Fans of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire saga will be crushed to learn anew that recent rumors hinting at an August release of the sixth book, Winds of Winter is not going to happen.
According to Harper Collins Australia's head of marketing Jaki Arthur, the author is doing all that he can to deliver the final product as soon as possible, especially because of the fan clamor.
"Speculation has been rife in Australia and across the world that George RR Martin is going to release Winds of Winter at WorldCon...but we don't know when it will happen. There's no denying millions of fans want it. But we don't know when it will happen. We know George is busy writing it and we will announce the publication date once he finishes. Whenever it comes, it will be a huge publishing event," Arthur promised.
Fans of the series have been waiting for the book for the last five years, after the fifth book, A Dance of Dragons was released. At the time, Game of Thrones, an HBO series inspired by the saga was still in its early stages and even George RR Martin was still inspired to write quickly to complete the sequel.
But as the years wore on, the series eventually began to catch up with the source material, now already surpassing the events of the saga.
"I was so into it. I was pushing so hard that I was writing very well. I should have just gone on from there, because I was so into it and it was moving so fast then," explained Martin in an interview.
While the final release of the book is yet to be announced, Martin will be releasing a new book entitled High Stakes which he edited. The book is part of an anthology superhero series Wild Cards, and written by Melinda M. Snodgrass. The book comes out August 30, Business Insider reported.
