Game of Thrones may be headed for an eighth and final chapter, but don’t expect George R.R. Martin to follow suit. Despite some recent comments hinting the Song of Ice and Fire series may not close at seven novels, Martin has taken to his favored pastime of correcting LiveJournal comments.

Even as we still don’t yet have confirmation that Martin will finish sixth novel The Winds of Winter in time for a 2018 release date, speculation ran rampant with Martin’s latest blog entry that the author might be planning some significant surprise for the series. In discussing how the Hugo Awards classify literary sagas for the “Best Series” award, Martin seemed to suggest that the main Song of Ice and Fire narrative wasn’t necessarily confined to seven entries:

I don’t consider A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE a series either; it’s one single story, being published in (we hope) seven volumes. FWIW, Tolkien wasn’t writing a series when he wrote LORD OF THE RINGS either. He wrote a big novel and his publisher divided it into three parts, none of which stands on its own.

Taken on its own, the “we hope” could be interpreted a few ways. Martin might have suggested the story has enough outlined to spill into an eighth novel, or perhaps that he found The Winds of Winter surprisingly conclusive. It might also be a self-deprecating jab at his writing process delaying the seventh novel indefinitely. Fortunately for us, Martin noticed a fan comment that latched onto the “secret eighth book” theory, and responded “If so, that’s news to me.”

And before you ask for a Winds of Winter update, know that another fan inquired about the author’s plans for 2018, to which Martin would only acknowledge that Targaryen history book Fire and Blood is confirmed for this year. Considering the actual Game of Thrones won’t return until 2019, this winter is looking bleaker than ever.

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