Winds of Winter release date news: New chapter unveiled, book close to finishing?

It looks like George RR Martin is close to completing "Winds of Winter."Reuters

Bestselling author George RR Martin has been quite on a roll in the past weeks, having released one sample chapter from "Winds of Winter" after another.

The author read another chapter from the book to the Balticon audience. Titled "The Forsaken," this chapter is told from the point of view of Aeron Greyjoy.

[Spoiler Alert! Details about the said "Winds of Winter" chapter ahead]

Martin said that "The Forsaken" is actually comparable to Ramsay Bolton, who fans have come to know as nothing but a sick psychopath. This chapter, however, features Euron torturing his brother Aeron.

Euron has become the king of Iron Isles. He also has confessed to Aeron that he sexually abused him and killed Balon and a couple more of their brothers.

In the "Winds of Winter" chapter, Euron, as he further showed his inner Ramsay, set to meet head-on fleets sent from the Iron Throne. Although they outman him, he holds no fear of losing to his rivals.

Instead, he performs a ritual that involves tying religious priests to the ships, along with Aeron and his wife Falia, whose tongue was severed. A portion of the "Winds of Winter" chapter can be seen here.

This is the second chapter from "Winds of Winter" that Martin has revealed in a month, proving that he is working diligently for the book to be completed. During the event, he actually brought along two more chapters but only made the audience choose which one he should read.

Whether or not this is an indication of the nearing publication of "Winds of Winter" remains to be seen, but it is indeed a signal that Martin is doing his best to finish the book as soon as possible.

At the moment, there's no release date for "Winds of Winter" yet, but fans hope that it will be out before the year ends.