'The Winds of Winter' Release Date News: George R. R. Martin's Publisher Says 'I'm Like Jon Snow, I Know Nothing!'
George R. R. Martin's "The Winds of Winter" (TWOW), the sixth novel of "A Song of Ice and Fire" (ASOIAF) series, is not coming anytime soon.
The publisher of the 67-year-old bestselling author shared that she knows nothing about the progress of the sixth book, which has been already outpaced by HBO's "Game of Thrones" television series adaptation.
TWOW's Release Remains A Question
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"I'm like Jon Snow, I know nothing!" Jane Johnson, Martin's U.S. publishing editor at Random House, told Newsweek in an e-mail when inquired about the update of TWOW.
Johnson, who is also Martin's U.K. editor at HarperCollins' Voyager division, added that all she knew is that the author is currently working hard on the sixth novel. She added that they will publish the book as soon as they can after Martin completes the highly anticipated sixth novel of ASOIAF series.
What Took Martin So Long?
Johnson defended the delay of TWOW. She explained that it would really take time considering that "The Winds of Winter" should be the longest novel among other ASOIAF books.
Johnson pointed out that Martin has already written "the best part of two million words" of ASOIAF series in the past two decades. She added that the average length of a novel is around 100,000 words, which means, Martin's piece is already 20 novels in most writers' works.
TWOW Will Have The Most Number of Pages
Johnson's defense about the delay of TWOW actually has basis. According to an infographic by Electric Lit, ASOIAF is one of the longest stories ever told, with around 1,770,000 words so far on its first five books. It is already 3.7 times longer than J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novels.
It is also notable that the books of ASOIAF series have increased their number of pages throughout the years. The groundbreaking novel "A Game of Thrones" released on August 1996 has 704 pages, while the fifth installment "A Dance with Dragons" published on July 2011 contains 1056 pages. Given this trend, it is expected that TWOW will be the novel with the most number of pages in the phenomenal book series.
TWOW is Still Not Late
According to Bustle, the frequent delays of TWOW do not necessarily mean that the sixth novel is already late. Christopher Ingraham of The Washington Post projected that the sixth installment of ASOIAF series will be released in 2017, based on the book's length and Martin's reputation as an author.
In the meantime, Martin's fans can set aside their anticipation of the sixth novel and look forward to the 20th-anniversary edition of the first book. The Christian Post reported early this week that "A Game of Thrones: The Illustrated Edition" is set to be released on Oct. 18, 2016.
