Is George Rr Martin Writing A 6th Book

George R.R. Martin hopes The Winds of Winter will be released in 2021

'It's a huge book': The Game of Thrones author has posted an update on his long-awaited A Song of Ice and Fire novel.

A pandemic silver lining: George R.R. Martin has made significant progress on The Winds of Winter.

Martin says he's been spending his days holed up in a literal cabin writing Winds and now expects the book to be finished in 2021.

"I have to confess, after half a year of pandemic, quarantine, and social distancing, I am showing signs of cabin fever... half of which is quite literal in my case," he wrote. "Yes, I am in an actual cabin in the mountains. No, I have no fever. Yay!For the present at least, I am healthy... for an out-of-shape guy of 71, at least... and doing all I can to stay that way."

George R.R Martin photo shoot in Stockholm, Sweden - 23 Jun 2015

Credit: Ibl/REX/Shutterstock

"If nothing else, the enforced isolation has helped me write," Martin continued. "I am spending long hours every day on The Winds of Winter, and making steady progress. I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week. But no, this does not mean that the book will be finished tomorrow or published next week. It's going to be a huge book, and I still have a long way to go ... I have bad days, which get me down, and good days, which lift me up, but all in all I am pleased with the way things are doing."

Specifically, the author teased that he's been writing about Cersei Lannister, Asha Greyjoy (who was renamed Yara in the HBO series), Tyrion Lannister, Ser Barristan Selmy, and Areo Hotah.

The author noted he's "heartbroken" that he had to cancel his trip to the 78th World Science Fiction Convention in New Zealand, which is going virtual this year. But Martin added he will visit Wellington next year when he hopes "both COVID-19 and The Winds of Winter will be done."

The author noted that back when he wrote the third book in his saga, A Storm of Swords, he was averaging 150 pages a month (a pace that is considered rather incredible, by the way, as that's almost like half the length of a typical-sized book). "I fear I shall never recapture that pace again," he noted. "Looking back, I am not sure how I did it then."

The author also had kind words for the new Stephen King novella collection, If It Bleeds, and Emily St. John Mandel's The Glass Hotel. There is more, as well, and it's best to read Martin's whole post to accurately get his current thoughts on things.

Meanwhile, Martin also is an executive producer and co-creator on the upcoming Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon, and Universal Cable Productions is teaming up with Hulu to develop two series based on his Wild Cards novels.

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