There's some good news and bad news for fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of books.
First, the good news: Martin just released a new chapter from the book on his website. This chapter focuses on Arianne Martell and the Sand Snakes.
But there's some bad news, too. Although this new chapter is now available for the public, Martin admits that he's still not any closer to actually finishing the next book in the saga that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones.
"And no, just to spike any bullsh-t rumors, changing the sample chapter does NOT mean I am done," Martin wrote on his LiveJournal. "See the icon up above? Monkey is still on my back ... but he's growing, he is, and one day ..."
The Winds of Winter is the follow-up to 2011's A Dance with Dragons. Although Martin originally intended to have The Winds of Winter out before this season of Game of Thrones, that didn't happen, and now the series' stories are actually ahead of the books. Martin continues to communicate with the creators and writers of the show about his intention with the books, but it's likely that the series and the books will now become more different from each other.
So why the long wait that continues to get longer? Late last year, Martin blamed distractions, such as travel that he's done to promote both the book series and Game of Thrones, which keeps him from writing (he has repeatedly said that he cannot write while traveling).
Martin's notorious slow pace with the series, though, has long been a subject for comedy, including a skit from Conan O'Brien that has Martin doing everything but writing.
Fans, though, should look on the bright side: it's likely that many more beloved characters will die in the new book, so its delay also means a delay in the heartache that will likely come with reading the next installment of the series.
Martin did apologize earlier this year for not meeting his deadline for The Winds of Winter by the end of 2015, but he still hasn't released a date of when the novel might finally get done.
