In a surprise twist to almost no one, author George RR Martin announced that he missed the deadline which would have had The Winds of Winter, Book 6 of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, published before the airing of HBO's sixth season of the TV series Game of Thrones. 

Martin took to his blog to make the announcement. He wrote: 

“I blew the Halloween deadline, and I’ve now blown the end of the year deadline. And that almost certainly means that no, The Winds of Winter will not be published before the sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres in April.

 

I won’t make excuses. There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO. It’s on me. I tried, and I am still trying.” 

This should come as no surprise to book fans, many of whom have been waiting for a completion to this series since 1996. At this time, there is no true end in sight. Book fans will have to look for the TV show to give them an ending. Back in March 2015, show executive producer David Benioff confirmed that the show would spoil the ending of the book series: 

"We know where things are heading," said GoT executive producer David Benioff. "We will eventually meet up at pretty much the same place that George is going. There might be some deviations along the route, but we're heading toward the same destination."

For more info, read more here and here.

Coming this August, more pseudo-history from PG. The inaccuracies in the blurb alone are enough to get this book sent to the "never gonna happen" shelf. 

Book Blurb:
By the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind the Starz original series The White Queen, a riveting new Tudor tale featuring King Henry VIII’s sixth wife Kateryn Parr, the first English queen to publish under her own name.

Why would a woman marry a serial killer?

Because she cannot refuse…

Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives—King Henry VIII—commands her to marry him.

Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn’s trust in him grows as she unites the royal family, creates a radical study circle at the heart of the court, and rules the kingdom as Regent.

But is this enough to keep her safe? A leader of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English, Kateryn stands out as an independent woman with a mind of her own. But she cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry’s dangerous gaze turns on her. The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy—the punishment is death by fire and the king’s name is on the warrant…

From an author who has described all of Henry’s queens comes a deeply intimate portrayal of the last: a woman who longed for passion, power, and education at the court of a medieval killer.