George R.R. Martin Thinks 'The Winds of Winter' Will Be Published This Year

Can you believe it's already been a year since A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin clued us in to how tricky it is writing The Winds of Winter? We're going on six years since A Dance with Dragons (book five), marking the longest stretch between entries since the saga began in 1995. HBO's Game of Thrones has already galloped far beyond the existing roadmap, and will conclude after just two more abbreviated seasons.

Yet no scent of Winds, no ravens bearing good tidings.

On his beloved LiveJournal on Monday, Martin welcomed the New Year with a post titled "Doom, Despair, Defeat." It didn't talk about A Song of Ice and Fire—but a commenter did, saying "unless you want to be bombarded with im's like this, i would suggest another updated [sic]."