This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on April 7, 2009.

During this weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Tor Books and Microsoft’s Frank O’Connor announced (via Kotaku) that famed science fiction author Greg Bear will be writing a new trilogy of Halo novels. The series will follow the exploits of the Forerunners, the ancient race from the game’s mythology that built the Halo. The series will be set 100,000 years before the first game and trace the Forerunners’s connections to humanity.

The first book in the Forerunner trilogy will be released sometime next year.

In addition, DK Publishing has announced they will publish The Halo Encyclopedia in November. The reference book will be 352 pages and feature full color illustrations of many characters, locations and weapons from the Halo universe. The forward will be written by O’Connor, a member of Microsoft’s new “internal Halo team,” and will include content from all four currently-available Halo games and the upcoming Halo 3: ODST. Presumably, the encyclopedia will also cover events from the Halo novel series.