Winter is coming. Eventually.
In a blog post, George R.R. Martin said that he hopes to finish The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth installment in his A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, next year.
“I am spending long hours every day on The Winds of Winter, and making steady progress,” he wrote. “I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week. But no, this does not mean that the book will be finished tomorrow or published next week. It’s going to be a huge book, and I still have a long way to go.”
Martin’s hit books formed the basis for the HBO show Game of Thrones, named after the first novel in the series. The most recent installment, A Dance With Dragons, was published nine years ago. Since then, his fans have been clamoring for the follow-up.
On his blog, Martin said that he’s holed up in a mountain cabin and that he’s feeling fine.
“For the present at least, I am healthy…for an out-of-shape guy of 71, at least…and doing all I can to stay that way,” he wrote.
Martin urged his fans to check out two books he’s recently enjoyed, Stephen King’s If It Bleeds and Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel. (“I guess you can say I am a big Emily St. John Mandel fanboy,” he wrote.)
He concluded his post with a tease about The Winds of Winter: “Now you will have to excuse me. Arya is calling. I think she means to kill someone.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
