Game of Thrones creator frustrates fans as he admits another release delay

If you had asked us ten years ago what the biggest show on TV would be about in 2016, we doubt we would have described Game of Thrones.

But the strong character writing of George RR Martin in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, upon which the TV show is based, has made HBO's smash hit about way more than just dragons and sex. Martin gives every player in his stories such depth that it takes an awfully long time to actually finish his books - and now the author has missed another deadline for his latest instalment, The Winds of Winter. Publishers had hoped that Martin would have finished the book on time to be released before the sixth season of Game of Thrones to allow readers to stay ahead of the TV series, but that seems very unlikely after Martin failed to finish the book by the new year. In fact, Martin says that he is 'months away' from finishing. Writing on his personal blog, Martin said: 'Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. 'For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, "I have completed and delivered THE WINDS OF WINTER" on or before the last day of 2015. But the book's not done. 'Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. (Those 'no pages done' reports were insane, the usual garbage internet journalism that I have learned to despise). But there's also a lot still left to write. 'I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.) Chapters still to write, of course... but also rewriting. I always do a lot of rewriting, sometimes just polishing, sometimes pretty major restructures.' While we wait for the new series to air in April, there's only one thing left to do.