george-r-r-martin-scared-to-turn-the-pageWhile we don’t have new details on the release of ‘The Winds of Winter‘ to share with you, George R. R. Martin has released some great news about a new short story coming out in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series which will be released in the anthology ‘The Book of Swords‘!

Word came out early that Gardner Dozois was curating a multi-author fantasy anthology that will include Martin’s work but we’ve got some official details we can now share with you.

The first order of business is that this story does come out this year and we know that the official release date is set for October 10th, 2017. Unlike the next novel in Martin’s epic series, we’ll only have to wait about 8 months for this one.

What we know about Martin’s contribution is that his story will be called “The Sons of the Dragon’ and while it will take place in his universe, it won’t be set during the timeline that the TV series is following.

Her’es what he had to say about it:

“If you’re fascinated by the politics of Westeros, as many of my readers seem to be, you should enjoy it. As the title suggests, “The Sons of the Dragon” chronicles the reigns of the second and third Targaryen kings, Aenys I and Maegor the Cruel, along with their mothers, wives, sisters, children, friends, enemies, and rivals.”

Don’t worry folks, this isn’t delaying his next full-length novel though as it was adapted from “World of Ice and Fire” which is an unfinished project that he hadn’t completed though eventually hopes to release as “Fire and Blood.”

The full Table of Contents for the collection can be seen below:

Introduction by Gardner Dozois
THE BEST MAN WINS, by K.J. Parker
HIS FATHER’S SWORD, by Robin Hobb
THE HIDDEN GIRL, by Ken Liu
THE SWORD OF DESTINY, by Matthew Hughes
“I AM A HANDSOME MAN,” SAID APOLLO CROW, by Kate Elliott
THE TRIUMPH OF VIRTUE, by Walter Jon Williams
THE MOCKING TOWER, by Daniel Abraham
HRUNTING, by C.J. Cherryh
A LONG, COLD TRAIL, by Garth Nix
WHEN I WAS A HIGHWAYMAN, by Ellen Kushner
THE SMOKE OF GOLD IS GLORY by Scott Lynch
THE COLGRID CONUNDRUM, by Rich Larson
THE KING’S EVIL, by Elizabeth Bear
WATERFALLING, by Lavie Tidhar
THE SWORD TYRASTE, by Cecelia Holland
THE SONS OF THE DRAGON, by George R.R. Martin

The line-up itself is solid though if you’re a collector of all things Westeros, chances are you’d be looking to pick it up just for Martin’s story. Either way, anything new from the world of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ is a welcome change prior to ‘Game of Thrones’ speeding past the next novel and potential spoiling it depending if it diverges from what Martin puts down on paper.

Are you looking forward to reading “The Sons of the Dragon”? Share your thoughts below!

Source: George R. R. Martin’s LiveJournal

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Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!