Wednesday, July 29, was a sad yet unsurprising day for Game of Thrones fans, as author George R.R. Martin missed his most recent self-imposed, half-joking deadline to complete the next book in the series. Martin is vague about his writing process these days due to the overwhelming fan outcry about the wait between albums, but last year he vowed to have The Winds of Winter ready for this date. If he didn't, he permitted fans to "imprison" him.
Many fans were ready to take Martin up on his offer to imprison him and force him to work on the next book in his series, A Song of Ice and Fire. However, the conversation walked a precarious line between joking and not joking, especially when it comes to calling out Martin personally. Martin has been honest and vulnerable with fans in admitting that writing his books while they were made into a sensational TV show at the same time was difficult, and creatively draining. Some have taken to defending Martin from any perceived sleight, wanting to foster a conducive mindset for him to work in.
There was also the fact that this half-serious "deadline" was conditional. Martin established it back in May of 2019 when he announced that he would be the toastmaster of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention. Of course, back then, the convention was meant to take place in person, and Martin was expected to travel to New Zealand to attend, so technically, he only permitted fans to imprison him there.
"But I tell you this — if I don't have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I'm done," he wrote on his blog at the time. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I'll be fine."
In more recent blog posts, Martin has admonished fans who took this deadline too seriously. He also confirmed that the coronavirus pandemic has actually helped his writing process move more consistently, saying that he is still working steadily on The Winds of Winter.
Martin will host WorldCon virtually via video chat this weekend — assuming no crazed fans try to imprison him literally. In the meantime, here's a look at the winding, self-referential torrent of jokes about Martin's self-imposed jail time on Wednesday.