George R.R. Martin is pushing back the release date for Winds of Winter, the forthcoming sixth novel from the A Song of Ice and Fire saga, again. It's okay. Let it out. We know.
It's been seven years since Martin released his last novel from the saga, marking it as the longest gap that fans have had to wait for a novel from the series that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones. (This was previously held by the six-year gap between 2005's A Feast for Crows and 2011's A Dance with Dragons.
However, there is a reason for the wait. Martin is focusing on Fire and Blood, the spinoff series that focuses on the history of the Targaryen family. In the comments section of Martin's recent blog post, a fan asked about his writing schedule for 2018, to which Martin replied that he's focusing on Fire and Blood. Then, another fan inquired about the status of Winds of Winter.
"F&B will be in two volumes," he wrote. "Vol 1 before, vol 2 after." So basically, it's Fire and Blood Vol. 1, Winds of Winter then Fire and Blood Volume 2." With his focus on Fire and Blood, fans shouldn't expect Winds of Winter until 2019. And if that happens, the release of the series' sixth edition will likely coincide with Game of Thrones' eighth and final season which was also set back to premiere in 2019.
Now we can all collectively get angry at George R.R. Martin and HBO together.
