George R.R. Martin tells fans 'Winds of Winter' isn't coming this year -- but there's good news, too

At this point, it seems like winter may never actually come for A Song of Ice and Fire.

George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire (a.k.a. Game of Thrones), dashed fans' hopes of reading his next novel Winds of Winter this year in a blog post Wednesday, but at least he announced the release date of his book about the history of the Targaryens: Fire and Blood.

Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire have been waiting since 2011's A Dance with Dragons for the sixth book of Martin's series, Winds of Winter, which has been teased since the last book's release. Some expected it to release before the HBO series Game of Thrones reached that point in the story, but we're way passed that now.

Instead of finishing Winds of Winter, it seems that Martin is more preoccupied with helping to produce and work on the TV show as well as adding to the Ice and Fire universe without actually progressing the main series. He has released a handful of books and short story collections that take place within the world of Westeros and Essos, but they're about events from before A Song of Ice and Fire.

Fire and Blood, which Martin announced will be coming out on Nov. 20, falls right in line. The book is the first of two parts that describe the history of the Targaryens — the house of Daenerys Targaryen that was famous for its friendly relationship with dragons.

In his blog post, Martin describes the book as "hefty," but it's not quite as long as his other Ice and Fire novels.

"This first volume covers all the Targaryen kings from Aegon I (the Conquerer) to the regency of Aegon III (the Dragonbane), along with their wives, wars, siblings, children, friends, rivals, laws, travels, and sundry other matters." Martin said. "For those not up on your Westerosi history, that’s Aegon I, Aenys, Maegor the Cruel, Jaehaerys I (the Conciliator), Viserys I, Aegon II (and Rhaenyra), and Aegon III (the regency). Oh, and there are dragons too. Lots of dragons."

For anyone who are like me and wanted to wait to read the rest of A Song of Ice and Fire before watching or catching up on HBO's Game of Thrones, just bite the bullet and watch it. The show is great, as I learned just months ago (about five years since I first finished the novels). Winds of Winter could come out in 2030 for all we know.

I'm trying not to even think about the seventh and final book, A Dream of Spring.