George R.R. Martin gives update on next Game of Thrones book, The Winds of Winter

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The Winds of Winter has been a long, long time coming. The sixth part in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga – famously adapted by HBO into the series Game of Thrones (opens in new tab) – was due to reach bookstore shelves in 2016. That release date passed and George R.R. Martin promised the book would be released by 2017. That year passed. And so on, and so on…

Eventually, Martin said that we can expect The Winds of Winter when The Winds of Winter is done. Of course, we’re still asking when that will be. Thanks to Martin’s blog (opens in new tab), we now have an update from the author, who has revealed he’s hard at work once more on the upcoming novel.

“I am back in my fortress of solitude again, my isolated mountain cabin,” he writes. “I’d returned to Santa Fe for a short visit, to spend some time with Parris, deal with some local business that had piled up during my months away, and of course fulfill my duties to CoNZealand, the virtual worldcon. But all that is behind me now, and I am back on the mountain again… which means I am back in Westeros again, once more moving ahead with Winds of Winter.”

Martin goes on to describe his current isolation: he’s based in a cabin with a rotating roster of assistants (known to him as minions) who take two-week shifts staying with him, preparing him coffee and helping with his day-to-day. Martin spends each day writing and makes time for a movie or TV show in the evening.

“My life is at home, on hold, and I am spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel and Sam and Vic and  Ty,” he continues. “And that girl with no name, over there in Braavos.”

With any luck, fans will finally have a completed version of The Winds of Winter when Martin – and the world – returns to normal life sometime in the future. For the meantime, we know part of what happens in the book thanks to the Games of Thrones series, which overtook the books during season 6. Of course, the ending was slightly controversial… Perhaps Martin’s own ending will be less so.