As he’s demonstrated many times, the only thing George R.R. Martin loves more than quasi-pornographic descriptions of food is finding excuses not to write. But apparently he’s actually been working on the fifth book in his A Song Of Ice And Fire series, The Winds Of Winter, as he shared an update on its progress on his blog—George R.R. Martin still uses Livejournal, which is adorable—yesterday.
“You want to know what the Sand Snakes, Prince Doran, Areo Hotah, Ellaria Sand, Darkstar, and the rest will be up to in WINDS OF WINTER? Quite a lot, actually,” Martin writes, indicating that the events of the book will deviate from those on the show. (The non-spoiler-phobic can read more about that here.) Martin’s referring to a new excerpt from the book uploaded onto his website, told from the perspective of Dornish princess—and heir to the throne—Arianne Martell, who’s not a character on the HBO series (and whose presence would change that plotline quite a bit, actually).
Sounds like being lapped by the TV version of his fantasy series has put a fire under Martin’s ass. And before you start rolling your eyes at the cliche, might we remind you that George R.R. Martin, best-selling author, uses them too: “And no, just to spike any bullshit rumors, changing the sample chapter does not mean I am done. See the icon up above? Monkey is still on my back… but he’s growing, he is, and one day…” he says on his blog. Did we mention that George R.R. Martin’s third favorite thing is crushing fans’ hopes and dreams?
[via EW]