It looks the long wait for the sixth instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire is going to be over real soon. Fans have been waiting for a very long time for the book to be completed and it looks like renowned author, George R.R Martin has finally completed his book.
There were reports that the book will be out this year, sometime around October, but even the author himself couldn’t confirm this news as he wasn’t done writing the book. Martin had, however, claimed that Winds of Winter will be eligible for the Hugo Awards of 2016.
The Hugo Awards is awarded to fantasy fiction and if Winds of Winter has to be eligible for the 2016 award then it has to hit shelves by the end of this very year! This statement has sent the fans of the series into a tizzy.
The fact that Martin has told the fans that Winds of Winter will be out before the 2016 premiere of Season 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, based on the series created by him, has also given a flicker of hope to the fans.
Martin had decided to cut down on all his appearances to Comic-Cons and focus solely on Winds of Winter. He says that he can only write when he is at home working on his desk and with his busy schedule, he is always on the go and this has hampered the progress of the book.
Seeing how agitated his fans are getting now that Season 5 of Game of Thrones, based on Dance of Dragons, Martin has decided to focus solely on writing his book. This claim, however, a little too far-fetched for the author since has quite a few commitments lined up.
The latest news that is doing the rounds is that George R.R Martin is done with the Winds of Winter. This speculation started when Jack Bender, the director of Game of Thrones on HBO gave an affirmative response to a fan question asking if he had read the advanced copy of the sixth books written by Martin.
The Reddit AMA has come out with the biggest news of the year. It has given fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire the news that the book is ready and might be getting printed to be published on time. This news was supported by Martin’s announcement on Twitter where he informed that he will be making an appearance at the San Diego Comic-Co. He had previously decided to give the event a miss in order to stick to his schedule and complete Winds of Winter.
Since George R. R Martin hadn’t completed the sixth book, HBO had decided to give shape to Season 6 on their own. This had made quite a few loyal fans of the series uncomfortable, but now with reports suggesting that Martin might have finished the sixth book in the series, HBO will have a ready reference point to base the sixth season of Game of Thrones on.
However, knowing Martin, fans shouldn’t get too excited. While Bender’s comment does give a bit of hope, it shouldn’t be taken as a confirmation that Winds of Winter is complete. Bender might have mistaken the sixth season of the series with the sixth book of the series.
Martin has addressed the rumors, asking fans not to believe anything and everything that they read on the internet. This did act as a bit of damper to the excitement, but fans are saying that he hasn’t denied the fact that the book is complete.
If it is coming out, I think he is just changing his definition of done. The way he has referred to his progress on the book, I just can’t imagine that he finished it already. What I think could be happening is that he is ending this book prematurely, say at the 2/3rds mark of what he may have initially intended to include in the story. This way it gets everyone off his back for a time and the book readers still have a chance to read some of what happens before the 6th season starts.
I think he cares too much about his legacy to do this though, so I don’t really believe anything is finished or semi-finished. Best case scenario he announces a finished novel by Christmas and the book is in our hands by St.Patricks day (post editing, and god I hope someone actually edits his work this time). Call me a pessimist, but I’m really starting to believe that we will never actually get the final novel from him. He has just put his hand in too many cookie jars (both metaphorically and literally), and coupled with his penchant to procrastinate and indifference to organizing his story prior to penning them, it’s just a tall task that may never see the light of day.
I have resigned myself to the fate that is seeing this play out on HBO….As much as I enjoy(ed) his work, they did a great job this past season in cutting out all the hot air of the 2 books they covered. They have made the show it’s own entity with some of the changes, and probably tipped us off to future events in the books with those choices. Trying to figure out the butterfly effect of those choices and why they were made is half the fun for me. So, if for no other reason other than confirming or denying my crackpot theories I would like to see that last book come out some time before 2025.
Words are wind though. And I won’t hold my breath.