A rumor is now going around that award-winning author Neil Gaiman will be co-writing "The Winds of Winter," the sixth novel of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.

According to Travelers Today, there are two rumors regarding Gaiman's involvement in the novel. One is that he was tasked with completing the book, given that its release date has been delayed several times due to Martin's other commitments. The other speculated possibility is that Gaiman will serve as the editor of "The Winds of Winter," which is rumored to be already at the proofreading phase, according to BlastingTV.

The rumors started when the British author was spotted several times in the latter's hometown in New Mexico. Neither Gaiman nor Martin have confirmed nor denied these rumors as of yet.

A large portion of "The Winds of Winter" will show the events that happened concurrently with what transpired in "A Dance With Dragons," the fifth book in the series, which was released in 2011. Fans continue to hope that the novel will be released prior to the July premiere of season 7 of "Game of Thrones."

IBT said that this is now impossible given that the date is rapidly getting close with no news about the novel, unless Martin and his publisher is keeping the launch date a secret. According to the article, even if Martin has finished writing the book now, at least six months is needed to get it ready for publishing, although the author previously said that the publishers were prepared to shorten the time to three months.

"Game of Thrones" began exploring new territory starting season 6, when it no longer had any new material from "A Song of Ice and Fire" to work on. As such, it is unclear to fans how different the show will be from the material written by Martin.