HBO's "Game of Thrones" comes to an end on Sunday. Many fans have been upset with this last season that a petition to remake the entire season has attracted almost half a million signers. Of course, there is no cost at all to signing these sorts of Internet petitions, and you have to wonder how much money the signers would be willing to pay to realize their dream. At an estimated $15 million per episode, with six episodes in season 8, it would cost $90 million or more. So each signer would have to pay on average $180....
Anyway, I've never subscribed to HBO, and I ditched cable years ago, so I am stuck in the story at the end of "A Dance With Dragons," which was published in 2011. To put that in context, "Leviathan Awakes" -- the first novel in "The Expanse" series -- was published in 2011, just a month before "A Dance of Dragons" was.
That's an interesting comparison because "The Expanse" novels are kind of like "Game of Thrones" in space, with the same kind of dense political intrigue, layered characterization, factions, and realistic violence.
Since then, author James S.A. Corey has published seven more novels, not to mention a few novellas, with the ninth and final novel scheduled for publication next year. I think the probability that the last Expanse novel comes out before "The Winds of Winter" (book 6 in the "Game of Thrones" series) is pretty near 100%. I don't gamble, but if I were to, that's a bet I'd make.
Anyway, Corey is actually the pen name for two guys, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Franck, it turns out, used to work for "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin as a research assistant. Hmmmmm....
Maybe book fans should get together and petition Martin to turn the writing of books 6 and 7 to someone else who will actually finish them. It sounds like James S.A. Corey should be free.
