'Winds of Winter' author preparing to deliver another 'Wild Cards’ volume

“Winds of Winter” author George RR Martin is currently busy working on the next instalment of his “Wild Cards” series, which he hopes to deliver to the publishers soon. The series has gained significance since a TV series based on these books was announced.

“Wild Cards” is a series of mosaic novels with contributions from many authors, including Martin. Most of the work Martin has been doing for this series is the editing. The stories are about superheroes who gain powers in the 1940s thanks to a virus spread over New York City.

In a new blog post, Martin said he is almost ready to deliver a new volume of the series to the publishers by the end of the week. The author didn’t specify whether he contributed to any of the new stories or if his work was limited to editing.

A video posted on YouTube shows a collection of interviews recorded last year at the Kansas City Worldcon. In the video, Martin explains how the alien virus has random effects on the people. The story essentially gives an alternate history of the US since the 1940s.

The virus kills most of the population in the city. Among the people who survive, there are heroes, while there is another set called the Jokers. The Jokers are those affected by the virus in an unfavourable way, making them the villains of the series.

Author and assistant editor Melinda Snodgrass explained that the “Wild Cards” series highlights the plight of the people and societies that are marginalised. Thus, there has been a focus on minorities and people suffering from diseases like AIDS.

As far as “Winds of Winter” is concerned, Martin didn’t give an update about the progress of the book. The author has promised to announce the completion of the novel on his blog.