Stephen King is also worried he’ll never get to read The Winds of Winter

The last A Song of Ice and Fire book hit store shelves in 2011, a full decade ago. The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the series, has been a very long time in coming, and fans aren’t the only ones getting antsy. As it ends up, none other than horror icon Stephen King is nervous he’ll never get to make that return trip to Westeros, as he told fellow author Neil Gaiman in 2012.

Gaiman himself shared this story in his foreword to the illustrated edition of A Storm of Swords, which came out last year. Redditor DsjgOriginal kindly shared the pertinent section for all to enjoy:

"[NO SPOILERS] Even King and Gaiman are waiting for Winds from gameofthrones"

I present to you a dialog between two literary legends, who it ends up worry about the same things as a lot of A Song of Ice and Fire fans:

"Stephen King: “Hey, Neil. Can I ask you something?”Neil Gaiman: “Of course.”King: “You know George R.R. Martin, don’t you? Personally?”Gaiman: “Yes. We’ve been friends for years now.”King: “I’d put it off for years, but I started reading A Game of Thrones and now I’m hooked on the books and…what kind of health is he in? I mean, do you think he’s likely to finish them? Before he dies?”Gaiman: “He’s in good health. He’s going to finish them.”King: “That’s good to hear. I have to find out how he’s going to finish this story.”"

Apparently Gaiman had “rarely seen a man so relieved.” Celebrities: they’re just like us.

Will George R.R. Martin die before finishing A Song of Ice and Fire?

The subject of whether George R.R. Martin will live to finish the Song of Ice and Fire series is a touchy one. The author himself made clear what he thinks about such speculation while talking to Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger back in 2014, when he was a spry 65: “I find that question pretty offensive, frankly, when people start speculating as to my death and my health. So, f*** you to those people.”

And that’s perfectly fair: no one with good manners and self-respect would dare broach this topic, so thank goodness I’m the one writing this article.

But seriously, as much as I sympathize with Martin’s reluctance to talk about this, I don’t think it’s crazy for his fans to wonder. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of examples of authors who died before finishing something. Frank Herbert was never able to complete his Dune series (his son finished it), J.R.R. Tolkien never finished The Silmarillion (ditto), Robert Jordan died before completing The Wheel of Time (Brandon Sanderson stepped in to help), Charles Dickens never completed The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Jane Austen never got around to finishing Sandition, Truman Capote died before putting the finishing touches on Answered Prayers, F. Scott Fitzgerald never completed The Last Tycoon, and so on. These fears aren’t coming out of nowhere.

And hey, Martin’s publisher put a story about this very topic in print in the foreward to a Song of Ice and Fire book, so it can’t be that taboo. But still, we should probably try to maintain an appearance of decorum. Maybe just confine your fears to this comments section.

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