Did George R.R. Martin Just Reveal When the Next Game of Thrones Book Will Be Finished?

Sound the trumpets! Break out the wine! Kill an entire room full of wedding guests! Do whatever it is you do to celebrate good news, because George R.R. Martin just revealed that the next installment of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, upon which HBO's epic Game of Thrones is based, could be finished later this year.

Posting on his blog Monday, Martin announced he's pulling out of the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga because he has "too many things on his plate."

But that doesn't sound like much, you say! Well, yes, you're correct. But then Martin quickly followed up with this little nugget that we're going to read into like crazy: "Should I complete and deliver Winds of Winter before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind."

First Look: Game of Thrones Season 5

That sounds at least a little encouraging, right? Martin has famously been working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth and penultimate book of his best-selling fantasy series, since A Dance With Dragons was published back in 2011, a.k.a. a lifetime ago.

Fans have been worried for a while now that Game of Thrones will eventually overtake the book series, given how slowly Martin works. Adding to that fear is the fact Martin has informed the producers of the show, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, how the books will end, and that they have no obligation to wait for the books in completing the series.

As it stands, the series' fifth season debuts next month and is already very close to catching up to the current book (and Book 4, in which events take place concurrently). Let's all form a prayer circle and hope Martin is telling the truth and The Winds of Winter will be finished in 2015.

Game of Thrones returns April 12 at 9/8c on HBO.

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