'Winds of Winter' Release Date Rumors: George R.R. Martin Teases Spring 2016 Launch?
With the April 2016 premiere of the sixth season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" drawing closer and still no sixth installment to the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series in sight, fans of the George R.R. Martin novels are on tenterhooks and keeping a close watch on the author to try to guess when the new novel will be released.
Neither Martin nor HBO, which has been producing the "Game of Thrones TV series since 2011, have revealed whether or not "Winds of Winter" will be released before Season 6 premieres, nor even whether or not the author has finished writing the book. Martin did, however, admit at a talk at Northwestern University earlier this month that he is a very slow writer and that he didn't expect that the show would catch up to him, as he had such a huge lead. "Game of Thrones," the first volume from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, was published in 1996.
Now, fans have taken a recent blog post by the "Game of Thrones" author as a hint about the release date of the much-anticipated "Winds of Winter," which "A Song of Ice and Fire" readers have been waiting for since 2011's "A Dance of Dragons."
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On his personal blog, Martin promoted his cameo on the Oct. 30 episode of Syfy's "Z Nation." In it, the author is a "celebrity zombie" being presented to a collector in a "celebrity zombie room." Martin was shown autographing copies of a book titled "A Promise of Spring." His captor says that the zombified author is signing using his muscle memory and brags that he has hundreds of copies of the new book and will get rich selling them on eBay.
Fans honed in on "A Promise of Spring," taking it as a covert message that Martin has finished writing "Winds of Winter" and will release it soon, ostensibly in the spring. On his post, fans commended the author for the subtle tease. One commenter said "Well played sir… 'A Promise of Spring?' Now that's one sure way of messing with [your] fan base." Another asked, "Are you hinting at us, Mr. Martin, that you are promising us something in the spring?"
