Halo_ Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - Eric Nylund [0]
EVOLUTIONS
NOVELS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING HALO ® SERIES
Halo®: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund
Halo®: The Flood by William C. Dietz
Halo®: First Strike by Eric Nylund
Halo®: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund
Halo®: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten
Halo®: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell
HALO®
EVOLUTIONS
* * *
ESSENTIAL TALES OF THE HALO UNIVERSE
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
HALO®: EVOLUTIONS
Copyright © 2009 by Microsoft Corporation
All rights reserved.
Microsoft, Halo, the Halo logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2399-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-1573-1 (trade paperback)
First Edition: November 2009
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Frank O’Connor
BEYOND art by Sparth,
words by Jonathan Goff
PARIAH B. K. Evenson
STOMPING ON THE HEELS OF A FUSS Eric Raab
MIDNIGHT IN THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN
Frank O’Connor
DIRT Tobias S. Buckell
ACHERON-VII art by Sparth,
words by Jonathan Goff
HEADHUNTERS Jonathan Goff
BLUNT INSTRUMENTS Fred Van Lente
THE MONA LISA Jeff VanderMeer and Tessa Kum
ICON art by Robogabo,
words by Jonathan Goff
PALACE HOTEL Robt McLees
HUMAN WEAKNESS Karen Traviss
CONNECTIVITY art by Robogabo,
words by Jonathan Goff
THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE AND THE POSSIBLE DEATH OF
PRESTON J. COLE Eric Nylund
THE RETURN Kevin Grace
FROM THE OFFICE OF DR. WILLIAM ARTHUR IQBAL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
HALO®
EVOLUTIONS
INTRODUCTION:
WHY SHORT STORIES?
BECAUSE THE Halo universe is almost as vast and boundless as the real thing. And because Halo fans enjoy a broad spectrum of flavors and moments from the games and the extended canon. In fact, no two Halo fans are quite the same. We have hard-core fans who only enjoy one game type, on one map, with one weapon. We have fans who are enthralled by the tactical exploits of UNSC commanders. We have fans who wish to explore the deepest mysteries of a forgotten civilization. We have fans who want to drop from orbit with the ODSTs. We have fans who view the entire canon through the lens of the Master Chief’s faceplate.
Moreover, we have fans who can’t wait years between novels to get their next fix, that next glistering nugget of data about their favorite part of the worlds Halo has created. Short stories allow us the luxury of sampling those flavors and moments. Like a box of chocolates, to borrow a Gumpian phrase.
We can dive in, visit the bridge of Admiral Cole’s latest command, or hide in an abandoned spacecraft with the life ebbing out of us. We can wander the desert of a distant world in the cloven shoes of an Elite. We can explore the ravenous appetites of the Gravemind through Cortana’s tortured gaze. And we can do all this in a single book.
The first anthology I ever read was called Great Space Battles. It assembled short stories built around completely unrelated illustrations, and wove together a universe from the art it represented. I remember thinking what a wonderful way to read: in bite-size chunks. We have the luxury of an already established fiction and a vast range of characters and worlds at our fingertips.
Some of these stories are short and sweet and will melt in your mouth. Others are heartier fare, but they’ll taste like a perfectly cooked chateaubriand. They’ll all add ingredients and menu items to the Halo table and they’ll all taste remarkably different.
The iron chefs catering this affair are a mixture of masters. We have stories from the Titans of Halo Fiction: Erics Nylund and Raab, Tobias S. Buckell, Robt McLees, and Fred Van Lente. And we have newcomers too: Karen Traviss, who