George R. R. Martin announced earlier this week that he will NOT be writing a script for season 6 of HBO’s hit Game of Thrones.  Thus far, he has written at least one script per season, and contractually can write up to three.  Martin said this decision was reached because he wanted to focus his writing on the upcoming novel “Winds Of Winter”.

Martin went on to say switching from one narrative to the other was taxing, and took much of his precious time and concentration that he’d rather devote to finishing this 6th book of the “Song Of Ice And Fire” series.  He did however announce this morning a new teaser chapter on his blog website.

Be warned, if you haven’t caught up with the most recent season of Game Of Thrones, and/or read past “A Feast For Crows”, this may be spoiler territory.

Isn’t this artwork by Yulia Nikolaeva lovely?  I don’t agree that this particular portrait is “Alayne”, because the hair is still red, and she’s wearing what looks like the described moonstone hairnet used during the “Purple Wedding”.

This new teaser chapter is written from the point of view of Alayne Stone, who fans of the series will know as the new name of Sansa Stark.  You can read the chapter here on GRRM’s blog.

Game Of Thrones returns to HBO Sunday April 12th.