George R.R. Martin promises the 'Thrones' prequel won't mess with 'The Winds of Winter'

It's not exactly a book release announcement, but we'll take it.

Now that HBO has announced that it has put in a pilot order for one of the Game of Thrones prequel series the network plans to produce, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin has taken to his website (and former LiveJournal) "Not A Blog" to assure his readers that he will not be writing it, only consulting, which means the show will not delay his progress writing The Winds of Winter, which will be finished at some point between 2:30 PM next Tuesday and the heat death of the universe. In his words:

"And yes, before you ask, work on WINDS OF WINTER continues, and remains my top priority.   It is ridiculous to think otherwise.   If I wasn’t busy with WINDS, don’t you think I’d be scripting one or more of these pilots myself?  It’s not as if I’ve never written for TV…"

Martin points out that even putting his picture on articles about the new pilot is "misleading," as showrunner Jane Goldman is writing the pilot and is creatively responsible for the output.

In his (not a) blog post, Martin offered some other tidbits about the pilot. He thinks the show should be titled The Long Night and also stated that one of the five potential Thrones pilots "has been shelved, [he is] given to understand."