George RR Martin "Spending More Time In Westeros Than In The Real World" During Isolation, Hints At Completion Of Next Book In Series That Inspired 'Game Of Thrones'

Twenty-eight words in a blog title might be a new record for me. Whew. 

..But the lengthy headline seems fitting for a story that's been playing out since 1991 when George R.R. Martin began the first volume in his "Song of Ice and Fire" series, Game of Thrones. Almost thirty years later book six of seven in the series still isn't finished. In fact, seasons 6 - 8 in GoT surpassed where Martin had reached in his books, which means the book series ending could be pretty different than the show ending. 

And fans disappointed in that final episode might be pleased to know that the alternate conclusion could be here sooner than expected, and in a roundabout way it's sort of thanks to the virus / self isolation...

While some of us are spending this isolation time to see how many grapes we can catch in our mouths or to count trains outside our windows, others are settling in to complete sliiiighty more exciting work... 

From Martin's website, Not A Blog:

For those of you who may be concerned for me personally… yes, I am aware that I am very much in the most vulnerable population, given my age and physical condition. But I feel fine at the moment, and we are taking all sensible precautions.  I am off by myself in a remote isolated location, attended by one of my staff, and I’m not going in to town or seeing anyone.   Truth be told, I am spending more time in Westeros than in the real world, writing every day. Things are pretty grim in the Seven Kingdoms… but maybe not as grim as they may become here.

Some days, watching the news, I cannot help feeling as if we are all now living in a science fiction novel. But not, alas, the sort of science fiction novel that I dreamed of living in when I was a kid, the one with the cities on the Moon, colonies on Mars, household robots programmed with the Three Laws, and flying cars. I never liked the pandemic stories half so well…

Let us hope we all come through this safe and sound. Stay well, my friends. Better to be safe than sorry.

So who knows.. Maybe this time of solitude and focus will get us closer to the final two books in the series. Wish we had them now to help pass the time now, but am sure it will be worth the wait.

Another thing I saw skimming through his blog - Martin's continuing to pay all the employees at his book shop, theater, and non-profit even as they're closed for the time being. Good stuff.