George R. R. Martin, author of the wildly popular Song of Ice and Fire series, has debuted a spoiler for his upcoming novel by posting a chapter from the Winds of Winter.
Martin had this to say on the his blog, “As a Christmas gift to all my loyal fans and readers, I’ve just replaced the (long published) sample chapters from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS on my website with an unpublished sample chapter from THE WINDS OF WINTER.
“The chronology, as usual, is tricky,” he says by way of explanation, “This chapter will be found eventually at the beginning of WINDS, but as you will be able to tell from context, it actually takes place before some of the chapters at the end of DANCE.”
He goes on to point out that this is not the same chapter which will eventually be sampled at the back of the paperback edition of A Dance with Dragons, so upon that release fans will have two chapters of the next book to keep them going until release, which could be years away if Martin’s past publication record is any indication.
The Winds of Winter will be followed by the final book, A Dream of Spring.
The sample is from the point of view of Theon Greyjoy, and covers part of his journey to Winterfell.
You can read the sample over on the Song of Ice and Fire Sample page of Martin’s – unfortunately terrible looking and poorly coded – personal website. But be warned: spoilers follow on the other side of that link, especially if you are only keeping up via the Game of Thrones television show, since this is would be several season ahead.
There is currently no publication date confirmed for The Winds of Winter.
