It has been eight years since George R.R. Martin published a book from his A Song of Ice and Fire series - A Dance of Dragons. Nearly a decade, the author is still yet to drop the next book installment, The Winds of Winter. Now at 70-years-old, there are fears he may never finish the series, but he assured that he would do so.
When Martin recently received the International Recognition Award at the Irish Book Awards in Dublin, he said in his speech that he would finish the book series that started it all and Game of Thrones. "My latest book Fire and Blood is a work of imaginary history, and A Song of Ice and Fire is a work of fiction, fantasy novels, which I will finish," he affirmed, per RTE.
The audience then laughed with his speech, as he later apologized for not being home writing. "I'm sorry!" he said.
Martin still has to finish The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring to conclude A Song of Ice and Fire. Now that he is at his 70s, there are fears that he may never finish the book, as there are talks about his health.
Although he always assured fans that he would finish the novel, some of them are starting not to believe him. There was one fan who said it might be reasonable to begin burying their expectations as Martin was no "spring chicken," Express noted.
He might not be able to finish the book series at this rate, and they even suspected that he didn't care. As writing the novel that inspired the Game of Thrones is a long-writing process, Martin previously felt angry when fans feared that he might die before completing the series.
Meanwhile, Martin said in the same speech that medieval history inspired A Song of Ice and Fire, but its story generally "came out of nowhere." In oppose to everyone's belief, the Westeros' map was not even based on Great Britain, but on Ireland - an upside-down representation of the country.
After following the character stories, Martin drew a map and made it an upside-down Ireland. He didn't like the map to look like Middle Earth or anything recognizable; thus, he put it with a distinctive shape.
"I used two pieces of paper because I had a line in there already that the North is as big as all of the six lower kingdoms combined," he explained. Hence, he had one sheet for the North and another one for the South. Now, everything is history as Game of Thrones breaks records and fans are still waiting for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring's release to complete A Song of Ice and Fire.
