Last week, The Book of Swords was released into bookstores both real and digital. Edited by Gardner Dozois, a long-time collaborator of George R.R. Martin, the book contains several short fantasy stories, including a new one from Martin himself: Sons of the Dragon, which tells the tale of Aenys I Targaryen and Maegor the Cruel, the sons of Aegon the Conqueror. It may be the last printed work set in the Song of Ice and Fire universe we get from Martin until The Winds of Winter comes out at some as-yet-unknown time in the (hopefully near) future. And according to Dozois, Martin seems more determined than ever to finish his landmark series.
A few days back, Dozois participated in a Reddit AMA. One fan asked about the possibility of getting further books like Old Mars and Old Venus, a pair of sci-fi anthologies edited by Martin and Dozois. Dozois’ response:
"George and I have agreed we’d like to do OLD MOON or OLD LUNA and maybe others, but all subsequent collaborative anthologies with him have been put on hold until after he finishes his novel series."
Martin has cleared his scheduled to focus on A Song of Ice and Fire before, foregoing some public appearances and refusing to accept an honorary degree from Texas A&M University until it’s done. Slow as the books have been to materialize, this is another example of his commitment.
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 18: Author George R.R. Martin poses at the after party for the premiere of HBO’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ at the Roosevelt Hotel on March 18, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Of course, this doesn’t mean Martin has no commitments other than Winds and A Dream of Spring, the seventh and assumedly final book in the saga. He’ll still edit his Wild Cards series, is working on Game of Thrones prequel shows for HBO, and has a volume of Targaryen family history called Fire and Blood on the horizon. But foregoing work on anthologies can only be a good thing for the mainline series.
Next: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: The cast members won’t even get scripts for season 8
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h/t BryndenBFish on Reddit