Tobias Buckell—whose second novel, 2007’s Ragamuffin was nominated for the Nebula Award—has been tapped to write Halo: The Cole Protocol, which will be the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. The book “reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and takes readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered.”
The book is based on the video game Halo, which has three incarnations out. The game is created by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. Buckell says “I have played all three Halo games, and read all five previous Halo novels as well as the two comic books. My (somewhat average, hey, I have to put food on the table, remember?) Halo 3 service record can be found under the gamertag of tobiasbuckell. You’re welcome to say hi in-game, but please don’t ask me for details about the book.”
The book is scheduled to be published this autumn by Tor. Frank O’Connor, who used to work for Bungie and is now Microsoft’s Franchise Development Director, said “Buckell continues an excellent tradition that’s now a solid aspect of the Halo novels, bringing a fresh new perspective to a limitless universe and bringing his prodigious writing talents to bear in ways that will surprise and engage fans of the series and newcomers alike.”
Halo is a series of science fiction video games, first-person shooters, in which Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier and his AI companion Cortana help the people of a futuristic universe battle the Covenant, a theocratic alliance of alien races. Microsoft publishes Halo for its Xbox series of game consoles.