The Winds of Winter release date 2015: George RR Martin hints at spring with ‘A Promise of Spring’ parody?

By this point, we'll grasp at whatever straws you've got

Given that Game of Thrones season 6 is going to be based on blueprints from George R. R. Martin on where the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series is headed, many book fans are hoping that the author will get the next instalment, 'The Winds of Winter', out before HBO’s vision of the story.

Season 6 will likely arrive in April 2016, so Martin doesn’t have a huge amount of time.

In a promo teaser for his appearance on the Syfy channel’s ‘Z Nation’ however, he is seen, zombified, signing copies of a book titled ‘A Promise of Spring’.

Obviously it’s a joke, but does it suggest this is indeed the promise Martin has made his publishers? We’ll take anything by this point.

Earlier in the month, a Polish translator confirmed that he has been asked by a publishing house to start translating the book, suggesting Martin has finished it and we could be seeing a release in early 2016.

Don’t hold your breath though, Martin originally planned to have A Song of Ice and Fire done and dusted by 1998.

Meanwhile in Game of Thrones news [spoilers ahead] a vast battle sequence is being filmed in Northern Ireland that will see some major deaths and possibly a happy reunion.