A Dance with Dragons to release July 12th!
The long wait is (almost) over, ASoIaF fans! James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly has broken the news (and GRRM confirms it) that A Dance with Dragons will publish on July 12th, 2011 in the US. George R. R. Martin is not finished the book yet, but is close enough that the publisher has decided to announce the date. Hibberd has a couple quotes from Martin as well and promises more in an interview to be published in the print-version of this weeks EW.
A Dance With Dragons will be published on July 12. The manuscript is huge — the publisher estimates the hardcover edition will run more than 900 pages, putting it about the same length as the longest book in the series, A Storm of Swords. Schedule your summer vacation accordingly.
"ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What took so long?
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: I’m not sure I have a good answer. If I did, I would have taken less time. It’s enormous. It’s as long as A Storm of Swords. It’s very complicated. I have a lot of characters and points of view. And I’ve been doing a ton of rewriting, trying to get it where I wanted it to be. Some of these chapters I’ve rewritten more times than I can count before I’m satisfied with them.
Can you tease something from the book?
I don’t want to spoil any surprises. I can say all the characters people have been waiting for are there: Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Tyrion. There’s also new characters, and viewpoints from characters who did not have viewpoints before.
For more of Martin’s interview — where he compares Dragons to the previous four books, and weighs in on the HBO adaptation — pick up this week’s print edition of Entertainment Weekly."
http://winter-is-coming.net/2011/03/a-dance-with-dragons-to-release-july-12th/