As much as the fans of the fantasy novel series of George R.R. Martin “A Song of Ice and Fire” are eagerly excited about the sixth book titled “The Winds of Winter,” and so is the author.
It has been previously reported that “The Winds of Winter” will be released before Season 6 of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” is aired in April next year, which leaves Martin roughly 11 months to unveil the book.
While he has yet to make any specific release date for the book, speculations are rife that it would either be later this year or early next year and it is going to be earlier than April 2016.
The author has also cancelled two upcoming convention appearances including the upcoming ComicCon event in July to be held in San Diego, California just to get more time to write and finish “The Winds of Winter.”
He said that he is also turning down a lot of interviews including an offer to write the script or screenplay for one of the episodes of “Game of Thrones” Season 6, indicating that his priority is to finish “The Winds of Winter” before taking on any other preoccupations, notes MTV.
Spoilers from the TV series
Season 5 of the “Game of Thrones” TV series currently showing on HBO is providing the speculative talking points and spoliers to fans and kibitzers on what to expect on the upcoming sixth book from George Martin.
Just by watching Season 5 of “Game of Thrones” on TV and comparing it to the fifth book of Martin titled “A Dance with Dragons” has already led book fans and astute TV viewers to come up with their own theories as well as provide unconfirmed spoilers for “The Winds of Winter.”
George Martin has said previously that the TV series has already deviated from his book series so not everyone who dies in the series also dies in the book, short of saying that watching the TV series does not necessarily mean that it’s as good as reading the upcoming book.
There have been plenty of speculations as to the possible spoilers for “The Winds of Winter” including the possible surrender of Stannis to Daenerys, which is almost unlikely considering that the former has the rights to the throne. It was also mentioned that according to prophecy, Tommen, Shireen, and Cersei will die so Stannis would really be free to take over the throne.
It was also rumored that Benjen Stark will not be part of “The Winds of Winter” and the author reportedly confirmed such.
But until “The Winds of Winter” finally comes out and readers get their reading pleasure, all these speculations are just that – speculations.
Other preludes to the book
Among the other possible preludes to the upcoming George Martin book is the scene in Season 5 where Jamie Lannister will be travelling to Dorne. When Jamie reaches the Dorne, the subsequent scenes are what’s written in “The Winds of Winter.”