The coronavirus pandemic has sent a lot of people into self-quarantine or isolation, whether they like it or not: one person who is using the time productively though is Game of Thrones author George RR Martin, who has revealed to fans that he is busy writing his next!
Winds Of Winter has long been in the works, and now looks like the coronavirus outbreak has given Martin all the peace and solace he seeks to finish the novel. The 71-year-old wrote in his blog, Not a Blog , about the pandemic, posting, “Strange days are upon us. As ancient as I am, I cannot recall ever having lived through anything like the past few weeks.”
He also wrote that he realises he falls into the vulnerable category, given his “age and physical condition” but that he was feeling fine and staying in a “remote isolated location” and maintaining social distancing,
Martin stated, “I am off by myself in a remote isolated location, attended by one of my staff, and I’m not going in to town or seeing anyone. Truth be told, I am spending more time in Westeros than in the real world, writing every day.”
The novelist added, “Things are pretty grim in the Seven Kingdoms… but maybe not as grim as they may become here. Some days, watching the news, I cannot help feeling as if we are all now living in a science fiction novel. But not, alas, the sort of science fiction novel that I dreamed of living in when I was a kid, the one with the cities on the Moon, colonies on Mars, household robots programmed with the Three Laws, and flying cars.”
Martin concluded, asking his readers to stay safe: “I never liked the pandemic stories half so well… Let us hope we all come through this safe and sound. Stay well, my friends. Better to be safe than sorry.”
