Winds of Winter: George RR Martin gives update on A Song of Ice and Fire book's progress - but is confronted by fan's blunt question

George RR Martin has been working on the sixth of the seven A Song of Ice and Fire saga volumes for well over a decade now.

The Winds of Winter follows the fifth of the series, A Dance with Dragons, which came out in 2011. Since then the Game of Thrones HBO series has long finished - having diverged from Martin’s original story - and devotees of the kingdom of Westeros have been thirsting for the next installment.

The vacuum of information since then has led to some people to suggest that Winds will be published simultaneously with the final planned book of the saga, titled A Dream of Spring, whereas pessimists believe he is more interested in TV adaptations at the moment - and projects such as the de-extinction of the direwolf, which appears in the Song of Ice and Fire saga and has been recreated by American scientists this year - than finishing his novels.

Martin has this summer gave a rare firm indication that the book even exists. He had previously said that 1,000 pages of manuscript were written, but this was several years ago.

During an interview with Penguin Random House earlier in the summer, he said: “It’s a big, big book, I’ve said that before. It’s a challenging book. It’s probably gonna be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series.”

He said that he has currently written around 1,200 pages, and estimated it to be 75 per cent complete, but said there could be another 400 to 500 pages still to go. This would make the final total close to 1,700 pages - the longest book of the series.

Another hint he dropped were that some events from the TV series Game of Thrones will appear in the book - but which ones, and how, remain dangling.

Earlier this year he revealed his frustration about repeatedly being asked about Winds of Winter. In April, trailing “big news” before revealing his involvement with the direwolf project, he said: “No, I am not announcing the completion of The Winds of Winter, the sixth volume of A Song of Ice and Fire. Please don’t start any rumors to that effect. I am so tired of having to issue denials every time some offhand comment of mine, most having nothing to do with Winds, somehow convinces half the internet that the book is imminent. It’s not. No.”

However, attempts like these to make people back off and leave in him peace are not always successful. At Seattle WorldCon this week, Martin appeared on a panel, which took questions from the audience.

One person stood up and asked: “George, you’re not going to be around for much longer. How would you feel about someone else taking on and finishing the books?”

The audience did not react well to the bluntness - or rudeness - which came about 2 hour and 9 mins into this recording of the event. But questions like this, however impolite they may be, may dog the 76-year-old author until a certain long-awaited hardback arrives in shops.

Looking on the brighter side, some fans think the final straight is in sight. YouTuber Tucker Creed has previously posted a video saying: “Now you can call me optimistic, you can call me delusional, if you want. But I imagine because A Dream of Spring is the final book in the series, I imagine he knows exactly what he's going to do with it.

“And he might even know like the final bit of the dialogue. I imagine if Daenerys is going to die in A Dream of Spring, I imagine George has her dialogue already in his head. And he probably had it for decades at this point.

“That's the main difference here. He knows the story now. And in The Winds of Winter, he did not. Once A Dream of Spring is finished, I don't think George is going to go back and forth for that long, I think in like 1 year he'll be like screw it, just publish the damn thing. And I imagine if he does have any regrets, he will just go on interviews and be super real with everyone like he always is. But first he does have to get off his ass, or well sit on his ass and finish the damn book.”