Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin breaks the internet

GAME of Thrones author George R.R. Martin ‘broke the internet’ when he released a chapter sample from the sixth book in his epic fantasy series.

HE’S already prolific with the written word, and now one of this century’s most popular writers has broken the internet.

George R.R. Martin, author of the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire — which was turned into the television series known as Game of Thrones — released a chapter from the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, yesterday.

The excerpt, entitled Mercy, focuses on a character called ‘Mercy’, and when Martin uploaded the highly anticipated sample to georgerrmartin.com, the website crashed.

“I broke the internet. Sorry about that,” he wrote on his blog, grrm.livejournal.com

“The upload of the new sample chapter from THE WINDS OF WINTER created so much traffic to my website and blog that the servers crashed. This is the first time I’ve been able to get up myself all day.

“Anyway, it seems to be easing off some. And we are looking at ways to increase capacity.

“The ‘reviews’ of the chapter have been amazingly enthusiastic as well. Thanks. I am pleased that so many of you — thousands and maybe tens of thousands, it would seem — enjoyed ‘Mercy’ so much.

“Some of you who enjoyed meeting Mercy may not have found the other sample we’ve put out there of late, a new Tyrion chapter. That one is live and available with the ICE & FIRE app, and can be found at iOS; Android.

Enjoy the read. ”

If you want to read more of Martin’s post, go to his blog — we won’t include any more here as it contains spoilers.

News_Image_File: George R. R. Martin’s novels were so popular, they were turned into television series Game of Thrones.

George R.R. Martin released the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire, titled A Game of Thrones, in 1996. A Clash of Kings followed in 1998, A Storm of Swords in 2000, A Feast for Crows in 2005 and A Dance with Dragons in 2011.

There has been much discussion about whether the sixth and seventh books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, would ever be completed, so Martin’s chapter samples are welcome news for fans.

A few days prior to releasing Mercy, Martin wrote that “with season 4 of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES almost upon us, I thought the time was ripe for me to give my readers another taste of WINDS OF WINTER.

“The new chapter is actually an old chapter. But no, it’s not one I’ve published or posted before, and I don’t even think I’ve read it at a con. So it’s new in that it is material that no one but my editors have ever seen before, but it’s old in that it was written a long time ago, predating any of the samples that you have seen. The first draft was, at any rate. I’ve rewritten it a dozen times since then.”

News_Image_File: The A Song Of Ice and Fire series so far.

The chapter starts:

She woke with a gasp, not knowing who she was, or where.

The smell of blood was heavy in her nostrils … or was that her nightmare, lingering? She had dreamed of wolves again, of running through some dark pine forest with a great pack at her hells, hard on the scent of prey.

Half-light filled the room, grey and gloomy. Shivering, she sat up in bed and ran a hand across her scalp. Stubble bristled against her palm. I need to shave before Izembaro sees. Mercy, I’m Mercy, and tonight I’ll be raped and murdered. Her true name was Mercedene, but Mercy was all anyone ever called her …

To read the entire chapter, head to the website.

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