Martin Cuts Back Con Appearances to Work on Winds of Winter

Perhaps now the fans will finally leave GRRM alone about how much he works on the books.

Martin took to his blog last night to apologize to World Fantasy Convention-goers in Saratoga. He had originally planned to attend, but has, as of now, had to take it off his schedule. As he puts it:

I have too much to do. Too many things on my plate. Son of Kong foremost amongst them.

Son of Kong, in Martin parlance, is Book 6 of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, the long awaited The Winds of Winter.

See what else Martin says is coming off his schedule, below.

The big granddaddy con will also be cut, according to his post:

Also, I have decided against attending this year’s San Diego Comicon. Same reason. But since Comicon was never listed on my Appearances page, scratching it is not as big a deal.

(Should I complete and deliver WINDS OF WINTER before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind).

*needle scratch*

So Martin is taking off a pair of cons from his schedule–one in July and one in November, with the thought that he needs the time to finish The Winds of Winter. But! He thinks there is a possibility that he could finish and deliver the novel in time to change his mind.

Now, we know Martin took off writing any episodes for Season 5 to help ease his work load and make some kind of progress towards finishing TWoW. Not that he has any hope of finishing the series before the show not only passes him—which is now due to happen in a matter of weeks—but before  it completes the story. That is, as long as we take Benioff and Weiss’ word that they really will not be going past seven seasons, Martin basically has no hope of getting both The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring out, unless he can magically complete two novels in two years.

But as the show peaks, getting TWoW out while interest is high is probably a priority for Martin’s agent and editor. After all, once the show ends, it’s unclear how many fans will still want to read the books, as the show will have spoiled everything already. (I mean, I will. But I was reading the books a decade before the show existed. And though I’ll bet most of our readers here at WiC feel the same, I can see where marketing at HarperCollins would fear this is like trying to sell shares in pumpkin sales on November 2nd.)

Speaking of HarperCollins, Martin’s publisher continues to state that TWoW is not on the 2015 schedule. But I think we can all guaran-damn-tee that would change in a heartbeat if Martin delivered the manuscript in time to attend SDCC. Perhaps not quite so much if he delivers it by the WFC in November. Some things are just impossible unless you have a time turner.

• Published on 03/17/2015 at 8:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT