Fans were almost certain that George R. R. Martin's upcoming novel "The Winds of Winter" was up for a 2016 release, but they were disappointed. Sadly there is no official statement from the author as when his next novel from the "A song of Ice and Fire" series will come out, but there are several rumors and speculations.

Rumors are rife that "The Winds of Winter" may have been in its proofreading stage. A recent post by Martin on his official LiveJournal blog was made just after Christmas.

In the post the author mentioned he had a stress-free Christmas with his family, friends and pets. Usually his work load during holidays makes him quite stressful.

Fans started speculating that the reason this year's Christmas was relatively mellow for Martin is because his upcoming novel might be almost complete. Now they are hoping for a 2017 release.

Although Martin never gave an official date for the release of his next book in the series, he surely did mentioned what to expect from it.

According to Entertainment Weekly, during a recent Q&A at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Martin hinted that "The Winds of Winter" will be quite dark in theme.

"Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places," EW quoted Martin talking about the book.

Meanwhile, the HBO TV series "Game of Thrones" is currently filming Season 7. According to Radio Times, showrunner David Benioff hinted that the show is already going towards its end game.

Benioff stated that Season 7 will have seven episodes and Season 8 will have six episodes, as opposed to ten. There are about fifteen more hours of story left in the TV series. However, this may change in future but as of now this is where they stand.

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