Time was, an author would write a book, it would get popular, then

someone would decide to make a movie out of it. (A variant, known as

the “bovie,” came up in the seventies, when authors began writing books

with the explicit, sometimes pre-arranged, goal of having them made into

movies. “Jaws” was the prime instance.)

Well, we have moved on. Current fiction reading of choice for my son,

aged 10, is the Halo series.

These books bill themselves as “the official books from the game.”

That is to say, what came first in this case was a computer game,

“Halo.” Then Nylund & Dietz wrote books to capitalize further on the

success of the game.

If “Jaws” was a “bovie,” I guess the Halo books must be “govels,” i.e.

novels developed from computer games.