Sword of Truth Miniseries!

I was - emphasise was - a huge fan of this series through the first 6 books (obviously, check the nick). After 'Soul of the Fire', however, it became a horrible, preachy mess in which Goodkind started suffering from an extreme case of diahrreah of the pen. He was always a bit rambling anyways, but the two I read (Pillars of Creation & Naked Empire) would go long stretches without anything ever happening. They were mind numbingly dull. I still thing that the entire Pillars of Creation story could easily have been told as a 20 page side-story in one of the other books.

As much as I loved the first 5 books, I haven't even bothered to check out the last two and doubt I ever will. The fact that he's a pompus asshole doesn't help matters any. Here's an excerpt from an interview he did where he tells us all how important his books are:

QUESTION: Annerinas: Will you, Mr. TG, actually ever go write a non-fiction book exploring fully your ideals and philosophy, getting it out of your system. So that it's not being presented in the next book at the expense of the actual story?

Translation: Will you please change that way you think and write, stop using your mind, stop being an individual and instead start writing books like every other hackneyed Tolkien clone on the fantasy shelves. Answer: NO
The Premise of this question and all that it entails is beneath contempt. To say that I view this notion with indignity hardly begins to cover it. What you are seeing with my novels is something unique. They are not like all the other fantasy books. A tiny group of fantasy fans happens to like things the way they are and only wants more of the same. These few do not under any circumstances; want anything to change or anything that requires thought. They want everything to stay static and simplistic. For these reasons (and others), these people do not like what I write and they never will. They even hate that my books exist, that I write things that dare to uplift and inspire.
Rather than simply reading and enjoying the many books available that they like, they spend their time railing against the one author who is different.
What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy. In so doing I've raised the standards. I have not only injected thought into a tired empty genre, but, more importantly, I've transcended it showing what more it can be-and is so doing spread my readership to completely new groups who don’t like and wont ready typical fantasy. Agents and editors are screaming for more books like mine.

They can’t find any-for 3 reasons. One, copying innovation is an impossibility. Two, individually cannot be copied. They don’t grasp the essence of my work. What they end up with are authors who imitate some of the nonessential elements unique to my books, believing they must be the secret to success, much as my publishers at first believe that it was the red dragon that defined my work.

Why are editors trying to get more books like mine? Because any one of my backlist sells more copies in a month than most fantasy authors' books sell in their entire run. NAKED EMPIRE has been on the NY Times list for two months now. Far more importantly, I break genre lines and draw my ever growing sales from the much larger pool of general fiction readers who embrace my books.

The guy is a complete ass.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I saw the original years ago, and found it re-quoted on another board this morning. I'm having trouble tracking down the actual article, but I'll see if I can find it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.