HBO

Savvy "Game of Thrones" fans longing for a release date for George R.R. Martin's sixth novel, "The Winds of Winter," know where to look for news -- in the comments of unrelated posts on Martin's website. (He calls it "Not a Blog," but come on, it's a blog.)

This week, a fan pleaded for news on the series, noting that Martin's been sharing info about the Wild Cards sci-fi anthology series he edits instead, and the author defended himself.

"I do post about Ice & Fire and Game of Thrones whenever there is actual news to report," he wrote. "Do you really want or need weekly WoW posts all saying, 'Still working on it, not done yet?'"

Um, yes?

Martin went on to say he knows some authors will give updates even when they've just written a few new pages, but when he tried that with his fifth book, "A Dance With Dragons," it just seemed to anger readers more.

"You say, 'Give us something,' but it seems to me I have," Martin points out. "A number of sample chapters have been posted on my website, and I've read more of them at cons. It's never enough. Okay, fair 'nuff, the only thing I can give that will satisfy is the finished book, and that's what I'm trying to deliver."

Reader William Gicking defended Martin's right to have other interests. "I would say if you feel like you wanna write a Wild Cards story then that is what you should write," he wrote. "Readers will complain no matter what and you only live once so you might as well follow your inspiration wherever it may take you."

And when a fan suggested some were concerned Martin, 68, might not live to finish the book, the author was not amused.

"I don't see speculation about the possibility of my death as any sort of compliment," Martin wrote. "My own hope is to live another thirty years and write thirty more books."

The HBO version of "Game of Thrones" will return July 16.

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