George R.R. Martin’s Game Of Thrones book six is about to land

COVID-19 has forced author George R.R. Martin to churn out more pages in his long-awaited Game Of Thrones book six, pushing forward the release date. But that’s two years too late after the TV series went its own way, Duncan Lay writes.

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It’s time to warm up the flying pigs, because George RR Martin is dropping a lot of hints that the very-long-awaited book six of Game Of Thrones is soon to land.

Yes, it appears that COVID-19 is good for one thing — forcing the notoriously slow-writing author to churn out more pages.

Still, even if he finishes it tomorrow and hands it to the long-suffering publisher, it will be 10 years since A Dance With Dragons hit the shelves and two years since the television series finished its eighth season.

The good news is, COVID-19 has forced him to cut back on all his other commitments and churn out some pages.

Writing on his blog, called Not A Blog (obviously), Martin says he’s locked himself away in a “fortress of solitude” with one assistant to feed him and keep him entertained when he’s not in Westeros.

George R.R. Martin is close to releasing his latest Game of Thrones book. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty

These ‘minions’ (his words, not mine) — of which there are five — work in two-week shifts but must spend the preceding two weeks in quarantine.

I hope he pays well, because even The Devil Wears Prada’s nightmare editor Miranda Priestly wouldn’t dream of enforcing those sorts of conditions on her workers.

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The two-week shifts are one thing but making his minions cover themselves in yellow body paint and only wear blue dungaree overalls is a bit much.

Anyway, he says he is making real progress, although he won’t give out a time frame.

Having tantalised fans for a decade, that’s understandable.

“I’m spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel, Sam, Vic and Ty. And that girl with no name over there in Braavos,” he wrote, rather cryptically.

What will be Jon Snow’s fate in the Game of Thrones book? Picture: Helen Sloan/HBO

Sam is obviously Samwell Tarly, Ty is of course Tyrion Lannister and the girl with no name is naturally Arya Stark.

But is “Mel” code for Melisandre, the witch who brought Jon Snow back to life in the TV series? And is “Vic” really Victarion Greyjoy, who was left out of the TV series but is as brutal as his brother Euron, who did make it in? If so, is that a heavy hint that these characters will have a much more prominent role? Or is he just messing with our minds?

Then, of course, once he has finally finished Winds Of Winter, he needs to start cracking on Dream Of Spring, the final book in the series.

On current writing pace, given he is now 71, the assistants might have to finish that one off with the assistance of a ouija board.

Still, he did also announce a book was coming out — the paperback version of Fire And Blood.

“This is not a novel. It is an imaginary history!” he thundered on his blog, obviously sick of idiots who bought it thinking it was book five of GoT and then whinged online.

But it is the source material for House Of The Dragon, the prequel TV series to GoT that is being filmed for HBO and will be screened here on Foxtel.

So, if you want to get your head around what that show will be like, this is the only Martin book you can buy this year.

Unless we start seeing herds of unicorns and flocks of dragons, in which case we’ll get book six by Christmas.

Originally published as George R.R. Martin’s Game Of Thrones book six is about to land