George RR Martin, Game of Thrones’ Author, Misses TV Deadline

Author of critical acclaimed Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, confirmed that he has missed the last deadline that would have allowed the sixth novel in his fantasy series to be published before the next TV series begins.

With this confirmation, fans will not have a source material before the newest season premieres on HBO.

The author has been working closely with the HBO producers and writers to allow readers and viewers to grasp the full understanding of his books but his sixth book, The Winds of Winter, will not be ready.

“For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, ‘I have completed and delivered The Winds of Winter’ on or before the last day of 2015. But the book’s not done. Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there’s a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. But there’s also a lot still left to write. I am months away still … and that’s if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t.) Chapters still to write, of course … but also rewriting. I always do a lot of rewriting, sometimes just polishing, sometimes pretty major restructures,” Martin wrote on his blog, early Saturday morning.

Martin informed editors and producers that his sixth book would be out by October. Martin confessed he was worried about what his editors would think but was happy to explain that “editors and publishers are great, and they took it with surprising equanimity.”

Martin’s New Year’s resolution seems to have been to come clean about his tardiness. “Here it is, the first of January. The book is not done, not delivered. No words can change that. I tried, I promise you. I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I’ve now blown the end of the year deadline. And that almost certainly means that no, The Winds of Winter will not be published before the sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres in April.”

With hint that there will be spoilers, Martin apologies to his fans and his producers. “I won’t make excuses. There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO. It’s on me. I tried, and I am still trying.”