Critically-acclaimed author George R.R. Martin graced the 74th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) 2016 held in Kansas City on August 18 to 21, 2016 so fans hoping to hear an announcement from him regarding release date update on “The Winds of Winter” got disappointed that they got none.
Martin was at the event to sign autographs, do some book reading, and also make a couple of panel appearances but none of those involved or has anything to do with “The Winds of Winter,” the highly-anticipated sixth book in his popular fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
While the author’s appearance was one of the reasons why the event drew large crowd, numbering to over 7,000, the only thing that is relevant to “The Winds of Winter,” or at least to the “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel series is the famed iron throne of the massively popular HBO hit series “Game of Thrones.”
Some of the fans who were in attendance got the opportunity to sit on the iron throne and had pictures while on it, reports the Parent Herald.
Amid all the hoopla on “Game of Thrones,” George Martin did not bother to talk about the progress of the sixth book of his reputable series.
Before the Worldcon 2016, Martin already admitted in an interview with a local publication that his writing process is slow because he is a painstaking writer.
He explained that there are good days when he writes more pages and there are bad days when he writes nothing at all.
Not a comforting thought
Martin’s admission was not a comforting thought for fans who are waiting for “The Winds of Winter” for so long already.
The fifth book of the fantasy novel series “A Dance of Dragons” came out in 2011 so it has been over five years of gap already.
The previous speculations are saying that “The Winds of Winter” shall come out anytime from October this year to April next year or just before Season 7 of “Game of Thrones” premieres on HBO next year. However, since the premiere of the HBO hit series might be delayed either in May or June, it also opened up the release date window for “The Winds of Winter” anytime from October 2016 to May or June 2017.
Fans at the Worldcon 2016 were also expecting that George Martin would at least do a free public reading of a chapter of “The Winds of Winter,” which the author was previously fond of doing, but there was nothing of that sort happened, much to the dismay of many fans, notes the Christian Post.
Analyzing the writing speed of Martin
George R.R. Martin of the popular fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire” has said time and again that he was a slow writer.
In fact, his slow writing speed is the reason why the HBO hit TV series “Game of Thrones” has overtaken the source material, which is his fantasy novel series. The recently concluded Season 6 of “Game of Thrones” could have been based on the sixth book, “The Winds of Winter,” had it come out earlier but it did not. As a result, the TV series went ahead with the book.
Of late, however, a popular theorist, who is obviously a fan of George Martin and his fantasy novel series, has recently come out to say that based on the writing speed of his favorite author, “The Winds of Winter” could actually come out in the first quarter of 2017.
The man, who goes by the name of BrydenBFish is actually an active member of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” subreddit and even has a blog dedicated to the major wars and politics of the popular fantasy novel series.