'Game of Thrones' Is Over. Now What About the Books?

For many years, George R. R. Martin has been repeatedly asked the morbid question of what would happen if he were to die before finishing his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Since 1996, when the first entry, A Game of Thrones, was published, Martin has written five novels as well as several spin-off stories. But his progress has slowed to the point where HBO's TV adaptation aired eight seasons and wrapped up its narrative before Martin has finished his penultimate work, the long-awaited The Winds of Winter. The huge success of HBO's Game of Thrones brought more fans to Martin's writing, which in turn has only added to the chorus of frustration about his creative pace. 
 
“Fuck you.” That was Martin at his bluntest, back in 2014, when he was interviewed by a Swiss newspaper and asked about his hypothetical death. “I find that question pretty offensive, frankly, when people start speculating about my death and my health,” Martin, then 65 years old, said. “So fuck you to those people.” At other times, he's been clear that he wouldn't want some other writer to take over in his stead were he to die, which is how Robert Jordan's famed The Wheel of Time series was eventually completed. “I don't think my wife, if she survives me, will allow that either,” Martin has said. But in allowing HBO's Game of Thrones to outstrip his novels, Martin has effectively let someone else finish his story for him. The question for book fans now is whether Martin will eventually unveil his own version.