George RR Martin Winds of Winter update: Game of Thrones author asks fans to stop pestering him over next book

George RR Martin is one of the most popular authors alive today, but he is also almost universally reviled by his fans for his tardiness when it comes to meeting deadlines.

It’s been more than a decade (12 years and three months to be exact) since his last instalment of the epic A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series - adapted into the equally epic HBO series Game of Thrones - was released.

Fans of the series had a hard enough time during the seven year wait it took for Dance of Dragons, but now it looks likely that it will be at least twice as long until the next book in the series, Winds of Winter hits the shelves.

And Martin is only too aware of how antsy his fans can get - if he ever mentions a project he is involved in that doesn’t involve being chained to his desk writing Winds of Winter he is met with backlash.

It seems the scribe has had enough as he hit out at his fans at a book event this weekend - this is what he said:

What did George RR Martin say about Winds of Winter?

Martin appeared at the presentation event for his friend Cassandra Clare’s newest book in her The Shadowhunter Chronicles series, Sword Catcher.

When speaking at the event he was once again spoke about his progress on Winds of Winter in an apparent effort to stave off an endless stream on questions on the subject.

Martin said: “I’ve been working… I’m 12 years late with Winds of Winter … I’m just going to put it right out there, you guys don’t have to pester me about it.”

Evidently Martin is tired of answering questions about when his book will be finished but whilst some fans have given up on ever seeing Winds of Winter published, let alone the final book in the series, the author has never given up on getting A Song of Ice and Fire over the finish line.

But Winds of Winter is far from the only project Martin is involved with, in fact, he has plenty of other irons in the fire.

What else is George RR Martin working on?

In the 12 years since Dance of Dragons was published Martin has written several other works set in the world of Game of Thrones. These include three prequel novellas, Targaryen history book Fire & Blood, As well as plodding away at Winds of Winter, and reference books The World of Ice & Fire, and The Rise of the Dragon.

As he continues to plod on with Winds of Winter, Martin is also believed to be working on a sequel to Fire & Blood, cleverly titled Blood & Fire, which will cover the reigns of Aegon III to the Mad King Aerys II. 

He is also expected to publish six more Dunk and Egg novellas, and is involved with the second season of House of the Dragon, adapted from Fire & Blood. Martin is also set to work as a writer on two Game of Thrones TV movie spin-offs, and prequel series 10,000 Ships. 

When Martin has finally got on top of all these projects and finished Winds of Winter, he still won’t get any rest. His army of fans will be ready to badger the author for updates on his seventh and final Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Dream of Spring.