Game of Thrones creator has just posted an excerpt from Winds of Winter, entitled Arianne, (that being Prince Doran’s "trueborn" daughter) to his official website. Of course there are spoilers a plenty for those who are not quite up to speed, as said chapter deals with two characters who have been killed off on the HBO show.
While this is obviously progress, there is still no end in site for the book itself. Martin posted the following to his (not a) blog: "You want to know what the Sand Snakes, Prince Doran, Areo Hotah, Ellaria Sand, Darkstar, and the rest will be up to in Winds of Winter? Quite a lot, actually. The sample will give you a taste. For the rest, you will need to wait. And no, just to spike any bullsh*t rumours, changing the sample chapter does NOT mean I am done. See the icon above? Monkey is still on my back... but he’s growing, he is, and one day..."
Martin, posting from Santa Fe, also added: "For all the Wild Cards fans out there, we've got a taste of HIGH STAKES, due out this August. HIGH STAKES is the twenty-third volume in the overall series, and the third and concluding part of the 'Fort Freak' triad. The sample is from the pen of the talented Ian Tregillis, and features Mollie Steunenberg, aka Tesseract. You'll find it at: https://www.georgerrmartin.com/wild-cards-excerpt/"
