George R.R. Martin has been very conservative when it comes to revealing the details of "The Winds of Winter," the next title in his "Song of Ice and Fire" saga.
Those familiar with Martin's storytelling style would do well to advise other fans of the series to brace themselves for a lot more deaths, although with everything that has happened since "Game of Thrones," everyone already seems to have had lots of practice with this.
Speaking via his LiveJournal blog, Martin said that the release of "The Winds of Winter" just might happen along with the release of his new series, "Fire and Blood," which is a historical account of the Targaryen lineage.
He wrote, "I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question), I still have good days and bad days, and that's all I care to say. 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, but I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two. A boy can dream..."
If this plan pushes through, however, hungry fans might be left without a buffer until next volume's release.
In a separate statement posted by Entertainment Weekly, Martin hinted that the book will have two very bloody encounters and that there are several more things fans can expect to happen, including events involving Tyrion Lannister and Danaerys Targaryen.
"Well, Tyrion and Dany will intersect, in a way, but for much of the book they're still apart. They both have quite large roles to play here," he said.
If the succeeding books really do mirror the events of the television series, fans can expect that the saga's final chapters would be extremely heavy, as several of the cast, including Sophie Turner, had reportedly burst into tears while reading the script.
