“No, winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least.” With those words, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, writing today in his personal blog, let his fans down once again.

The message came on top of a press release for a different book -- his upcoming “imaginary history” of the Targaryen family Fire & Blood.

Game of Thrones fans waiting for the next installment of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire – the series that started with the book Game of Thrones, are among the most long suffering in all of literary fandom. They have been waiting impatiently for The Winds of Winter for the last seven years – all the more so since the series’ previous novel ended somewhat abruptly, with several characters in cliff-hanger situations.

We noted awhile back the frustration Game of Thrones fans have felt in watching the popular HBO series’ plot move ahead of the written works it is based on. Those fans will, we now know, need to keep on waiting.

Our last look at the glacially slow pace of Game of Thrones books is here.