George R.R. Martin reveals first look at his sci-fi short film The Summer Machine

A Song of Ice and Fire author has never limited himself to just being A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, much to the chagrin of fans waiting for him to finish writing The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his series. He's put together other books like Fire & Blood, which HBO is adapting as House of the Dragon. He's even dabbled in producing short films, including Night of the Cooters starring Vincent D’Onofrio. And now he's at it again with a new sci-fi short film called The Summer Machine. Deadline even has a first look at the set:

The Summer Machine is a science fiction story and may be the first entry in an anthology. Martin is producing the movie, but not writing or directing it; both roles are filled by Michael Cassutt, with whom Martin worked on the 1985 Twilight Zone reboot. The short will star Lina Esco, Charles Martin Smith and Matt Frewer.

We don't know many details about the plot, although in the image above you can clearly see that Martin is sitting in front of some kind of sci-fi doohicky. In a statement, Martin would only say, "Summer is coming," a cheeky reference to the Game of Thrones tagline "Winter is Coming." Either that or he's referencing this website; both things are equally plausible.

I know some fans are going to be upset that Martin is doing anything with his time other than working on The Winds of Winter, but the reality is that he's always been involved in side projects. This is nothing new. As for Winds, we have new cause to be unrealistically optimistic:

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