Dude's Gamer Zone | Source for HALO and the Video Game Industry!: BOOKS

BOOKS

Information about Halo books/comics found on Amazon.com.

The Fall of Reach From the Inside Flap

As the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary battle . . . the desperate, take-no-prisoners struggle that led humanity to Halo–the fall of the planet Reach. Now, brought to life for the first time, here is the full story of that glorious, doomed conflict.

While the brutal Covenant juggernaut sweeps inexorably through space, intent on wiping out humankind, only one stronghold remains–the planet Reach. Practically on Earth’s doorstep, it is the last military fortress to defy the onslaught. But the personnel here have another, higher priority: to prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of Earth.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers seem to have little chance against the Covenant, but Reach holds a closely guarded secret. It is the training ground for the very first “super soldiers.” Code-named SPARTANs, these highly advanced warriors, specially bioengineered and technologically augmented, are the best in the universe–quiet, professional, and deadly.

Now, as the ferocious Covenant attack begins, a handful of SPARTANs stand ready to wage ultimate war. They will kill, they will be destroyed, but they will never surrender. And at least one of them–the SPARTAN known as Master Chief–will live to fight another day on a mysterious and ancient, artificial world called Halo. . . .

Bungie, Halo, Xbox, and the Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Used under license. (c) 2001 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Eric Nylund has a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a Master’s degree in chemical physics. His novels include: virtual reality thrillers A Signal Shattered and Signal To Noise; contemporary fantasy novels Pawn’s Dream and Dry Water (nominated for the 1997 World Fantasy Award); and the science fantasy novel A Game of Universe, as well as Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike. Nylund attended the 1994 Clarion West Writer’s Workshop. He lives near Seattle on a rain-drenched mountain with his wife, Syne Mitchell.

Product Description

The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind’s very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious, ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force known, are not the only peril lying in wait. With the cruiser’s artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbors many deadly secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo’s darkest mystery—and unleash its greatest source of power. . . .

This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

About the Author

William C. Dietz is the author of more than twenty science fiction novels. He grew up in the Seattle area, spent time with the Navy and Marine Corps as a medic, graduated from the University of Washington, lived in Africa for half a year, and has traveled to six continents. Dietz has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, news writer, and television producer, and currently serves as Director of Pubic Relations and Marketing for an international telephone company. His novels include Legion of the Damned, Deathday, and his most recent hardcover, Earthrise. He and his wife live in the Seattle area, where they enjoy traveling, boating, snorkling, and not too surprisingly, reading books.

First Strike From the Inside Flap

The Human-Covenant war rages on as the alien juggernaut sweeps inexorably toward its final goal: destruction of all human life!

Halo has been destroyed, and the threat it posed to sentient life, neutralized. But victory has come at a terrible cost for the UNSC. Thousands of valiant soldiers fell in the battle to prevent the alien construct from falling into the enemy?s clutches.

Now, everything depends on the Spartan known as the Master Chief. Yet even with the aid of the artificial intelligence Cortana, the Master Chief will be hard-pressed to rescue survivors and evade the Covenant ships patrolling the remains of Halo in debris-strewn space.

Ahead lies a dangerous voyage home, through a gauntlet of Covenant forces. For the sake of all, the Master Chief and his war-torn squad must not only survive, but take the fight to the enemy with a decisive first strike.

This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

Bungie, Halo, Xbox, the Microsoft Game Studios logo and the Xbox Logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Used under license. © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle’s only human survivors—Captain Keyes, his crew of a few hundred Marines, and the last remaining SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief.

Ghosts of Onyx Product Description

Continuing the saga of the award-winning Xbox™ game!

The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend.

But just how many Spartans are left?

While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultrasecret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as “Section Three” devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They’re going to need hundreds of willing soldiers, though . . . and one more Spartan to get the job done.

The planet Onyx is virtually abandoned and the perfect place to set this new plan in motion. But when the Master Chief destroys Halo, something is triggered deep within Onyx: Ancient Forerunner technology stirs, and fleets of UNSC and Covenant race to claim it to change the course of the Human-Covenant War.

But this reawakened and ancient force may have plans of its own . . .

This novel is based on a mature-rated game.

Microsoft, the Microsoft Game Studios Logo, Bungie, the Bungie Logo, Halo, the Halo logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license from owner.

