"Game of Thrones" creator George R.R. Martin has hinted that his long-awaited next instalment in the "Song of Ice and Fire" novel series could hit shelves as early as 2018.

The sixth novel, to be titled "Winds of Winter", follows the fifth tome "A Dance With Dragons" - which was published in 2011 after a five-year hiatus - with the final instalment to be called "A Dream of Spring".

Commenting to fans via his blog "Livejournal", Martin revealed the following: "I've seen some truly weird reports about [‘Winds of Winter'] on the internet of late, by ‘journalists' who make their stories up out of whole cloth," he wrote. "I don't know which story is more absurd, the one that says the book is finished and I've been sitting on it for some nefarious reason, or the one that says I have no pages. Both ‘reports' are equally false and equally moronic. I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question), I still have good days and bad days, and that's all I care to say."

Martin added said that he is also working on a two-volume history of Westeros' history under the Targaryen dynasty, which is currently titled "Fire and Blood," with most of the book already "largely written" and an envisioned publication date for volume one in 2018 or early 2019. - in addition to a growing list commitments which also include five new TV shows for HBO, and four new "Wild Card" books.

"Whether WINDS or the first volume of FIRE AND BLOOD will be the first to hit the bookstores is hard to say at this juncture, but I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two. A boy can dream," he said.

The novels serve as the basis for the hit HBO show "Game of Thrones," with each season roughly corresponding to each novel, although the show has now surpassed the storyline in the books (via Variety).



