New George R.R. Martin book coming in August, but not the one everyone wants

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

To the best of our knowledge, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin is still plugging away at The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in his series. Consistent with his pledge to cut back on public appearances until he finishes the book, the author did not attend San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. However, he did make an appearance at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, a movie theater he owns in his native Santa Fe, to celebrate the impending release of High Stakes, the latest novel in an anthology superhero series called Wild Cards. Martin edits the series, which consists of interwoven stories penned by a stable of different authors, along with Melinda M. Snodgrass.

"We had an amazing, goofy, fun event at the Jean Cocteau Cinema yesterday, when more than a dozen Wild Cards authors got together and donned the personae of their characters, while my assistant editor Melinda Snodgrass (in the person of Noel Matthews, aka Double Helix) interviewed them. The whole thing was taped, so we hope to be able to upload it here soon."

We’ll be on the lookout for that. High Stakes is released on August 23.

Months ago, Martin told a commenter on his Not a Blog that he wouldn’t be writing anything other than The Winds of Winter until that book was complete. “Teleplays, screenplays, short stories, introductions, forewords, nothing,” he wrote. Work on the Wild Cards series, which he edits but does not write, was an exception. Now that we’ve entered the long barren wasteland between Game of Thrones seasons, fans will likely be scrutinizing Martin a little more closely for clues about when Winds might be released. Although he’d wanted to get the book out before the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 6, that wasn’t in the cards. With Season 7 debuting later than usual, we can hope that it’ll be released before then.

If you’re looking for something to fill the time, by all means check out Wild Cards. High Stakes is the twenty-third volume in that series, so it should eat up some time. (Sidenote: I’m surprised it took them 23 books to get to that title.)

h/t Not a Blog