George R.R. Martin talks his relationship with fandom on Idris Elba podcast

George R.R. Martin sat down with Idris Elba and discussed his fans’ “love and hate” for him and his truant book The Winds of Winter.

George R.R. Martin’s ongoing heckling from his fans over the truancy of his book The Winds of Winter has received new discussion from the Sand Kings author. Martin recently sat down to talk with Idris and Sabrina Elba on their podcast Coupledom, alongside House of the Dragon co-creator, Ryan Condal, where the inevitable topic of his book was broached.

When Condal and George R.R. Martin were asked about their relationship with their fandom, Martin began talking about how the advent of social media and people spending an increasing amount of time online have affected how they communicate with him as an artist.

“I love the fans, although I do think Twitter and the internet and social media has brought out a viciousness I never saw in the old days,” he says. “The love and hate are very close, particularly with comic books or any established franchises.”

Martin talked about how established franchises in particular can draw extreme criticism due to fan expectations, even though he himself created the franchise.

The A Song of Ice and Fire series author talked about one blog post in particular and how some fans just didn’t care about Thanksgiving when his book was an available topic to speak on.

“I get [that] Winds of Winter, the sixth book is late. I can get a hundred good comments, but there’s still gonna be a few fans out there who are gonna remind me of it on my blog or whatever. I say, ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’ And they say, ‘Never mind Thanksgiving, where’s the book?!'”

To listen to the whole clip, look below to the Audible snippet included in this article.

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