George R.R. Martin’s Not A Blog and A Song of Ice and Fire portal Westeros.org are reporting that A Dance With Dragons, the long-awaited fifth volume in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series, has been completed.
The post on Martin’s Not A Blog is cryptic, merely providing an image of the dead King Kong tagged with the book’s title. Martin commonly referred to the book as a beast while writing it, however, and Westeros’ report infers the same connection.
If the reports are accurate, this is great news for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and puts the book on track to make its July 12th release date.
Got me some rereading to do…
OK – as of 424 p.m., Winteriscoming is reporting that GRRM’s editor confirmed that the book was in fact done. Hallelujah. Wonder if the pulling back message was a prank, as I can’t find the pulling back post on NotaBlog now.
That is welcome news indeed! Congrats to Mr. Martin!!
Yay!!!! Does happy dance (with dragons)
@Rikka: Me too! Me too!
~lakesidey
Martin actually refered to the book as King Kong and mentioned biplanes a few times. Looks like the biplanes finally won. :)
And here is the editor’s confirmation:
http://suvudu.com/2011/04/yes-it-is-done-really.html
RobMRobM: The post on GRRM’s livejournal that you quoted from was dated January 30, 2010, as I said on the other threads. I tried posting the URL and was flagged as spam, but it’s easy enough to find in the archives.
@6. Thanks, Carol. Some wag attached to a twitter post, claiming that GRRM was pulling back. Damn them.
@1 – Just finished my re-read of ASOS on Sunday night.
Does this mean I have to actually read A Feast for Crows now?
I’ve started it at least a half-dozen times and have never managed to slog all the way through. Maybe before ADWD drops someone will post a recap.
-Beren
I’m getting more excited now but I’m still going to wait until GRRM has updated his web site before I start breaking out the champagne and cigars. I’ve not once complained about how long it’s taken the book to get done and I’m not doing so now either but I’m also holding back my enthuisasm until the web site is updated because only then will it be real.
Winter really is coming on schedule! Wonder if the FTB guys will rename their site Finish the Next Book George!
Congrat’s! I know how hard it must be to get through a book when its tough but your audience NEEDS it. I hope Mr. Martin is aware of how appreciative we are.
When I get to use my B&N discount card to purchase the book, then I’ll cheer. Until then, I’ll simply wait & see.
Kato
For years, I’ve been saying,”Winter is coming, but I’m not breaking out the heavy coat yet.” Looks like it’s time to find my scarf and dust of the sled!
The irony in this, is that the book is coming out in the middle of summer :P Part of me really just wants the book (at least the one after this; wikipedia says the title is Winds of Winter) to come out on December 21st. Not the best release date for a book, I know (talk about last minute Christmas shopping!), but I would have so much fun saying, “Winter is coming!” and actually meaning it.
How many more books and what will the gestation period be?
Awaiting series completion, before any more chasing the dog!
Ah, but if there’s ever a time when I so want to believe that “winter is coming,” it’s in the middle of summer! I hope this announcement proves true. It certainly looks like it. It’s just that after being burned a few times, I’m not quite ready to break out the mittens.
I just hope he completes the series.
I am not reading anymore of it until he does.
I am hoping we will see the final installment by 2016.
FINALLY! Because this book took so long, I made a vow not to purchase serial books, unless all of the books were available. It’s just too annoying. I mean, I have been waiting for almost 10 years for Melanie Rawn to complete her Captal series…I should have learned my lesson then…
I think it has been 20 years for Robert Jordans epic and we still have a ways to go. Starting to feel GRRM’s will see him dead before the final act…
P.S. Does anyone else feel like this was all a timing ploy? Get the HBO Series out and THEN release Book #5.
After having waited this long, particularly after Mr. Martin said he had enough material for 2 books and “Dance” would be out the year after Storm of Swords (huge lie) I think I’ll continue to wait. I will not buy a new book. Instead I plan to wait and pick up a used book from a seller on Amazon. I’m slightly irritated it took Mr. Martin this long to put together a book that supposedly was mostly already written. How far can you miss a release date and still have any credibility at all. Nope. He won’t make any $$ off me on this one. (I realize it doesn’t matter to himand he certainly doesn’t care or need the money. It’s a matter of principle.)
Book is definitely done. His editor did a video presentation going through the manuscript posted earlier today.
I understand the frustration about the publication delay but it was not as if he was sitting on his hands for the past six years. He had a big creative problem getting the characters in the right places at the right times in the keystone 5th book of a complex series. He finally solved it and the book is coming out. I will read it with glee and not focus on aggravations over the delay.
There’s no word yet on his timing for completing the next two books. He already has a headstart on the next book, as he moved a bunch of completed chapters from DWD into it already. I hope the hard organizational work is largely done, so the final two books can flow but GRRM is being understandably closed mouth of what’s going to happen now that “Kong” is finished. Let’s hope from a writing standpoint that the next one is nicknamed “My Little Pony”rather than Kong.
Rob
@18.njpoetess
I said the same thing when I got stranded in the middle of WOT, and then again when I got stuck in the middle of Terry Goodkind (at least that is done now), but I always manage to have a really great book 1 mentioned to me which I end up reading before I realize that it’s in progress.
It frustrates me partially since I have to wait so long in the middle of the story, but mostly because I end up trying to re-read a whole series to get back in the swing before reading the new book, and although I enjoy it, I sometimes feel like it’s a waste of time. There’s already way more content out there than I could ever hope to consume, and I’m doing re-runs!!