The next Halo novel, First Strike , is scheduled to be released next Tuesday, December 2nd. Many online sites are already taking orders for the book, including the Bungie Store.

First Strike is written by Eric Nylund, the author of Halo: Fall of Reach . The story picks up after the events in Halo and covers the span leading up to what will be Halo 2.

In addition to this new book, there's also a new version of the Halo Soundtrack being released. The new "deluxe" version includes a special bonus DVD disc that contains remastered versions of the Halo 2 trailer, the E3 2003 demo video and an exclusive Halo 2 music suite. Everything is in glorious Dolby 5.1 surround. Note that both Amazon.com and the Bungie Store are still selling the old version. New shipments are expected to arrive very soon.