George R.R. Martin: If The Winds of Winter isn’t done by July 2020, you can imprison me

Okay, yes, the situation isn’t quite as serious as the headline implies, but it’s not wrong.

So Game of Thrones is officially over, but fans can take comfort in the fact that some things never change, such as A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin dropping vague hints about when he might finish writing The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the saga. In fact, he’s been doing that a lot lately, just the other day talking about whether the end of his books will resemble the end of the show. (Surprise: he’s noncommittal.)

Now, Martin has written a new post responding to a video created by Air New Zealand inviting him down to the Oceanic country to complete his novel. Already, this story is kind of odd:

Anyway, Martin politely declines the offer, heaping praise upon New Zealand while he’s at it. He reveals, however, that he’ll be there anyway for the 78th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which will run from Wednesday, July 29 through Sunday, August 2, 2020. “[T]hey’ve asked me to serve as Toastmaster for the Hugo Awards,” he wrote.

Even after he cut back on public appearances to focus on Winds, Martin always made an exception for Worldcon, a convention he’s been attending for many years. Learning he plans to keep that up isn’t surprising. This next part kind of is:

"I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine."

Okay, so first off, the lake of sulfuric acid he’s talking about is a real thing, and it is creepy:

Second, this is as close to a deadline as Martin has set for himself in quite a long while, even if he’s obviously joking. We have our new date to look forward to, A Song of Ice and Fire fans: July 29, 2020.

Of course, Martin is famous for blowing deadlines, which is why he no longer sets them for himself. But hey, maybe the prospect of finishing Winds while breathing in acidic fumes will encourage him to hurry up.

Also, I demand that Air New Zealand make a new video where it shows the acid cabin where Martin could be staying. Keep the conversation going.

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More seriously, while there’s no way to know if Winds will actually by done by July of 2020, Martin does seem more upbeat these days about the prospect of finishing it. I’ll allow myself to hope…for a while.

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