George Martin Photo: Neilson Barnard (Getty Images)
We are now approaching the 11th anniversary of A Dance with Dragons, the fifth and thus far final installment in George R.R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin, who was already well known in the genre writing world through both ASOIAF and a host of other projects, had to change quite a bit in those ten plus years, but he has risen significantly since then. He is best known for the success of the HBO television adaptation of his work Game of Thrones.
However, along with this surge of fame came a less desirable attention: namely, endless, increasingly voluminous requests to find out when The Winds of Winter, the penultimate book in the series, might actually come out.
Martin, who, to his credit, communicates openly with frustrated fans through his regularly updated “non-blog”, has tried a number of tactics over the years to deflect these demands, from unrealistic promises to offers to distract himself with other projects. to remind people he’s a real person and to tell him you’re worried he’ll drop dead before he finishes some book you want to read, that’s kind of mean.
However, this week he’s taken on a new gambit by starting a new post that serves as an overview of the many, many Westeros projects he’s currently working on, remarking that he “feels sorry” for everyone who cares only about him. The Winds Of Winter when there is so much other content they can get excited about.
“I know, I know, for many of you only one of these projects is important,” writes Martin. “I feel for you. They are ALL important to me.”
And while we note that it’s perfectly reasonable for fans who’ve been hanging out with the Starks for decades now to want to know what’s going on in the story that got them interested in the setting in the first place, especially in light of the general dissatisfaction caused by the ending, the TV show’s producers have written for themselves – Martin is indeed right as there is a hell of a lot of ASOIAF stuff going down the line at the moment. The most famous of these is, of course, House of the Dragon, a prequel that just wrapped filming and is set to debut on HBO sometime in 2022.
Martin notes that he is also working on the second volume of 2018’s Fire and Blood, the pseudo-historical novel focusing on the Targaryen family on which the series is based. He also confirmed the titles for a number of previously announced projects that are likely to be very interesting for those people who remain enthusiastic about this series 11 years after the last main book was released, including “Sea Serpents”, “Ten Thousand Ships” and “Dunk&”. An egg-based show that could eventually be called “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”. Oh, and an animated series called Golden Empire that takes place in Yi Ti, and it’s a place we’ll visit someday, we promise.
But yes, since you asked:
Of course, I’m still working on The Winds Of Winter. I stated that a hundred times in a hundred places endlessly repeating this is simply tiring. I’ve made a lot of progress with Winds in 2020 and less in 2021…but “less” is not “nothing”.
So.