After teasing fans with a chapter from his highly anticipated book, it still seems it will take a while before George R.R. Martin can finally release "The Winds of Winter."

The best-selling author uploaded a new excerpt from the fifth installment of "A Song of Ice and Fire" book saga on his blog on May 10. This led to speculations that the book will come out soon. But the author immediately clarified that the book is far from over. "Changing the sample chapter does NOT mean I am done," the author wrote in his post.

But while the 67-year-old novelist-screenwriter remains mum about the status of "The Winds of Winter," Martin talked about how he deals with the topic of death in his books in the May 2016 issue of Galaxy's Edge magazine.

According to Martin, he only intends to depict death in his stories to paint a picture of the truth that "all men must die," which is a common phrase in the saga's HBO adaptation "Game of Thrones."

"Particularly if you're writing about war, which is certainly a central subject in Game of Thrones. [...] If you want to be honest [death] should affect your main characters. [...] They go into battle and their best friend dies or they get horribly wounded. They lose their leg or death comes at them unexpectedly," the author said in the interview, as reported by Uproxx.

The author proved his point when he killed off a lot of the beloved characters in both the books and the TV series, including the fan-favorite members of the House of Stark such as Ned, Catelyn, and Robb. This could mean that the author will not think twice about killing another popular character in "The Winds of Winter."