While Game of Thrones the TV show marches on towards its conclusion, with reportedly around 13 episodes to go until we bid farewell to Westeros, Game of Thrones the book series is lagging behind.
Writer George RR Martin has been penning epic fantasy stories set in the Seven Kingdoms since the mid '90s, but those lengthy tomes take a while to write, and while he's been working on the final two books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the TV drama has overtaken the series that inspired it. For book fans, the six-year wait has been excruciating. But there could be a glimmer of hope.
Responding to an impatient fan on his blog, Martin said, "Not done yet, but I've made progress. But not as much as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now ... I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year)." We'll just be ignoring that parenthesis then and assuming Winds of Winter is coming to a bookshelf near you before the end of 2017.