“He had a number of pictures on hand; most of them were too large and ambitious for his skill. He was the sort of painter who can paint leaves better than trees.” — “Leaf by Niggle,” J.R.R. Tolkien, 1945

On Aug. 1, 1996, George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first book in what was proposed to be a three — later five, then seven — volume series, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” Additional books followed on a semiregular basis, until a noted six-year gap between publication of the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, and the fifth, A Dance With Dragons. Now, nearly seven-and-a-half years later, and despite frequent rumors of imminent publication, fans of the series are still waiting for book six, The Winds of Winter, with no firm release date in sight.