Books
George R.R. Martin updates 'Winds of Winter' and 'Blood & Fire' status, but statements are not very optimistic
The ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ author reveals that he is going through a period of deep stress.
The main saga of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ has not received a new novel since the publication of ‘Dance of Dragons’, a book that was released in the now distant 2011. Since then, George R.R. Martin has published other works, but ‘Winds of Winter’ still resists him. The seventh volume of ‘Game of Thrones’ continues to add pages, although at the moment no date has been given, not even approximate. The author and screenwriter has expressed on several occasions his problems when it comes to progress in writing, something he mentioned again in one of the latest updates on his official blog.
“Nor did I find much solace in my work. Writing came hard, and though I did produce some new pages on both THE WINDS OF WINTER (yes) and BLOOD & FIRE (the sequel to FIRE & BLOOD, (the second part of my Targaryen history), I would have liked to turn out a lot more,” wrote Martin. “My various television projects ate up most of those months. Some of that was pleasant (DARK WINDS, and THE HEDGE KNIGHT), most of it was not. The stress kept mounting, the news went from bad to worse to worst, my mood seemed to swing between fury and despair, and at night I tossed and turned when I should have been sleeping. When I did sleep, well, my dreams were none too pleasant either.”
The House of the Dragon controversy
George R.R. Martin did not like some of the changes made by showrunner Ryan Condal in the second season of “House of the Dragon”. After warning that he would publish a post about “everything that went wrong” in the series, the author followed through and assured that the elimination of Maelor will affect the next seasons: “Change begets change,” he commented. If seasons 3 and 4 go ahead with the planned changes, Martin warned that there will be more criticism.
However, the post was deleted shortly thereafter. HBO released a statement in defense of Ryan Condal, arguing that “adapting a book for the screen” requires the showrunner to make complicated decisions. “We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”