"A Song of Ice and Fire" author George RR Martin is currently hard at work with "Winds of Winter" and has teased fans of a major twist.
With the fifth season of "Game of Thrones" -- the HBO TV series based on the books -- underway, fans are worried that without the sixth installment out, the series may overtake the novels and spoil the story for readers.
According to Master Herald, the famed author has reportedly committed to finishing the book before the show's sixth season airs. This follows earlier comments by the 66-year-old writer who admits he wants the books to be finished as well.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Martin knows how eager his fans are and is aware of how important having the books out in time is.
He says releasing "Winds of Winter" before the next TV season "has been important to me all along," says the best-selling New Mexico author. "I wish it was out now. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish. But I cancelled two convention appearances, I'm turning down a lot more interviews-anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done."
He also adds there's a big twist he's working on for a veteran character. "This is going to drive your readers crazy," he teased and added, "but I love it."
"I'm still weighing whether to go that direction or not. It's a great twist. It's easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it's just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen. And with the various three, four characters involved... it all makes sense. But it's nothing I've ever thought of before. And it's nothing they can do in the show, because the show has already-on this particular character-made a couple decisions that will preclude it, where in my case I have not made those decisions."
Martin has previously spoken out about his frustration over release deadlines but it seems the clamor has been heard by the author. Most release estimates peg the book to be out sometime in 2016. As a treat to fans, an excerpt of the new book was recently released.
