Game of Thrones author announces that he will skip Comic-Con and World Fantasy Convention to write The Winds of Winter – unless he’s finished the sixth book in his fantasy series by then

So George RR Martin puts his shoulder to Dame Fortune’s wheel once more, spinning those of us tormented by the wait for the next volume of his Song of Ice and Fire series back up again to the giddy heights. Just when we had recovered from the news that we were not going to see book six this year, the man himself informs us that, well, there might just be a chance.

Writing on his blog, George RR Martin apologises that he won’t be attending the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga this autumn. Why? Because he’s working on The Winds of Winter.

“I have too much to do. Too many things on my plate. Son of Kong foremost amongst them,” he wrote.

As all good GRRM fans will know, Son of Kong means The Winds of Winter, because of the quip he used to make about the previous volume in the sequence, A Dance with Dragons. “People joke about having a monkey on their back,” he told me in 2011, “and I’ve been joking for years about having King Kong on my back.”

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But back to our current business. “Also, I have decided against attending this year’s San Diego Comicon [Comic-Con]. Same reason,” he wrote, adding – and I am sure fully anticipating the glee with which his words would be received – “Should I complete and deliver WINDS OF WINTER before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind.”

Interest in Martin’s next book is at fever pitch, not least because its television incarnation, Game of Thrones – which takes its name from the first novel in the saga – has been promoting the drama’s fifth series with a world trailer premiere.

Obviously, Martin is not saying he is going to finish The Winds of Winter – but he’s also not saying he’s NOT going to finish it, so the fires of hope can spark up once more. May your muse smile upon you, GRRM, and the winds of winter blow strong. And fingers crossed for 2015.