George R.R. Martin offers a glimpse at 'The Winds of Winter'

A Christmas present from George R.R. Martin.

Books? Yes, some of us still read books. Perhaps my favorite Christmas present was George R.R. Martin's "A Dance With Dragons," the long-anticipated fifth book in his "A Song of Fire and Ice" series. I had not yet purchased it for myself because I spent the year trying to catch up on my small library of unread books. And I'm not one of those people who can read two or three books at the same time.

The funny thing is, I am enjoying the reintroduction of Tyrion and other characters so much that I am purposely reading slowly, limiting myself to one chapter a night. OK, last night I gorged on three chapters. Couldn't help myself. Anyway, I want to make the book last because who knows when Martin will publish the sixth volume, "The Winds of Winter." After all, it was a very long six years between "A Feast for Crows" and "Dragons."

Now comes this.

On his website, Martin has published an excerpt from "Winter." You can read it here. As he wrote on his blog:

As a Christmas gift to all my loyal fans and readers, I've just replaced the (long published) sample chapters from A Dance With Dragons on my website with an unpublished sample chapter from The Winds of Winter.

Go ye to "Ice & Fire Sample" on my website and enjoy.

(The chronology, as usual, is tricky. This chapter will be found eventually at the beginning of Winds, but as you will be able to tell from context, it actually takes place before some of the chapters at the end of Dance).

Martin has received a huge boost in popularity thanks to the Emmy-winning HBO series based on the books, "Game of Thrones." Most viewers have never read the books, of course, which led to an amusing exchange (well, I thought it was funny) at a party this summer. Someone-who-shall-not-be-named was holding court on Martin's books, making some wholly inaccurate generalizations based solely on what he had watched on HBO.

Me (trying to be kind): "I don't think that's quite right."

Him (too indignantly): "What makes you say that?"

Me: "I've read all the books."

Yes, some of us still read books.