George R.R. Martin says he is working hard to complete the final two books of his wildly popular “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.
However, the fantasy writer emphasized that he would rather submit a late manuscript than publish an inferior story.
“So that’s what I’m struggling with,” Martin told The Canadian Press. “I do hope to finish this book and to write more stories after this. I have many ideas, many other characters I want to write about and introduce.”
Martin noted that he was taking his time with “A Song of Ice and Fire,” as the series was shaping up to be his magnum opus.
“If my work is remembered at all after my death, if I’m ever going to have a part of literature, it’s going to be for ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ not anything that I can write before and after,” said Martin. “So it behooves me to make it as good as it can possibly be. This is my masterpiece, so to speak, so I have to make it good.”
Martin added that he won’t be taking on any more sprawling projects like “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which was originally supposed to be a trilogy, rather than a 7-book series.
“[Sure], I would write a series again, but not a series on this scale… This is climbing Mount Everest here
and, you know, once having climbed Mount Everest, there are some nice smaller mountains I can climb.”
The story of A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a fictional world, primarily on a continent known as Westeros and a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Although not yet completed, the series has already been adapted by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss on behalf of HBO.
The first season of the television series debuted in the US on April 17, 2011, with production based primarily in Belfast, Northern Ireland (the show has also filmed in Malta, Croatia and Iceland).
Game of Thrones season 2 kicks off on April 1, 2012, and will air each Sunday for ten episodes. The first season is currently being replayed on Sunday evenings. HBO subscribers can also catch up on the HBO Go website.
