In news that is sure to surprise exactly no one, George R.R. Martin will not be finishing the latest novel of ‘Game of Thrones’ (titled ‘The Winds of Winter’) in 2018. According to a recent statement made to Entertainment Weekly, Martin confirmed that ‘Winds of Winter’ will not be coming out in 2018, but did promise something else for the fans:
“No, winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least. You’re going to have to keep waiting for The Winds of Winter. You will, however, be able to return to Westeros this year…I do want to stress… indeed, I want to shout… that Fire and Blood is not a novel. This is not a traditional narrative and was never intended to be… let’s call this one ‘imaginary history’ instead…The essential point being the ‘history’ part. I love reading popular histories myself, and that’s what I was aiming for here… As for me, I’m returning once again to The Winds of Winter.“
It has been 7 years since the man released ‘A Dance With Dragons,’ the TV show on which HBO has surpassed the novels and taken the story in a direction all its own and Martin is getting no younger so many are understandably frustrated that Martin continues to delay finishing ‘A Song Of Ice And Fire’ (the actual title of the ‘Game of Thrones’ series in the books). Of course, if you take in the fact that he is currently working on 5 ‘Game of Thrones’ spin-offs with various screenwriters for HBO as well as the show ‘Nightflyers‘ (based on another novel of his) for SyFy, you might begin to see what is eating up his time, and sympathize somewhat that he does not have much time for book-writing at the moment. But then he announces things like ‘Fire and Blood’ and one cannot help but wonder if he has time to write these frivolous “non-novels” why can’t he just sit down and get to work on ‘Winds of Winter!?!”
Sound off in the comments below if you share the frustration, or if you are just fine waiting for Martin to put out the best book he can, even if that means it takes another 7 years for him to finish the series in written form.
