[edge-online.com]
That’s right folks. Fable is finally establishing a book series for itself, much like many other well-known IP’s. While these certainly aren’t the first Fable novels to be written Lionhead Studios is looking to create an entire library for its franchise.
With the impending releases of both Fable: The Journey and Fable: Heroes, Lionhead Studios has joined up with Random House publishing to release two new novels and three digital short stories to coincide with the release of the games.
The first novel, Fable: At The Edge Of The World, will close the story gap between Fable III and Fable: The Journey. As of right now, no other plot details exist. Christie Golden, who is quite familiar with writing licensed video game novels (Warcraft and Starcraft book series), will be placing the words to the pages. This first novel is scheduled to be released sometime in August.
While a second novel is definitely in the works its release and content are still unknown at this point. However, Lionhead Studios press release we can expect more info in the coming months.
In addition to these novels three digital short stories will focus on certain characters in the Fable universe. These short stories will be released prior to the first novel. All three will be penned out by the writer of the first two Fable novels, Peter David. So far the three chosen characters are Reaver, Jack of Blades and Theresa. The Reaver and Jack of Blades stories will both be released sometime in May, while Theresa’s short will be available to read in June.
The books will be available on all major e-reading platforms.
And if this wasn’t enough new content already for you, Random House Worlds is starting to compile Fable’s internal IP into a massive Fable bible. The book is expected to be a “living document” and “serve as a reference for any creators working in the Fable world” as the press release describes. Being a big fan of games with a history to it this has me drowning in excitement. Because, you know, excitement comes in a liquid form.
Getting back to the point, Lionhead has also reassured us that Random House will handle the Fable canon with care. As Gareth Sutcliffe, business manager for Lionhead Studios puts it:
“The Fable canon – the stories, characters and gameplay that we’ve crafted for many years, is near and dear to the hearts of our loyal fans and the employees at Lionhead Studios. We believe Random House Worlds will do an excellent job representing our storied franchise and creating assets our fans will find highly valuable.”
Like many of the other video games that have been given the book treatment, these new books could offer some compelling additions to an already impressive canon or they could completely tarnish it for the rest of its life. I’m really hoping for the former, so we can finally learn about the adventures of the mighty Chicken Chaser.
Sources:
www.gamespress.com (Lionhead Studios press release)
