Nylund, Eric

Halo, Books 1-3 (The Flood; First Strike; The Fall of Reach)

The official novels of the award-winning Xbox game! This set contains The Fall of Reach, First Strike, and The Flood -- the complete chronicles of the bloody Human-Covenant War on Halo.

The Fall of Reach
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.

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

The Flood
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.

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) 2001-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved

Ghosts of Onyx (Halo)

The Fall of Reach (Halo, Bk. 1)

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

First Strike (Halo #3)

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.

Signal to Noise

Eric Nylund's fourth novel is touted by the publisher as "hyperpunk," but what is that, exactly? Is it the spastic child of cyberpunk? The willful offspring poking Father Gibson in the eye? While Signal to Noise introduces some fascinating virtual sleights of hand, the overall impression is of a continuation of the nano-techno-cyberpunk genre rather than a leap in evolution to a new form of fiction.

This latest offering from the former Microsoft employee will undoubtedly thrill writers of code and the romantics who call themselves hackers. Nylund's main characters are affixed with permanent implants allowing instant access to cyberspace; a virtuality so vivid that they often prefer the virtual over the reality. The trouble begins when Jack Potter, an encryption expert who's done some shady work for the NSO, finds and decodes a message buried in old astronomical data. Contact with the outreaching alien and information bartering result. Unfortunately, someone else is watching, too. "Down the hall, bars rattled. It was a nice touch. Cold churned in Jack's stomach, diffused down his legs and up his spine. It was synthetic fear generated by the bubble. He fought it. DeMitri took a set of keys from his pocket, picked one out, then opened a cell door ... 'Alcatraz'--he spread his arms in a grand gesture--'is a reflection of what's on your mind, Jack. Feeling guilty about something?'"

The brilliance of Signal to Noise is in the science: the idea of looking out into the swirling sea of the cosmos and finding patterns hidden amongst the static hiss of the births and deaths of stars. At times, the math itself has more depth than many of the characters, who tend to be reminiscent of stock figures in pulp fiction. Which isn't to say that there's no fun to be had here. As the novel progresses, the ante is upped until Jack is bartering the alien for Earth itself. An extra implant crammed into Jack's brain against his will is starting to burn out his optical nerve, and he's no longer sure who his friends are. Log on to Signal to Noise to find out who the bad guys are, and who, if anyone, is going to survive. --Jhana Bach

Jack Potter puts computer cryptography to work for the highest bidder: sometimes for private corporations, sometimes for the government. Sometimes the work is legal; if not, Jack simply raises his price. But one day, Jack discovers something cloaked in the hiss of background radiation streaming past the Earth from deep space: a message from an alien civilization. One that's eager to do business with humanity -- and its representative.

Before he knows it, Jack has entered into a partnership that will open a Pandora's Box of potential profit and loss. The governments, the multinationals, and mysterious players more powerful still, all want a piece of the action -- and they're willing to kill, even wage war, to get it. Now Jack is entangled shifting web of deceit and intrigue in which no one, not even his closest friends, can be trusted. For Earth's cloak-and-dagger business practices are writ large in the heavens...and hostile takeovers are just as common across light years as they are across boardroom tables.

Pawn's Dream

"Dreaming awake and asleep," Roland Pritchard's life is a busy one. When he wakes in our world, he's stuck in a marginal job trying to care for his disturbed mother; when he sleeps in our world, he pursues a scholar's life in the isolated, mysterious Abbey. Sleeping or waking, both lives are frustratingly constrained, and when Roland is offered opportunities to break away in both worlds, he embarks on dual journeys of self-discovery leading to union.

Roland Pritchard's dreams of being in a monastery in a fantastic world offer him an escape from his lonely existence as a convenience store clerk, although the monk has dreams of his own, nightmares of a future world.

