Winds of Winter Release Date: Rumors Denied by George R.R. Martin

The latest rumors on the release of "The Winds of Winter" left author George R.R. Martin fuming on his "Not A Blog" LiveJournal blog.

He reiterated that the release date of the fifth book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series would not be announced anytime around Christmas. Christmas appears to be the reason behind the current rumors.

This was because Random House, which publishes the book series, decided to have a "12 days of Christmas" celebration using Martin's Twitter account.

This led to rampant speculation that it was actually a countdown to the announcement of a release date.

As for the other rumor around "The Winds of Winter," it seems Star Wars was to blame as several websites reported that the trailer for the current movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" inspired Martin to a great extent and got his "creative juices" flowing.

Addressing both rumors on his LiveJournal blog, Martin said he created his Twitter and Facebook accounts to stop others from pretending to be him.

However, it seems he does not maintain them as it is the job of his publishers who used his Twitter account to launch a celebration around the 12 days of Christmas.

Martin further stated that if and when he finishes "The Winds of Winter," which he is still working on, he will announce it on his blog on LiveJournal without any fanfare and certainly not with the help of clues and codes.

He also stated that the book's release would not coincide with any special holiday like Christmas, Valentine's Day or Easter.

As for Star Wars inspiring him, Martin said he only liked the first two films and that the trailer for the recent film did not impress him either negatively or positively.

Finally he derided the Internet which he said has given rise to the "oxymoron Internet journalism."