This is a reblog from Halo Waypoint:
BY GRIMBROTHER ONE
ISSUE 75
Back in 2009, Halo fans around the world – including your humble messenger – devoured their respective copies of Halo: Evolutions. Showcasing “essential tales of the Halo universe,” the acclaimed anthology featured a wonderful collection of stories from a variety of passionate authors tackling a wide range of narrative corners. From “Headhunters” and “The Return,” to “Human Weakness” and “The Impossible Life & Possible Death of Preston J Cole,” many of these stories quickly began to rank among fans’ favorites. With this in mind, 343 Industries and Simon & Schuster are extremely excited to announce a brand new anthology novel, Halo: Fractures.
Wrapped in a gorgeous new piece of cover art by 343 Industries’ own Sparth, Halo: Fracturesbrings Halo fans a new set of collected tales from scattered sources and events around the Halo universe, and features a pretty killer collection of authors – from Halo veterans to critically-acclaimed new blood. And of course, not only are the selected authors on tap a truly eclectic bunch, but so are the stories themselves. We can’t say too much just yet, but let’s take a little peek at what you’ll be getting yourself into…
Launch once more into galaxy-spanning conflict and legendary heroism…shards of an ever-expanding journey where human and alien alike find their finest hours in facing their greatest challenges. These scattered stories span untold millennia, from the age of the ancient custodial race known as the Forerunners…to the aftermath of the Covenant’s bloody war against humanity…and even the shocking events surrounding the resurrection of the mysterious Guardians. Halo: Fractures explores mythic tales of bravery and sacrifice that blaze brightly at the very heart of the Halo universe.
So that’s the “back of the book” text, but for the fervent Fodderhood, I’ll pull you aside and let you know that we’ve got a narrative smorgasbord of story topics on hand to tickle your fiction fancy. Care to peek in on some ferrets, or read beyond rebirth? Interested in Spartans that have had their worlds turned inside out, or unknown Warrior-Servants looking for greater purpose? We figured you might be. No matter what your favorite flavor of Halo fiction is, Halo: Fractures aims to have just about something for everyone.
We’ll be talking a bit more in detail about the specific story subject matters themselves at a later date, but for now, here is a list of the passionate penmen that have taken these new tales to task. In alphabetical order we have:
Tobias Buckell
Troy Denning
Matt Forbeck
Kelly Gay
Christie Golden
Kevin Grace
Morgan Lockhart
John Jackson Miller
Frank O’Connor
Brian Reed
James Swallow
As a sweet little bonus, the anthology will also include Joseph Staten’s Halo: Shadow of Intent, and Frank O’Connor’s Halo: Saint’s Testimony, offered for the first time in print form. We’re pretty excited about it all and certainly hope you are too. Halo: Fractures is available for pre-order now, and is slated to arrive in your story-happy hands on September 20, 2016. Stay tuned for more info about the upcoming anthology in the nearish future.
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BRANDING EXERCISE
One my personal favorite pastimes in the past few months has been taking the fight to the Killer Instinct cast with my own customized Sangheili warriors. If you’ve maybe been on the fence about taking the plunge with KI Season 3, our friends at Microsoft Studios announced last week that the Arbiter character is now available for individual purchase.
Just like our old friend Thel did back in the Halo 2 days, Killer Instinct marks yet another example of an Arbiter flipping the script and changing the game, as our crossover combatant marks the first time an individual character comes with their Retro costume & all accessories – including their premium accessories. This means that you’ll have access to the entire suite of customization options to earn and unlock for your very own Elite fighter.
The Ultimate Arbiter Pack is available now for $9.99 from the Xbox Store; you can learn a bit more from our friends on the KI team on their blog here, or purchase directly from the Xbox Store here. Fight on!
SHHHH!
For comic fans – and collectors especially – this week marked the release of the Halo Library Edition – Volume 1 hardcover from 343 Industries and Dark Horse comics. The absolutely beautiful (and huge!) hardcover collects the full series of Halo: Initiation (#1-3), and the first year of Halo: Escalation (#1-12).
The Library Edition also includes a gorgeous gallery and very cool behind-the-scenes commentary – the latter of which should interest fans of both the fiction as well as those who are just interested in the overall process.
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
So we noticed some confusion crop up in the community regarding some linguistic technicalities, specifically in response to a location mentioned within an upcoming REQ item in Halo 5: Guardians. The location in question is Soirapt, one of the three moons of the Jiralhanae homeworld, Doisac.
In an attempt to track down the source of the confusion, we arrived at some wonderful and beloved community-curated outlets that had the spelling incorrectly listed as “Solrapt,” citing the Halo Bestiarum from Halo 3 as the source. We went to the original source files to double check, and the Bestiarum does actually have the correct spelling of Soirapt, as you see here. Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion, and allows the community to adjust their records accordingly.
Until next time… Live well, play Halo, and thank you for sharing.