It has been years since fantasy author George R. R. Martin published the fifth book in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel saga. Fans, while excited for the next installment, "The Winds of Winter," have been accustomed to the fact that the popular author is taking his time with his writing. However, Martin has dropped a few hints on when the next book might be released, as well as how different it would be from the HBO series.
While Martin was taking his time writing the book, the television series "Game of Thrones" went ahead with its seventh season with its own tale. The story had to be continued in the show, even if it meant writing new plot lines without the steady and solid narrative of Martin's books as a guide.
As a result, the show's quality suffered, as numerous plot holes, illogical plot lines, and subpar dialogues littered its seventh season.
However, Martin teased that the upcoming "Winds of Winter" novel will be parallel to the show in some of its details.
"Winds will be different in some ways, but will parallel the show in others," he said in a report from The Sun. "At this point, there are probably a dozen characters who are dead on the show but alive in the books, so it would be impossible for the two to remain the same. (Also, of course, there are characters in the books who have never even existed on the show, like Victarion Greyjoy, Jon Connington, Penny, Arianne Martell)."
The author also recently teased that he thinks a new book about Westeros will be hitting shelves in 2018. It is not yet clear whether it will be "Winds of Winter," or the Targaryen history book, "Fire and Blood," that he is working on.
"Whether 'Winds' or the first volume of 'Fire and Blood' will be the first to hit the bookstores is hard to say at this juncture," Martin wrote on his blog. "But I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two."
