Speculation ran rampant on Wednesday when George R.R. Martin posted a photo of a dead King Kong on his blog Not-a-Blog. Was A Dance With Dragons finished? Really?
Yes, yes it is. And Anne Groell, Martin’s editor, has some ground-shaking proof on film.
Del Rey Spectra wasn’t happy with the first video released, but the one above is approved and more comprehensive, featuring Groell reading random bits from the text. Here are a few things that can be gleaned from the (admittedly fuzzy) screen and audio, according to Westeros.org:
- Pg. 452 Tyrion playing a game with a thin man.
- Pg. 958: More about Ramsay’s man-at-arms being killed, called Yellow Dick. Clearly right before the example from earlier.
- Pg. 1256: Something in Meereen, a man crushed in the press after a dragon.
Groell also reads the very last word of the manuscript and can’t say what exactly it is, but does hint that it begins with a “D”….
That’s one thick book, heavy enough to rattle-and-roll the Bantam Spectra offices; and with a July 12th deadline, those editors certainly have their work cut out for them as they prepare it for printing and shipment to bookstores!
Aidan Moher is the editor of A Dribble of Ink, a humble little blog that exists in some dusty corner of the web. He hasn’t won any awards, or published any novels. But he’s, uhh… working on that.
He is also a contributor at SF Signal and the lackey for io9’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.
