George R.R. Martin: ‘Winds of Winter’ won’t debut in 2018

April 26 (UPI) — George R.R. Martin says The Winds of Winter won’t be coming in 2018.

The 69-year-old author announced plans in a blog post Wednesday to publish Fire & Blood, a history of House Targaryen, instead of the highly-anticipated sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

“No, winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least. You’re going to have to keep waiting for The Winds of Winter,” Martin wrote.

“You will, however, be able to return to Westeros this year,” he said, referencing the fictional continent where Fire & Blood and the A Song of Ice and Fire series take place.

Martin described Fire & Blood as “a monumental history of the Targaryen kings of Westeros.” The book will cover “all the Targaryen kinds 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.”

Fire & Blood will be the first volume in Martin’s Targaryen history. The book is 989 pages and will debut in hardcover Nov. 20.

“I do want to stress… indeed, I want to shout… that Fire & Blood is not a novel. This is not a traditional narrative and was never attended to be,” Martin said. “Very well; let’s call this one ‘imaginary history’ instead.”

Martin is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted as the HBO series Game of Thrones. The book series consists of Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows and the most recent novel, A Dance with Dragons, which was published in 2011.