The good news for George R.R. Martin: His fans are as eager as ever to get their hands on the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. The bad news: They would very much like to imprison him on an island until he finishes it.
Devotees of the fantasy series, which formed the basis for the hit HBO show Game of Thrones, are threatening to hold Martin to a promise he made—and almost certainly now regrets—last May.
“But I tell you this—if I don’t have The Winds of Winter in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for [WorldCon], you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done,” Martin wrote on his blog.
Unfortunately for Martin, the first day of WorldCon was Wednesday. And The Winds of Winter remains unfinished.
“I am hereby placing a warrant for the arrest of one George R.R. Martin,” wrote a Twitter user named Catherine. “He is not to be harmed, and is to be brought to an isolated cell with all the writing materials, food, and drink necessary to complete The Winds of Winter. He must be under guard every day and cannot leave.”
I am hereby placing a warrant for the arrest of one George R.R. Martin. He is not to be harmed, and is to be brought to an isolated cell with all the writing materials, food, and drink necessary to complete the Winds of Winter. He must be under guard every day and cannot leave.
— catherine 🇺🇦☦️ (@yekayuriy54) July 29, 2020
“Damn, George R.R Martin avoiding jail time wasn’t on my 2020 Bingo Card,” tweeted a user named Rasika A.W.
“George R.R. Martin now asking if his fans are so woke, why don’t they support prison abolition,” Carl Garcia weighed in.
As of Thursday afternoon, Martin had yet to explain why he should not be imprisoned, possibly because he’s busy changing his identity and undergoing Face/Off-style surgery.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
