George R R Martin promises a Westeros book in 2018

Author George R R Martin has treated fans with a surprise announcement that he would be coming up with a Westeros book next year.

In his blog, the author also gave fans an update about "The Winds of Winter", the next book in his 'A Song of Ice and Fire' saga.

"I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question). I still have good days and bad days, and that's all I care to say.

"Whether 'Winds' or the first volume of 'Fire and Blood' will be the first to hit the bookstores is hard to say at this juncture, but I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two," he wrote.

Martin also slammed reports claiming the book was finished and he was choosing not to release it.

"I've seen some truly weird reports about WOW on the internet of late, by 'journalists' who make their stories up out of whole cloth.

"I don't know which story is more absurd, the one that says the book is finished and I've been sitting on it for some nefarious reason, or the one that says I have no pages. Both 'reports' are equally false and equally moronic."