It’s a long-standing irony of the A Song Of Ice And Fire series that there are more trolls writing these books—i.e., one—than there are actually featured within them, with author George R.R. Martin apparently delighting in his continued efforts to mess with people whose only sin was loving his work, often to the point of maniacal obsession. Now, Martin has stoked those fires even higher, announcing a release date for a new Westeros-based book that is resolutely not The Winds Of Winter, the franchise’s maddeningly long-awaited sixth installment.
Instead, Martin announced that fans will be getting Fire & Blood—a history of the series’ Targaryen dynasty, which the author was extremely clear was “not a novel”—as this year’s book instead. (It’s out November 20.) And that is “this year’s book,” singular; Martin confirmed this week that The Winds Of Winter won’t be out until at least 2019, driving many of us to distraction, and ensuring that the series’ TV adaptation, Game Of Thrones, will be fully completed by the time the sixth book (of a planned seven) even arrives.
The last main-series ASOIAF book, A Dance With Dragons, arrived back in July 2011. The series’ final installment, A Dream Of Spring, is expected to arrive some time after the heat-death of the sun.