Contact Harvest From Publishers Weekly

The battle for humanity continues in this latest addition to the bestselling franchise based on the mega-popular video games. Narration is split between Holter Graham and Jen Taylor, who each try their very best to make the material as urgent and important as possible. However, as good as Graham is, pushing the line between corny and downright brilliant in his delivery, Taylor jumps far over the believability line, overemphasizing every word as if the audience is incapable of understanding what she’s trying to say. Her cheesy dialects and over-the-top accents detract from the tension and suspense that Graham offers.

Description

This is how it began…

It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground–strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence.

But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest’s citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest…a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.

The Cole Protocol Product Description

In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems. Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble–and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar . . . yet somehow survived. News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best—an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality . . . and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

About the Author

Tobias S. Buckell is a Caribbean-born speculative fiction writer who grew up in Grenada, the US, and the British Virgin Islands. He now lives (through many strange twists of fate) in a small college town in Ohio with his wife, Emily.
Buckell was a first place winner for the Writers of the Future, and has been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Nebula Award. He is also a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop. Halo Uprising From Publishers Weekly

Based on the famous video-game series Halo and created by the Eisner-winning team of writer Brian Michael Bendis (Powers) and artist Alex Maleev (Daredevil), this book shows the Covenant invasion of Earth from the perspective of civilians on the ground. Ruwan, a hotel concierge in the beautiful resort city of Cleveland, Ohio—my, how the future changes things—flees the conquering aliens and teams up with Myras Tyla, a musician determined not to be a sitting duck. Instead of simply killing everyone, the Covenant aliens are ransacking the city for the mysterious Key of Osanalan, which they heard about from their captive, Colonel Akerson. Of course, it doesn’t exist, but only his brother, Ruwan, knows that. What follows is a genuinely heroic and touching tale. What it isn’t is a story about Master Chief John 117, the protagonist of the Halo series and the star of the book’s cover. The unbeatable armored super-soldier does appear, but his beautifully drawn and choreographed space-battles have very little to do with the plot. Still, much like its hit predecessor, Halo Graphic Novel, this should appeal to Halo lovers everywhere. Maleev’s planetscapes are memorably luminous, and Bendis’s dialogue is wry and effective. (June)

Review

Halo is again and again described as a multimedia experience. If you don’t know what that means, then you probably don’t care, and there s no problem in that. It won t hamper your enjoyment of Halo: Uprising, assuming this violent sci-fi/alien-invasion series is your cup of tea in the first place.

Suffice to say, Halo is a first-person shooter video game. A longer description would be more appropriate for the phenomenon, but again: If you were really interested in it, you’d probably already know about it. Halo: Uprising serves as a bridge between Halo 2 and Halo 3. As such, there’s definitely a feeling of joining a movie in medias res here, and there’s little in the way to bring you completely up to speed. Not that you really need it. The story is simple enough to follow along and enjoy: Aliens are attacking Earth, and humans are the good guys.

That’s about all you need to understand, although perhaps knowing more would help you glom on to the series opening. In it, a human astronaut has been captured in Mars orbit (this is an unspecified future date) and, before the aliens are about to kill him, he reveals one thing they must find if their invasion is to succeed: a key hidden in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, back in Cincinnati, that astronaut’s brother, unaware of anything that has transpired, is working as a hotel concierge. One of the guests in his hotel is a celebrity singer, a bold, brash woman who saves his life when the aliens attack. As the city is strafed with alien fire, the pair make their way to presumed safety, eventually realizing that they hold the key the aliens are searching for.

Brian Michael Bendis has shown over and over again that he is a terrific writer. But here, paired once again with the simply wonderful artist Alex Maleev (the two previously worked together on a classic Daredevil run), he wisely turns over several pages entirely to Maleev. Maleev takes the ball and runs with it. His artwork is stunning, capturing the cold void of space, the elegance of alien machinery, and the bleakness of futuristic American cities blitzed by warfare. He gives all of them a special flourish.

On its own, Halo: Uprising is an intriguing yet ultimately unfinished read. It’s a bridge, after all, and the ending comes just as the reader is finally getting to see the main characters fleshed out and forming real attachments to them. The next installment in the story will be eagerly anticipated. - John Hogan –Graphic Novel Reporter

Hell Jumper

Product Description

Written by PETER DAVID Art & Cover by ERIC NGUYEN NEW STORY! NEW CREATIVE TEAM! Comics legend Peter David and up-and-coming artist Eric Nguyen bring a whole new HALO story to life! When the colony planet Ariel sends out a mysterious distress signal, it’s up to the UNSC’s elite, highly skilled special-ops Marines, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from the 105th, to find out what’s happening. Also known as ODSTs or “Helljumpers”, these soldiers are some of the toughest in the galaxy…and some of the roughest as well. When the distress signal comes, two Helljumpers will find themselves at the center of the mystery on Ariel, and before it’s solved, they’ll have to put their friendship-and their lives-on the line…

