Though the San Diego Comic Con panel for Game of Thrones seemed to stretch the width of Westeros from certain angles, there were many notable absences. One person missing is a man who has been a staple of SDCC these last few years, even before Game of Thrones was a worldwide hit television series. George R.R. Martin is almost as famous for his attendance of conventions as he is for writing A Song of Ice and Fire—partly because fans have complained that he’s attending them instead of finishing…well, you know.
It was a big deal earlier this year when Martin announced that he would be cutting back on his convention attendance and buckling down to finish writing what he affectionately calls “Son of Kong” (The Winds of Winter) in hopes of having it out before Season 6. Some hoped that he might be close enough to finishing that he could both get the novel out and attend SDCC, but it was not to be. Martin stayed home, and though he admitted in a blog post that it felt a little odd not being there, and knowing it was going on, he was also at peace with it.
Staying home was the right decision. I just got back from Chicago and the Dead shows, and before that it was Europe, and it is hardly as if HBO needed me in San Diego to represent… not with so much of our cast on hand. I have so much work to do, I am way behind on everything, and I have a wedding to attend in Jersey in a few weeks, and worldcon after that… and if truth be told, San Diego has gotten overwhelming in recent years. There are always good times catching up with friends, and hanging with the cast, but it’s not as if I can walk the floor anymore and look for old comic books, the way I once did.
The perils of worldwide fame does mean that Martin cannot enjoy the con in semi-anonymity as he once did. But that reference to attending WorldCon is a hopeful sign. The World Fantasy Convention is one of Martin’s other yearly pilgrimages, and he made a point to apologize to attendees that he would be taking it off the schedule to finish TWOW. But, as he said then, if he completes Book 6, he holds the right to change his mind. Does that suggest his mind is changing? And if so, is “Son of Kong” close to dropping and revealing the ultimate fate of Jon Snow?