Fans seemed to have gotten confused about — or perhaps would like to squeeze more information from — the recent statements made regarding the upcoming installment of George R.R. Martin's best-selling series, as many are still hoping that "The Winds of Winter" would come out this year.
Based on the recent statement made by publisher Jane Johnson from HarperCollins in her interview with The Guardian, the next installment of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is not on their schedule of 2015 releases.
She said, "I have no information on likely delivery. These are increasingly complex books and require immense amounts of concentration to write. Fans really ought to appreciate that the length of these monsters is equivalent to two or three novels by other writers."
While majority believe that the statement means the book won't come out in 2015, there are those who think that it's not necessarily so, saying that Martin could hand the manuscript to the publisher at any time.
The author reacted to any misinterpretation of Johnson's statement in his personal blog, and reiterated that he prefers not to mark any date until all is ready.
"I certainly hope that THE WINDS OF WINTER is not on the schedule of ANY of my publishers. I have spent years trying to persuade them all not to schedule my books until they are completed and delivered," the writer posted on his Not A Blog site. "Scheduling, and then having to reschedule and postpone, just pisses people off. I'd rather not schedule at all until the date is real and certain. This flies against standard publishing practice, however, so it's a battle that I do not always win."
"The Winds of Winter" is the sixth installment in the popular epic fantasy series. The first installment, titled "A Game of Thrones," was published in 1996. It was followed by "A Clash of Kings" in 1998, then "A Storm of Swords" in 2000. It was followed by "A Feast for Crows" in 2005, then "A Dance with Dragons" came out in 2011. The seventh and final installment of the series titled "A Dream of Spring" is also reportedly in the works.
This is not the first time that the release date of "The Winds of Winter" was widely talked about online. The book was first believed to come out in 2014, then the rumors mentioned that it will be out this year. Last December, Martin's the "12 Days of Christmas" tweets was speculated to be the countdown for the upcoming release of the book. However, Martin denied the rumors at once.
The popularity of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series escalated when HBO featured a TV adaptation of the books, titled "The Game of Thrones." Its fifth season will come out on April 12.