Evolutions Product Description

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost—but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

About the Author

Included in this collection are all-new, never-before-told stories by:
Tobias S. Buckell
B.K. Evenson
Jonathan Goff
Kevin Grace
Tessa Kum and Jeff Vandermeer
Robt McLees
Eric Nylund
Frank O’Connor
Eric Raab
Karen Traviss
Fred Van Lente

Graphic Novel From Publishers Weekly

Based on the wildly popular videogame, this anthology collects four stories by different creators, all set in the Halo universe of the 26th century. The game’s central story details a war between Earth’s United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a coalition of hostile alien races. At the center is Master Chief, a UNSC cyborg-marine who discovers the terrible secret of the Halo, a series of ringlike artificial planets. Hardcore Halo fans will love Lee Hammock’s “The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor,” viscerally illustrated by Simon Bisley, detailing the Flood, a nasty parasitic race of monsters that threaten both the Covenant and the human race. For newcomers there’s the legendary Moebius’s “Second Sunrise over New Mombasa,” in which he renders a beautiful, futuristic version of the Kenyan city—and deftly surveys the intersection of war propaganda and the media. The book’s artwork is skillful and unusual (including a story by Tsutomu Nihei and a gallery by an all-star lineup of artists in the back) and the writing brings the Halo universe and its central tenets to life. But ultimately the reader will yearn for the depth of a real, book-length graphic novel—and maybe that’s next to come. (July)

Product Description

Marvel and Bungie team up to create The Halo Graphic Novel HC based on the best-selling video game. The graphic novel brings the Halo universe to life for the first time in the sequential art medium in a 128-page, full color, high quality, jacketed, hardcover graphic novel. Stories include: “Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor” by Simon Bisley and Lee Hammock. When communications from a Covenant agricultural support ship are mysteriously terminated, an Elite Commander and his squad of Special Forces are sent to investigate. In “Armor Testing” by Ed Lee and Jay Faerber, the only way to test Spartan armor, is to send a Spartan. The question is what’s really being tested? In Tsutomo Nihei’s “Breaking Quarantine,” the untold tale of Sergeant Johnson’s escape from the clutches of the Flood menace is revealed! Finally, Moebius and Brett Lewis’ “Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa” tells of the subtler, more dangerous fights taking place on the streets of New Mombasa and in the hearts and minds of men. Cover by Phil Hale. Gallery art created a number of elite artists including Rick Berry, Geof Darrow, Scott Fischer, Sterling Hundley, Craig Mullins, George Pratt, Juan Ramirez, George Staples, Justin Sweet, John Van Fleet and Kent Williams.

The Art of HALO Product Description

When Halo® hit the shelves with the launch of the Xbox® in 2001, it was an immediate sensation. This action-packed science fiction—military combat game, set on a distant, war-torn, artificial planet, became an instant triumph with gamers–and scored numerous awards for its innovations, irresistibility, and sheer thrills. The Art of Halo is a showcase of its stunning visual style, a fascinating guided tour through the making of the phenomenon–from bright idea to brilliant result–and a testament to the creativity of the artists at Bungie Studios.

• Meet the brains behind Bungie, the birthplace of Halo
• Feast your eyes on a panorama of all-new artwork from its spectacular sequel Halo 2–one of the most eagerly-awaited games of 2004
• Discover the art of game design from the inside out, in interviews with–and illustrations by–the Halo creative team
• Learn the secrets of designing gear from the artists themselves
• Follow the construction of a crucial sequence from storyboard to completion, along with pages from the actual script
• Thrill to a gallery of glorious Halo artwork, including action figure designs, game packaging, cartoon strips, posters, T-shirts, and more

It’s all here–the story behind the sensation that GamePro declares “above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect”–in one virtuoso volume.

HALO Encyclopedia Product Description

FOREWORD BY GAME DEVELOPER FRANK O CONNOR!

A comprehensive guide to one of the most successful video game franchises in history, the Halo Encyclopedia details the origins of the game along with the characters, weapons, vehicles, equipment and locations from Halo,
Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST and Halo Wars.

Created in full collaboration with Microsoft, Halo Encyclopedia is packed with hundreds of images, illustrations, and technical drawings that highlight all the information fans and newcomers to the game need to know.