The Winds of Winter, the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, will NOT be released this year, which was confirmed by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.
Apparently, many fans had assumed, like they feverishly hoped, that the “12 Days of Christmas” promotion regarding Martin’s books were a foreshadowing of “The Winds of Winter” coming the following year, 2015. Alas, that was not the case.
“Somehow, from somewhere, the rumor arose that the ’12 Days’ were actually a countdown… not to Xmas, but to the publication of THE WINDS OF WINTER, or the announcement of its completion and/ or pub date,” Martin wrote. “Sorry. Not true.”
It was never hinted that was the case, but fans more or less, tried to glean some kind of truth to what they were wishing for. But Martin doesn’t play around like that.
“Look, I’ve said before, and I will say again, I don’t play games with news about the books,” he explained. “I know how many people are waiting, how long they have been waiting, how anxious they are. I am still working on WINDS. When it’s done, I will announce it here. There won’t be any clues to decipher, any codes or hidden meanings, the announcement will be straightforward and to the point. I won’t time it to coincide with Xmas or Valentine’s Day or Lincoln’s Birthday, the book will not rise from the dead with Jesus on Easter Sunday. When it is done, I will say that’s it is done [sic], on whatever day I happen to finish.”
What was released last year, however, was an illustrated history of Westeros book titled “The World of Ice & Fire,” which was released October 2014. And another Westeros-related compilation will be released October of this year as well, the illustrated version of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Although there will be no update to the series in 2015, an illustrated compilation of three previously-published prequel novellas set in Westeros will be released in October. The collection, titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms have not been published together before, and Martin’s publisher hinted that fans will pick up clues about future developments in Westeros as they read them.
And while we may have to wait at least another year or so before The Winds of Winter reaches our hands, we’ll have these novellas as well as HBO’s Game of Thrones to help quench the thirst a bit. Just a bit.
The Winds of Winter will be the sixth book in A Song of Ice & Fire series. The fourth book, A Dance with Dragons, was released in 2011.
(source)
