Winds of Winter progress latest as Game of Thrones 30th anniversary passes | Books | Entertainment

The past weekend marked the 30th anniversary of George RR Martin’s debut novel, his hit fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. From 1996 to 2011, the author smashed out four more novels in the series, with A Dance with Dragons being the latest.

Then the Game of Thrones TV show came and went as fans awaited the penultimate book, The Winds of Winter. Yet it’s now been more time between now and the last novel than the time it took Martin to write the first five.

Back in January, Martin confirmed that he’s written about 1,100 pages of The Winds of Winter so far. Considering 2011’s A Dance with Dragons was around that length, it suggests the next novel will be the longest to date. So we can probably assume he’s at least over halfway. However, he’s not without distractions.

Aside from his travels and involvement in Game of Thrones TV productions, Martin is currently writing the fourth Dunk and Egg short story, as revealed by the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showrunner Ira Parker. This could be because then they could get on with season 4. But then he might be tempted to write Dunk and Egg 5 for season 5, too. On top of that, the Game of Thrones prequel play The Mad King is debuting in Stratford-upon-Avon this month, so maybe Martin will be travelling over to watch the premiere.