George R.R. Martin will no longer read or release advance chapters from The Winds of Winter

Last week, George R.R. Martin took to his Not a Blog and confirmed what a lot of A Song of Ice and Fire fans already suspected: The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his series, will not be out this year.

Following up in the comments of that post, Martin talked a little more about Winds, including his position on reading or releasing advance chapters. Long story short: he’s not going to do it anymore.

"I think I have probably released too many sample chapters already. Put them all together, and what, there are probably more than a hundred pages (I honestly don’t know, I have never tried the exercise).In the past, I have always been happy to release sample chapters, and to read other chapters at cons. But in this age of the internet, no good deed goes unpunished. That was brought home to me when the Dozois anthology BOOK OF SWORDS was released, and I found myself reading reviews that slammed “Sons of the Dragon” as ‘old, retread’ material because I’d read the story at a couple cons… for the entertainment of the few hundred people in the audience, but of course summaries went up all over the web, and somehow in the minds of some what should have been a brand new reading experience became old and familiar. It’s not worth it putting up sample chapters and giving readings if it means it will come back and bite me in the ass when the book is finally published."

Martin has expressed this sentiment about advance chapters before, but this gives us more of his reasoning. And he does have a point about the preview chapters piling up — he’s released a dozen from The Winds of Winter, and we have no trouble believing they add up to more than 100 pages.

Martin also responded to a, um…spirited commenter who asked him about…well, we’ll just repost the comment:

"We did not need anything else than Winds of Winter and the last book. All fucking spinoffs and histories and other moneymaking stuff could have waited!!!!! First things must come first!"

Martin used this comment as an opportunity to talk a little about the various Game of Thrones prequel shows in development, all of which he’s involved in to some degree:

"I am not sure HBO would agree that the spinoffs (I prefer the term “successor shows” myself) could have waited. With GOT set to end in 2019, they put five of them in the works, so as to have a new show… or more than one… to take up the mantle in 2020. (Development takes time). The successor shows were going to happen regardless. I prefer that they happen with my participation and guidance, rather than without it."

What do you guys think: is it worth it for Martin to be involved in the new shows so he can provide guidance or is that time better spent on The Winds of Winter? And what are we supposed to call these shows? Commenters call them “spinoffs,” Martin likes “successor shows,” and I’ve been calling them “prequels.” Life is full of choices.

Finally, one commenter, expressing what I suspect is the general sentiment of a lot of fans, said that “We want to know [more] about Jon Snow not Targaryen history.” Martin’s response:

"Lots of people want Targaryen history. And Dunk & Egg stories. And Wild Cards books. Some even want more Haviland Tuf stories, or a sequel to FEVRE DREAM, or that 1890s journalism novel I never finished.You don’t happen to be one of them, I get it. But you don’t speak for everyone. Far from it."

The floor is yours.

Next: Season 8 filming: The King’s Landing set prepares for battle

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h/t Reddit