While the release date for George R.R. Martin's highly anticipated follow-up to "A Dance With Dragons" is still unconfirmed, the best-selling author mentioned that he will give fans a sneak peek at "The Winds of Winter" in this year's ConQuest in Kansas City during the Memorial Day weekend. 

In his own blog, Martin himself confirmed that he will be reading a chapter from the sixth book of his fantasy saga, "A Song of Ice and Fire."

"Yes, I will be reading a chapter from The Winds of Winter there, and yes, I'll talk about Ice and Fire and my other writing... but the emphasis at Conquest will be on my editing, especially the Wild Cards series," the veteran writer stated. 

Fans of the novels are already eager to read the next book, especially since the cliffhanger-loaded "A Dance with Dragons" was published way back in 2011. Even the writer himself admitted to Entertainment Weekly early last month that he also believes that the book should be out very soon. 

"I wish it was out now. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish. But I canceled two convention appearances, I'm turning down a lot more interviews — anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done," the writer said.

But while the author would want to release the book before "Game of Thrones," the HBO adaptation of the saga, premieres its sixth season in spring next year, several reports say that "The Winds of Winter" will likely come out in June 2016, 

On a related note, there are reports saying that the current season of the HBO series is preparing fans to see the death of a major character in the next book. According to Franchise Herald, there are several rumors saying that Jon Snow will be killed by his Night's Watch brothers in "The Winds of Winter" because of his unpopular decisions. In the present season of the HBO adaptation, Jon Snow was elected as the newest Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but his penchant for the Wildlings draws ire from some of his critics within the brotherhood. 

However, Martin has yet to confirm or deny the said speculations.