'The Winds of Winter' release date rumors 2016: Martin simultaneously writing two books?

George R.R. Martin has been receiving flak from his fans because of the delay on the next book in his "Song of Ice and Fire" series, "The Winds of Winter." The book is now expected to come out in 2017 despite the announcement that it was to come this year, and the HBO TV show "Game of Thrones," has already managed to surpass the plot of the books. Rumors have been going out that the reason for the delay is that Martin is actually writing two books simultaneously, and he will release "The Winds of Winter" with another book as well.

According to reports, the Martin has also been writing the seventh book called "A Dream of Spring" simultaneously with "The Winds of Winter," which is causing the long delay on the book. Another rumor has come out, claiming that the sixth novel is the longest book in the franchise, which is the reason for the long delay.

The release dates of the first few books in the series were actually pretty short (1-2 years), but ever since the popularity of "Game of Thrones" made a sudden boom in pop culture, the release dates of Martin's books have been growing farther apart.

Martin has previously made announcements on his blog that he has cancelled all of his appearances and other side projects in order to focus on the sixth book in the "Ice and Fire" series, and fans are expecting it to be released before the seventh season of "Game of Thrones" hits HBO.

Martin, however, still works on another series called "Wild Cards" and has announced that he has not dropped any work on that project. There have even been rumors going around that after "Game of Thrones," Martin will help with the TV adaptation of "Wild Cards."

Martin is well aware that his fans have been frustrated by the delay, but fans can expect "The Winds of Winter" to hit shelves by 2017.