The Expanse authors finish final book, win bet with George R.R. Martin

Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together under the pen name James S. A. Corey, started writing their Expanse series of science fiction novels in 2011, starting with Leviathan Wakes. Now, a decade later, they’ve turned in the ninth and final book in the series, Leviathan Falls. (See what they did there?)

That’s according to a tweet from Corey. What’s perhaps more interesting — and definitely funnier — is that the author(s) also revealed that by turning Leviathan Falls over to their publisher they won “my bet with [George R.R. Martin] that we’d beat him to the finish, which I think means we get all of his treasures.”

Martin, of course, is the author of the Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, adapted by HBO as the tremendously successful TV series Game of Thrones. The last book in that series, A Dance with Dragons, came out the same year that The Expanse began, so it’s safe to say that Corey is a bit quicker with the pen.

The entire Expanse series was written while fans waited for a new Song of Ice and Fire book

It’s not clear if the bet was to see whether Corey could finish The Expanse before Martin got out the long-awaited next A Song of Ice and Fire book, The Winds of Winter, or before he completed the series entirely. After a decade of waiting, I’d be happy just with the next novel, and then we can see where we are.

Both Abraham and Franck have worked with Martin before. Abraham has adapted several of Martin’s novels into comic book form, while Franck served as his personal assistant for awhile.

The Expanse also got turned into a TV show on SyFy, although it jumped over to Amazon a few seasons in. Last we checked, Amazon had cancelled the show after ordering an upcoming sixth season, which will still leave a few books unadapted. But the show has already come back to life once, and the producers sound hopeful that it has another resurrection up its sleeve.

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