As quickly as it disappeared into 2016, the “Winds of Winter” release date flies back into uncertainty. Author George R. R. Martin is back to toying with our hearts.

Just a few days after the publisher of HarperCollins told The Guardian that “Winds of Winter” ain’t coming out in 2015, George took to the comments section on his blog to say… some super ambiguous stuff that rounds down to: Maybe it’ll come out this year, maybe it won’t. What a tease. Let’s take a gander.

The “Winds of Winter” Release Date, LiveJournal, And You

Martin is the last person in the world who has a LiveJournal. And he uses it frequently, mostly to talk about side projects, sometimes to talk about “Game of Thrones.” He even hops into the comments sometimes. The latest “Winds of Winter” news was one of those times. So, here’s the deal: Jane Johnson, GRRM’s presumably frustrated boss at HarperCollins, admitted to Britain’s best newspaper she had no plans to put out “Winds of Winter” this year. The key words: Had no plans. She said to the Guardian that “I have no information on likely delivery.” Of course, the great masses of the Internet took that to mean “it isn’t coming in 2015.”

But those two statements aren’t actually quite the same thing, and that’s what Martin pointed out in the comments of this article on his blog on Feb. 5:

I certainly hope that “The Winds of Winter” is not on the schedule of ANY of my publishers. I have spent years trying to persuade them all not to schedule my books until they are completed and delivered. Scheduling, and then having to reschedule and postpone, just pisses people off. I'd rather not schedule at all until the date is real and certain.

This flies against standard publishing practice, however, so it's a battle that I do not always win.

Indeed, Martin is right, obviously. He’s only saying what HarperCollins was saying: That “Winds of Winter” isn’t done yet, they don’t know when it will be done, and they aren’t going to schedule a release date until they have the book in hand (thanks to Martin’s clout; in the old days, “Feast for Crows” was perpetually coming out three months in the future, for years). His comment doesn’t give us any clues as to when the book will be done, though: It just clarifies the exact meaning of the recent news.

Unfortunately, Martin doesn’t give us any clues to when “Winds of Winter” actually will be published. He’s learned not to do that anymore. So we’re back where we were a week ago: Theoretically, the book could come out this year. It hasn’t been ruled out. That’s small consolation.