We recently reported on a few comments George R.R. Martin made on his Not a Blog regarding what, if any, writing he has on tap for 2018. “Any plans for ASOIAF-related writing (releases) for 2018?” one fan asked. “[The Winds of Winter] certainly would be awesome, but anything else planned?”
Martin responded simply: “FIRE & BLOOD is planned.”
And what of The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in Martin’s saga? It’s conspicuous by its absence. It looks very doubtful that we’ll get Winds this year.
But Fire and Blood, Martin’s fake history of the Targaryen family dynasty, is on the way. Or at least, the first of two volumes is. “The first volume should be completed soon,” Martin said in response to another comment. “The second is hardly begun.” Excerpts from that project have already been released as stories entitled “The Rogue Prince,” “The Princess and the Queen” and “Sons of the Dragon,” the latter of which was published in The Book of Swords, an anthology edited by Martin’s longtime friend Gardner Dozois.
Martin gave more details when responding to reader Rilind Sahiti, who asked whether Fire and Blood would be released before or after The Winds of Winter. “F&B will be in two volumes,” Martin said. “Vol 1 before, vol 2 after.”
Okay, so Fire and Blood Volume 1 is planned to come out this year. Then The Winds of Winter will come out some time after that — probably not 2018 — and then Fire and Blood Volume 2 later still. That’s all good to know, although it still falls short of a hard release date for Winds. And so our watch continues.
Next: Season 8 filming: Massive new towers added King’s Landing set in Belfast
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