We’re less than two weeks away from Season 4 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, but we’re still far off from author George R.R. Martin’s next book installment of the series, The Winds of Winter. (A publication date has yet to be determined because Martin is apparently not yet finished writing.) Luckily for fans, Martin has thrown a small bone their way in the form of an excerpt from the forthcoming novel on his website.
As Martin notes on his “not a blog” page, “Mercy” is something he wrote “a long time ago, predating any of the samples” that have appeared on his site.
“It’s not one I’ve published or posted before, and I don’t even think I’ve read it at a con (could be wrong there, I’ve done readings at so many cons, it all tends to blur together). So it’s new in that it is material that no one but my editors (well, and Parris, and David and Dan, and a few others) have ever seen before.”
There are spoilers galore, so if you’re only caught up on the show (Season 3 covers roughly half of the third installment) and not the books (The Winds of Winter is set to be the sixth installment), or you just hate spoilers, feel free to remain blissfully ignorant as to the contents of “Mercy.”
All other fans, have at it.
