I have to play devil's advocate here. George R.R. Martin's books (a song of ice and fire) (ASOIAF) are most definitely "raw" which is both good and bad. I agree completely on the issues regarding language, sex, and overall dark feel to the book. I enjoy these aspect myself but not everyone would. However while the author does lack communication skills and the book is taking a LONG long long long time, it's going to get finished, quite certainly. Martin seems to have more things on his plate then the one book, and ASOIAF is just one of his series he handles. he just got the next book out in the wildcards series for instance. I do agree he should communicate more, but that doesn't change the fact that the books are easily among my favorite I have ever read, and I am looking forward to reading the next ones when they are out
BTW. he started whats called "rewriteing" once he finished with ADwD. Its a process all authors do if they want the book to be the best it can be. The feel I get from this author from reading his blog for years (since he started blogging in his "not a blog" blog, is simply that he wants the book to be the best it can be, more then he wants this book (or the last ones) to be out fast. but he still SHOULD add a bit more info...... ok a lot more info...
Loki