George R.R. Martin Will Publish Something This Year

Even if it isn’t what you’re likely expecting, we will at least have something new from George R.R. Martin this year, which counts for something, right?

We’re now closing in on the sixth year without the long-promised The Winds of Winter from George R.R. Martin. We already have an episode of Game of Thrones named that, by the way, just to not-so-subtly point out that the show’s sixth season may very well be the only “Winds” we have for a long time yet. However, that does not mean that GRRM cannot publish other things like short stories!

Vulture reports that a story set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire will appear in an anthology named Book of Swords, which seems like a pretty excellent name for a fantasy short story anthology. In fact, the book’s Amazon listing name-checks exactly one author. Yup, you guessed it, it’s GRRM. Incidentally, the editor, Gardner Dozois, actually edited Dangerous Women, which GRRM co-edited and also wrote a novella about the Dance of the Dragons for.

No details have emerged from official sources quite yet, but Vulture speculates that the story will likely be cut material from The World of Ice and Fire or even a story that’s appeared at cons many a time over the years, “The Sons of the Dragon”. Notes from said story have already appeared on the internet and have been around since 2014. Essentially, it details the lives of Aegon the Conqueror’s sons, Aenys and Maegor, the latter of whom we know better as Maegor the Cruel.

Now, before you panic and think that The Winds of Winter may not appear this year after all, just remember that at least someone thinks it will. That someone is GRRM. (Well, and The Washington Post’s often-shared graph, which predicted all of this happening in 2014.)

Next: 12 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read This Year

Book of Swords currently lists an Oct. 10 release date.