A DANCE WITH DRAGONS Release Date AnnouncedFrom Martin’s website:

No. Sorry. Not done yet.

I’m close, though. Watch this space. When the book is done, you will read it here.

Meanwhile… there is news. Big news. The end is in sight, at long long last, and we’re close enough so that my editors and publishers at Bantam Spectra have set an actual publication date.

[…]

Yes, I know. You’ve all seen publication dates before: dates in 2007, 2008, 2009. None of those were ever hard dates, however. Most of them… well, call it wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes, whatever you like.

This date is different. This date is real.

Barring tsunamis, general strikes, world wars, or asteroid strikes, you will have the novel in your hands on July 12. I hope you like it.

(For what it’s worth, the book’s a monster. Think A STORM OF SWORDS.)

The dragons are coming. Prepare to dance.

And hey… thanks for waiting.

So. July 12th, 2011. That’s, like, just around the corner. Martin (and his publisher) seem very confident about his date. What do you think? Can we get honestly excited now?

Discussion
  • Adam Whitehead March 3, 2011 at 6:51 am

    Yes, you can trust this date. The MS is mostly in and edited already, the publishers are waiting for GRRM to dot a few more ‘i’s and cross a few more ‘t’s.

  • aidan March 3, 2011 at 6:57 am

    Then, to track down an elusive ARC. Do we know if Bantam or Voyager are printing them?

  • Meg March 3, 2011 at 7:02 am

    I’m honestly excited!!

  • Calamity Jane March 3, 2011 at 8:02 am

    Best news I got all day! Seriously, I jumped in my chair when I read the post title and said “No way”! But then again we should not be THAT surprised, with the TV series premiere around the corner and all.
    Really hope it’s not idle promisses.

  • Zachary March 3, 2011 at 8:16 am

    I don’t even remember the story so far. Looking forward to reading the first 3 again before June, but thinking I’ll skim a summary of A Feast for Crows…

  • David March 3, 2011 at 9:21 am

    Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and now GRRM?
    Its like a trifecta of hotly anticipated book releases and hurried rereads.

  • The Literary Omnivore March 3, 2011 at 9:43 am

    I thought this might happen soon, especially with the release of the television series so close. I’m wildly excited, though I might not break my one book a year stance… (who am I kidding? I totally will. I only have two more to go.)

  • Dave March 3, 2011 at 9:46 am

    Lynch? I didn’t think there was a release in sight for Republic of Thieves :S

  • Stefan March 3, 2011 at 9:48 am

    There are too many years going by between each volume, and IMO the quality of the last 2 books hasn’t been as high as that of the first 2. Because of those reasons, I will only really get excited when he announces the release date for the final book in the series. It’s sad, because I loved this series so much that I pre-ordered book 3 from the UK, back when it was released there a few months earlier than here in the US. I guess the final drop came when he announced at a signing for the last book that DANCE was practically written and he expected to be back for a signing of that book within a year or so. Since then, lots of anthologies, several Wild Cards books, an HBO series – and still no DANCE. So, I think I’ll wait until he’s done with the whole thing. Plenty of other books to read until then.

  • aidan March 3, 2011 at 9:51 am

    @Dave — There isn’t.

  • Patrick (YetiStomper) March 3, 2011 at 9:54 am

    April Fools! … Wait what?

    Does this mean I need to actually read ASOIAF?

    And is that the UK cover art? I don’t appreciate yet another cover art change.

  • aidan March 3, 2011 at 9:58 am

    @Patrick — (Another) new cover. I think we’re at five different covers now.

  • Raphael March 3, 2011 at 11:41 am

    That’s like Duke Nukem forever being released.

    Will buy for the shelf and read when the series is finished. Waiting times like this kill me.

  • Adam Whitehead March 3, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    The fate that DUKE NUKEM FOREVER is actually coming out before A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is somehow amusing :)

    @Aidan: No, or vanishingly few, ARCs. GRRM guaranteed Pat first dibs on the review copy years ago, IIRC and I doubt many more would get them, although I suspect we’ll all try like maniacs :)

  • Patrick (YetiStomper) March 3, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Adam Whitehead
    The fate that DUKE NUKEM FOREVER is actually coming out before A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is somehow amusing
    @Aidan: No, or vanishingly few, ARCs. GRRM guaranteed Pat first dibs on the review copy years ago, IIRC and I doubt many more would get them, although I suspect we’ll all try like maniacs

    This is what’s wrong with the blogosphere.

  • aidan March 3, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Care to elaborate, Patrick?

  • Adam Whitehead March 3, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    Might be a reference to preferential treatment, though I think GRRM made that guarantee when the blogosphere was vastly smaller than it is now. It might not even be the current situation any more. A case could be made that everyone should get an ARC equally fairly or no-one does (I think there were rumbles of discontent about people getting Mieville ARCs early just for attending the publicity party, though that’s been standard practice for years), and of course a review from Pat or myself or other people known to be fans of ASoIaF will be inherently useless (no matter how honest and unbiased we try to be), since it will likely be positive and, even if by some freak event it isn’t, everyone who liked the first 3/4 books is going to go and buy it anyway.

    So yeah, I can see some justified scepticism over that, but nothing more controversial than WoT fans getting WoT ARCs or Malazan fans getting Malazan ARCs and so on.

  • David March 3, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    *clicks around the internet, finds no release date for Lynch*
    Huh, well my bad.

  • David March 3, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Still, two out of three hotly-anticipated and frequently delayed releases ain’t bad.

  • Nick March 4, 2011 at 3:18 am

    Orion have Republic of Thieves listed as a 2011 release.

  • Adam Whitehead March 4, 2011 at 4:13 am

    On Orion’s website, under ‘extras’ for Republic of Thieves, they have an audio interview with Scott Lynch. He seems to have resolved some of the issues that were plaguing him over the last few years and seemed confident of a 2011 release. The book is currently scheduled (but not finalised) for November.

    Whether he hits that or not remains to be seen, of course, but there has been some minor movement on the Lynch front as well. Richard Morgan also recently confirmed that THE COLD COMMANDS is a couple of weeks away from delivery, and should hit its November release date as well.

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