(mostly) Video game tie-in edition

In this news-centered column, I’ll be giving you some videogame tie-in book news from some big games, including upcoming releases from authors Greg Keyes, Karen Traviss, Christie Golden, and Greg Bear among others. There’s also some non-videogame book news from Matthew Stover, some really cheap fiction from Kevin J. Anderson, free fiction from John Jackson Miller, news about an upcoming Terminator: Salvation tie-in novel, and an excerpt by Sean Williams. All this and more, after the break…

VIDEOGAME TIE-IN NEWS

Let’s start with the second Gears of War novel, Jacinto’s Remnant, coming out July 28th. Here’s a blurb:

After a brutal fifteen-year war for survival, the Coalition of Ordered Governments is forced to destroy mankind’s last city in a final bid to stop the Locust Horde. As the survivors flee Jacinto, they must contend with the last of the Locust, bent on vengeance, as they struggle to stay alive in an icy wilderness. Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, and their fellow Gears fight to get Jacinto’s refugees to a safe haven, but find themselves in a lawless new world where the enemy is human–and as desperate and dangerous as any grub.

The cover to the left is for the Halo novel The Cole Protocol coming out in mass market paperback in November 3, 2009. The real news for Star Wars fans though is that Greg Bear is set to write a new Halo trilogy about the Forerunners, the creators and builders of the Halos. Almost nothing is known for sure about this ancient race. Worshipped by the Covenant as gods, their engineering relics pepper the galaxy, and their connection to humanity remains unanswered. Devoted fans of both the books and games will finally get to delve deep into the era of these enigmatic beings, and discover for themselves the epic story behind one of the great mysteries of the “Halo” universe: the complete disappearance of the Forerunners from existence. The first novel is scheduled for early 2010.

Here’s the cover to the finale of a Starcraft trilogy by Christie Golden called Dark Templar: Twilight, coming out June 30th. The first two books (Firstborn and Shadow Hunters) featured the adventures of Jake Ramsey, an archeologist who has been implanted with the memories of a long dead race, and a secret that could destroy the universe.

Finally, a book that I’ve been keen to find out more about was listed for a long time on Amazon as an ‘untitled RPG novel’ by Greg Keyes. Well, I need wonder no more. Bethesda has announced Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City, a novel set after the events of Oblivion. The plot will revolve around a city that appears in the skies above Tamriel and begins raising the dead. Its up to an “unlikely duo,” in this case Prince Attrebus and a girl named Annaig, to put a stop to it. This looks to be coming out November 24, 2009 as a TPB.

OTHER NEWS

Kevin J Anderson’s Hidden Empire will be available on http://www.onedollarorbit.com/ in June. That means you can pick up the first book in this excellent series as an ebook for $1.00. All seven volumes have been published, the complete Saga of the Seven Suns story, and I highly recommend it for fans of sweeping space opera.

An excerpt from Sean William’s The Grand Conjunction is available from the Orbit website. This is the conclusion the Astropolis series, which came out in the US last month, and is being offered by Orbit in AU, for those interested.

In other news, apparently Matthew Stover won’t be writing many more books using that name. According to a post in his blog, his name recognition hasn’t really ‘caught on’, which means that booksellers are under-ordering his books, so he’ll be using a pseudonym sometime in the future. That said, there will be a few more ‘Stover’ books as he has contracts for two other tie-ins and one last Caine book. Let the speculation on what those tie-in books might be.

Speaking of tie-ins, you can get a free download of John Jackson Miller’s Star Wars RPG supplement Sword of the Empire: Episode IX of Star Wars: Dawn of Defiance by clicking here.

And finally, I’ve known for some time that there are plans for more novels set in the Terminator Salvation universe. Now we know the name of the first book, coming out October 20th, 2009, Terminator Salvation: Dark Sky by Greg Cox. The cover is posted here, and here the first description:

Russia 2003 A routine day at sea turns into a nightmare when it seems the US has launched a massive nuclear attack on the rest of the world. Captain Dimitri Losenko orders a retaliation aimed at strategic targets in Alaska….

Alaska 2018 A small band of Resistance fighters are hiding out in the frozen wilderness. Struggling to survive and determined to fight back, John Connor’s voice through a crackling radio helps them to find the answers they’re looking for…

Lots of books I’m personally looking forward to, hopefully some will be featured as reviews in this column. Next week, a review of Kevin J Anderson’s The Edge of the World.