Game of Thrones author George RR Martin will indeed release new material set in the world of his popular A Song of Ice and Fire series in 2017, but it isn’t exactly what fans of Game of Thrones were hoping for. Still, the new announcement may serve to whet the appetites of readers who have been looking for new George RR Martin material for years.

George RR Martin, Author Of Game Of Thrones [Image by Jordan Strauss/AP Images]

George RR Martin, known affectionately around the web on fan sites as GRRM, has been working on the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series since the release of the fifth book, A Dance With Dragons, in 2011. The new book, entitled Winds of Winter, is long awaited by fans, although GRRM has teased a possible 2017 release. However, Martin has made similar statements before, and even his recent Winds of Winter tease on his blog (called NotABlog) was not particularly enlightening.

“Not done yet, but I’ve made progress. But not as much as I hoped a year ago when I thought to be done by now. I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year.)”

Martin is notorious for not meeting deadlines, much of which is attributed by readers to his writing process. Referring to himself as a “gardener” style author, Martin eschews writing outlines in favor of letting the storyline unfold naturally as he writes, branching off in different directions as he writes towards his ultimate narrative goals. This process often apparently leads him into tangents, and he often discards large passages and rewrites others. Early last year, GRRM discussed his problems in finishing Winds of Winter before 2016.

“Sometimes the writing goes well and sometimes it doesn’t, and that was true for me even when I was in my 20s. And as spring turned to summer, I was having more bad days than good ones. Around about August, I had to face facts: I was not going to be done by Halloween.”

Longtime readers were disappointed as the immensely popular HBO television adaptation series Game of Thrones overtook the narrative of the book series in 2016 during the show’s sixth season. Hopefully, the new short story will give the many readers patiently waiting for A Song of Ice and Fire something to talk about-about until Winds of Winter is finally released.

GRRM In San Diego [Image by Jack Dempsey/AP Images]

GRRM Contribution To ‘Book Of Swords’

The new George RR Martin short story will be released in an anthology called Book Of Swords, edited by Gardner Dozois. A longtime friend and collaborator of GRRM, Dozois has been working on the anthology since 2015, and it is scheduled for release in October of 2017. Early press related to Book of Swords came from the website of one of the contributors, Matthew Huges, author of the Archonate series. Hughes posted on his website on November 24, 2015, that he had been contacted about contributing to Book of Swords.

“Gardner Dozois invited me to send him a story for an upcoming theme anthology to be called The Book of Swords. Assuming Gardner likes what I’ll send him, I’ll be joining K.J. Parker, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, C.J. Cherryh, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Ken Liu, Danial Abraham, Cecelia Holland, and Peter S. Beagle in the table of contents. And probably more big names who have yet to commit.”

Given George RR Martin’s relationship and history of working with Gardner Dozois, many fans of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire immediately began speculating that Martin would be among the contributors. Now, Martin’s involvement has been confirmed on the Book of Swords Amazon page.

“Fifteen original tales celebrating fantasy’s golden age of sword and sorcery, including a new story from George R. R. Martin set in the world of A Game of Thrones!”

Although there are few further details other then the new short story will indeed be set in the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire, many fans are already speculating online, as can be seen in this Reddit post on the “r/asoiaf” subreddit. Certainly, the news about George RR Martin’s new release is giving fans something to talk about during the long wait for Winds of Winter. Let us know what you think in the comments.

[Featured Image by Matt Sayles/AP Images]