V,” you try to protest, “and it’s really been eight years since the last full production model -”

“Dude, shut up!” another man says loudly. “Do you want to get The Man in a bad mood? You might upset him and delay the Mark V even more! Anyway, it’ll take as long as it takes, and if you’re not happy with it, you’re a whiner who doesn’t deserve to be here.”

“But -”

At that point, The Man, no longer smiling, does what the woman admonished you not to do, and loses patience. “Guards!” he yells. “Throw this annoyance out of my factory!”

Suddenly, two guards in black suits who are obvious believers in bodybuilding appear on either side of you. They seize your arms, march you quickly to the factory’s entrance, deaf to all your protests, and throw you roughly out into the parking lot.

*Thank you, The Man,* you think bitterly as you pick yourself up from your hard landing on the concrete, your hopes and enthusiasm thoroughly dashed. *Thank you, fellow fans.*

*Not.* You almost wish they’ll all choke on the shiny stuff, but you’re not that vindictive a person - and besides, The Man being hospitalized would likely delay the Mark V even *more*.

* * *

This is what being a Martin fan openly concerned with ADwD’s progress amounts to these days on Martin’s website. You see nothing but a veil of secrecy, and attempts to push it aside even a little are all but certain to be met with one form of retribution or another.

On Ran’s board, at least, there’s a fixed post clearly announcing the suspension of all discussion of ADWD’s progress (or, more to the point, the lack thereof), and the mods are quite rapid at catching those that occasionally appear (usually from newbies who didn’t take the time to read the aforementioned post).

All in all, it’s become quite frustrating. Even so, I hope we’ll get ADwD next year… but then again, I made the same wish at the end of 2006 and 2007, and we all know how that turned out.

And what hope is really worth where GRRM and ADwD are concerned.

Aaah. Posting this felt really good.