No, George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished The Winds of Winter, so don’t even ask. But one of his stories — a never-before-released history of Westeros — will be appearing in a new anthology book out this year: The Book of Swords. Penguin Random House released the cover:
Here’s the list of stories and authors featured in The Book of Swords:
- “The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker
- “His Father’s Sword” by Robin Hobb
- “The Hidden Girl” by Ken Liu
- “The Sword of Destiny” by Matthew Hughes
- “‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott
- “The Triumph of Virtue” by Walter Jon Williams
- “The Mocking Tower” by Daniel Abraham
- “Hrunting” by C. J. Cherryh
- “A Long, Cold Trail” by Garth Nix
- “When I Was a Highwayman” by Ellen Kushner
- “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory” by Scott Lynch
- “The Colgrid Conundrum” by Rich Larson
- “The King’s Evil” by Elizabeth Bear
- “Waterfalling” by Lavie Tidhar
- “The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland
- “The Sons of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin
Martin’s story, “The Sons of the Dragon,” tells the history of Aenys I Targaryen and Maegor the Cruel, the second and third Targaryen kings to rule from the Iron Throne. Both sons of Aegon the Conqueror, Aenys and Maegor were complete opposites. While Aenys was a thoughtful and wise ruler, Maegor was as cruel as his name suggests, and proved it during a prolonged conflict with the Faith of the Seven and the Faith Militant.
According to Martin, the story will read more like a history than a narrative style story. Also, if anybody’s worried, he didn’t take time out of writing The Winds of Winter to pen this one — it was compiled from unused stuff he wrote for The World of Ice and Fire, which came out a couple years back.
The Book of Swords will be released on October 10. It’s available for pre-order here.