Game of Thrones: Winds of Winter to be released on September 6?

If a certain leak is to be believed, Game of Thrones (GoT) fnas may be one step closer to reading the sixth book in th4e fantasy series.

Winds of Winter - is at the centre of an online mystery after a bookstore listed its release date as September 6.

According to the Daily Express, Strand Bookstore stated the release date in a list titled '20 New Books To Look Forward to in the New Year'.

However, they soon deleted it and in its place wrote, “The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin (fingers crossed!)”.

The mysterious date was left online long enough for fans to start a Reddit thread about it, but some fans were quick to point out that it was likely a misunderstanding, or a joke.

One user, Siralyst said: "Remember when GRRM sent a post out saying he would not be releasing any further forwarding chapters from TWOW and everyone got excited because they took that as a sign he was nearing completion? Yeah...that was like four years ago."

Another user, Ratguy added: "Now when we get it on September 6th, I'll be looking back on this comment and thinking about what sweet summer children we all were."

George R.R. Martin is notorious for taking his time when writing his Game Of Thrones series but has said that he will announce the release of the Winds of Winter himself, in a bid to calm fans who were in a frenzy over false rumours.

He also wrote on his blog: "I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018... and who knows, maybe two. A boy can dream.”