There is another segment of fans who believe that Bender had made a mistake in spilling the fact that Winds of Winter is complete and hence there are attempts to stop the situation from aggravating any further.
In an attempt to salvage the situation and cover the whole thing up, it was stated that Bender confused the outline for the sixth season of Game of Thrones with the manuscript of the sixth book. In a manner very unlike him, Jack Bender hasn’t made any further comments on the issue and this has raised suspicion. It looks like he has been prevented from making any further comments to avoid spilling any more secrets.
Fans are earnestly waiting for the sixth book because there were a lot of cliff hangers and the sixth season of Game of Thrones further added to it. The long wait to find out answers can get a bit tedious and fans are hoping that at least some of their queries will be answered when Winds of Winter is published.
Fans are hoping George R. R Martin delivers on his promise to release the book by 2016.
If it is coming out, I think he is just changing his definition of done. The way he has referred to his progress on the book, I just can’t imagine that he finished it already. What I think could be happening is that he is ending this book prematurely, say at the 2/3rds mark of what he may have initially intended to include in the story. This way it gets everyone off his back for a time and the book readers still have a chance to read some of what happens before the 6th season starts.
I think he cares too much about his legacy to do this though, so I don’t really believe anything is finished or semi-finished. Best case scenario he announces a finished novel by Christmas and the book is in our hands by St.Patricks day (post editing, and god I hope someone actually edits his work this time). Call me a pessimist, but I’m really starting to believe that we will never actually get the final novel from him. He has just put his hand in too many cookie jars (both metaphorically and literally), and coupled with his penchant to procrastinate and indifference to organizing his story prior to penning them, it’s just a tall task that may never see the light of day.
I have resigned myself to the fate that is seeing this play out on HBO….As much as I enjoy(ed) his work, they did a great job this past season in cutting out all the hot air of the 2 books they covered. They have made the show it’s own entity with some of the changes, and probably tipped us off to future events in the books with those choices. Trying to figure out the butterfly effect of those choices and why they were made is half the fun for me. So, if for no other reason other than confirming or denying my crackpot theories I would like to see that last book come out some time before 2025.
Words are wind though. And I won’t hold my breath.