George R.R. Martin’s Spanish publisher claims that The Winds of Winter will be published in 2016.
Editor Alejo Cuervo of Ediciones Gigamesh publishers recently spoke with radio hosts at El món a RAC1, where he implied having solid information about the release date of The Winds of Winter. Author George R.R. Martin has been working on the sixth installment in his A Song of Ice and Fire series since 2011, and fans have grown hungrier with each passing year.
According to Cuervo, the meal they have long awaited is finally in sight.
“It’s planned for next year,” Cuervo tells the radio hosts in Spanish. Though the time-frame Cuervo has refers to the American edition of The Winds of Winter, he assured his audience that Spanish-speaking fans would not have much longer to wait.
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Martin’s American publishers, Cuervo says “have promised us that they will give us the manuscript before the release date in English,” so Ediciones Gigamesh’s Spanish edition will not be far behind.
“But it will also be during the next year for sure, won’t it?” the radio host asks, questing for certainty as fans of Martin’s work always are.
“Yes,” Cuervo responds. “Well, for sure… unless a meteorite falls.”
While Martin himself has studiously refrained from offering any timeframe for the completion of The Winds of Winter, there have been indications that the epic work may be nearly done. The author canceled several convention appearances this year in order to dedicate himself to his writing, and did recently have a meeting with publishers in New York.
“I wish it was out now,” Martin wrote on his blog, assuring fans that he is doing “anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done.”
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The pressure on Martin, though never particularly low, has become particularly intense with the conclusion of Game of Thrones season 5. The wildly popular HBO series is now branching out without material from the author, and will inevitably spoil coming events from A Song of Ice and Fire.
While Martin’s publishers would have to work with incredible speed to release The Winds of Winter before Game of Thrones returns in Spring 2016, such an accomplishment is still possible. Certainly, fans around the world (not to mention Martin himself) would celebrate such a development, and its hard not to be hopeful that the pieces in this real-life game of thrones will finally fall into place.