Crimson Skies

Welcome to the world of Crimson Skies. The United States is a land torn apart by epidemic and war. With chaos on the ground, America’s highways have been forced into the skies, a lawless new frontier where the flying ace—hero, pirate, villain—is king. Here are the exciting, danger-packed adventures of three such daredevils.

The Case of the Phantom Prototype. A hefty payday convinced dogfight genius Paladin Blake to fly a top-secret aircraft into the Mojave Desert. But on this job, Blake must not only save himself, but thousands of others slated for death by an unseen foe.

“Genghis” Kahn & the Manchurian Gambit. Why is the notorious leader of the Red Skull Legion pirate gang rescuing a lady in distress, returning gold, and duking it out in blazing air battles from Manhattan to Manchuria with no plunder in sight? Wonders never cease.

Bayou Blues. Ever since flying ace Nathan Zachary made a pirate ship out of a stolen zeppelin, the gentleman air-pirate and his “Fortune Hunters” gang have roamed the globe in search of money, fame, and adventure. But a double-dealing Cajun sky-thief, a crooked businessman, and a pair of star-crossed lovers may just trump this ace in a high-stakes, high-altitude con game.


Swashbuckling adventures of your favorite flying aces, in all their guts and glory, against a backdrop of blazing

CRIMSON SKIES
Crimson Skies, 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. Copyright© 2001 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

A Signal Shattered

The Earth is the graveyard of billions, thanks to mathematician and rogue cryptographer Jack Potter and the treacherous extraterrestrial creature known as Wheeler, Jack's one-time business partner in the trade of alien and human technologies. But Potter and a handful of others managed to escape the holocaust thanks to the miracle of teleportation. From the cold gray ruins of the Moon, the last pitiful remnants of the human race now stare down at the devastation that one of their diminished species unwittingly helped to bring about. Here at civilization's end, a beautiful Chinese mind assassin, a cold-blooded cybernetics genius, a DNA-manipulating "gene witch," and Jack himself stand at the threshold of a new day -- when accelerated evolution will open the door to the full achievement of human potential; when the epic saga of humanity will begin again and Jack will ultimately be redeemed...if he doesn't go insane first.

But Wheeler is still out there -- and out to finish what he started. And this universe isn't big enough for Jack Potter to hide himself in.

Dry Water

Eric Nylund has said that Dry Water is a tribute to Roger Zelazny. And so it is--this novel alludes to many of Zelazny's books, including the Amber series. One character--a deceased fantasy writer named Dolinski--is clearly meant to represent Zelazny. And Nylund works in an amazing assortment of myth and magic, as Zelazny did. Tribute aside, this is highly original contemporary fantasy. Nylund peoples his New Mexico setting with ghosts from area history, a Navajo shaman and his son who act as guides and protectors of hero Larry Ngitis, a witch who sponsors authors in her spare time, and a necromancer who goes through history murdering anybody who seems likely to bring about major historical change. Larry's work as a science fiction writer also gives Nylund an opportunity to make some witty points about the genre. The pace is manic, with Nylund cutting back and forth between characters, time periods, and locations in dizzying fashion, but the plot works and the ending is satisfyingly unexpected. Tim Powers fans will definitely enjoy this. --Nona Vero

There is water pooled deep within the earth--a forbidden spring that flows through the history of humankind.There is a reborn ghost town in New Mexico where real phantoms congregate--along with artists, shamans, witches. . .and all manner of evil.Lightning has chased Larry Ngitis to this place where he will be called upon to do the impossible. Because the death of everything is rapidly approaching--unless Larry can turn the wheels of the world in the right direction.DRY WATER is a novel of wondrous thing that reshapes time and many realities--from the awesome imagination of Eric S. Nylund, a truly great contemporary American Fantasist.

Game of Universe

One of thirteen people challenged to find the Holy Grail and be rewarded with a planetary system, Germain, an assassin, can absorb the consciousness of his victims, giving him an advantage in the contest until his inner personalities begin to battle for control of his body.