A tweet about author George R.R. Martin's upcoming "Winds of Winter" said the novel is not coming this year. The novel's editor now suggests the series will end up comprising eight books, not just seven.

The sixth novel in R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series already has 168 pages in the hands of editor Anne Lesley Groell, which were submitted to her back in February, 2013.

When asked about the Winds of Winter release date, Groell said she does not know. Groell is the Penguin Random House's executive editor, where she works with writers like R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb and Terry Brooks.

Her work usually belongs to the fantasy and sci-fi genres. She said author George R.R. Martin works on the novel when he wants to, and would not speed up his work even if his editor told him to.

She knows there are already additional completed pages for the novel, but she has yet to even catch a glimpse of them.

Groell said she is on Twitter, and promised to inform the public as soon as she has more material from R.R. Martin. She confirms that Martin is hard at work, and said the novel will definitely make its debut.

Martin has pushed a number of books in the series. What was originally supposed to be a trilogy eventually got additional books.

Martin has planned seven books, but since he is still faced with many manuscripts, numerous characters and multiple plots, he needs another one. Groell remembers the Winds of Winter author talking to her about his trilogy, which was a trilogy no more.

He started with four books, which she, the editor said should be seven for the "Seven Kingdoms," featured in the books. Then he had five, but Groell insisted it to be seven.

Then Martin went up to six. Until he reached seven, and both of them were on the same page - seven books for Seven Kingdoms.

However, while editing "The World of Ice and Fire" companion guide, Groell found there were in fact eight kingdoms, when Conqueror Aegon ended up in Westeros. Hence, eight books were agreed upon.

Martin promised Groell that when "A Song of Ice and Fire" is finally wrapped up, she can publish the letter he originally sent to her that outlines "the bare bones" of the alleged "trilogy."