George R.R. Martin Unveils Chapter From Next Book, While The Roots Rap About Westeros

Ahead of the Season 5 premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones, author George R.R. Martin has reminded us why the series exists in the first place: He’s released a chapter from Winds of Winter, and it’s all about Sansa.

Martin has caved to the demands of his impatient fans, who’ve been waiting since the 2011 release of Dance with Dragons for another Westeros fix. This new chapter is the third tease from book six; George released a chapter called “Mercy” last year, and three years ago, one from the point of view of the beleaguered and castrated Theon, added the Wall Street Journal.

On Martin’s Not a Blog, he explained his reasoning behind the release – which he’d planned for April Fools’ Day. Luckily, this is no joke.

“Yes, I know, I’d said there would be no more sample chapters, but (1) it had been more than a year since Mercy, (2) lots of you were asking, and (3) Anne Groell and my friends at Bantam twisted my arm.”

George’s newest chapter is told from the perspective of Sansa Stark — played by Sophie Turner — who by book six has escaped King’s Landing and her Lannister husband and taken refuge with her aunt under the pseudonym Alayne, added CBS News.

Martin’s teaser chapter features Alayne with her cousin, Lord Robert Arryn, to whom she’s become caregiver. In the 6,700-word installment, he is apparently keen on marrying the secret Stark girl, the Independent reported. The paper provided their own teaser.

“She was reading her little lord a tale of the Winged Knight when Mya Stone came knocking on the door of his bedchamber, clad in boots and riding leathers and smelling strongly of the stable,” the passage begins. Mya had straw in her hair and a scowl on her face. That scowl comes of having Mychel Redford near, Alayne knew.”

You can read the rest of Martin’s chapter here.

George R.R. Martin has hinted over the past couple months that he’s ditching some of his duties to hammer through the remainder of Winds of Winter. He will shy away from the public and won’t write a script for Season 5 of Game of Thrones.

“My energies are best devoted to ‘Winds.””

Though George never gives publication dates, he has hinted that book six may be finished this year. Or maybe not.

Meanwhile, if you’re memory is a bit fuzzy on Game of Thrones Season 4, The Roots has this catchy and helpful rap to get you up to speed on all the intrigue, sex, and murder going on in Westeros.

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