LOS ANGELES, July 25: Author George R.R. Martin has hinted at the possibility of not one but two new "Game of Thrones" books in 2018, whetting the appetites of fans who have been waiting for the next installment of the epic saga since 2011.
Martin, whose "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels were adapted into HBO's hit medieval fantasy series "Game of Thrones," currently is working on the sixth installment, "Winds of Winter," continuing the story from 2011's "A Dance With Dragons."
"I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question), I still have good days and bad days, and that's all I care to say," Martin wrote on his blog, grrm.livejournal.com, during the weekend.
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"I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two. A boy can dream...," he said.
The seventh season of the television show, which premiered this month, already has advanced beyond the events of Martin's published books.
There have been recent contradictory reports about "Winds of Winter" - that Martin had not even been started it or that he had finished it but was holding it back - and the author dismissed those as "equally false and equally moronic."
"Game of Thrones" follows the epic story of warring families in a multi-generational struggle for control of the Iron Throne, which rules over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
Martin has come under fire from avid "Game of Thrones" fans for taking so long to finish "Winds of Winter" and starting work on other projects. The author said in his blog post that he was working on a two-part history of Westeros' Targaryen kings called "Fire and Blood," with the first part to be released sometime late 2018 or early 2019.
A trailer for the HBO show, released last week, shows a brewing battle between Cersei Lannister, who currently sits on the Iron Throne, and Daenerys Targaryen, who has traveled with her army and dragons to reclaim her ancestral home.
The series will conclude next year with the eighth season, which will reveal who will sit on the Iron Throne. A series of spin-offs is being developed at HBO.
