【1990 Archives】

And lo990 Archives in the sixth year of waiting for new words from Westeros, the people's prayers were answered: George RR Martin has confirmed reports that he is writing a new story set in his "Song of Ice and Fire" universe.

It isn't the next novel, Winds of Winter, which Martin has been working on since 2011. It's a prequel story called "The Sons of the Dragon," which will be published in a fantasy anthology called The Book of Swordson Oct. 10.

The story deals with those pesky inbred Targaryens, back when they still ruled the Seven Kingdoms. But it's set two and a half centuries before the mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, came on the scene.

"If you're fascinated by the politics of Westeros, as many of my readers seem to be, you should enjoy it," Martin wrote on his LiveJournal Tuesday. "'The Sons of the Dragon' chronicles the reigns of the second and third Targaryen kings, Aenys I and Maegor the Cruel, along with their mothers, wives, sisters, children, friends, enemies, and rivals."

Yep, it's one of those times where Martin gets more into the weeds of Westeros than his more casual readers might like. The author calls it a "history rather than a traditional narrative" with "a lot of telling, only a little showing," or "the opposite of what I do in my novels."

Given all the telling rather than showing in the most recent and bloated tomes in the Song of Ice and Fire series, Feast for Crowsand Dance With Dragons, feel free to disagree with the wizard of Westeros on that one.

There is at least some hope for those of us waiting breathlessly for Winds of Winter: Martin isn't editing the anthology, an activity that has taken up a lot of his authorial time in the last five years.

He has pledged not to edit any more until the next novel is complete, and we finally find out what happens to Daenerys next.