As part of celebratory Week of Geek, we’ve put together a preview of all of the books being released in association with the Terminator Salvation, which was released this weekend.

We have novelizations, prequel books and comics, and art and film companion books — all of the books that Terminator fans would want to have in their library or on their coffee table!

Below you’ll find the brief summaries of the books, along with authors, illustrators, number of pages, publishers, and a link to where you can go and get your own copy.

Also, be sure to check back tomorrow for information on your chance to win one of the Terminator Salvation tie-in books, courtesy of the awesome folks at Titan Books.

Enjoy!

Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Titan Books

An art form that doesn’t really get much attention these days is the feature film novelization. In this case, we have the novelization of this week’s big release: Terminator Salvation. The book takes the story featured in the McG-directed, Christian Bale-starring movie, and adds all kinds of new content and detail to it.

The story follows John Connor in the year 2018 as a soldier in the resistance who speaks out through the radio looking for more who are lost and who can help to fight the machines. As we all know, and as he quickly finds out, Connor has a lot more to do than just that when he’s made the leader of humankind’s effort to fight and survive.

The Terminator Salvation novelization is written by Alan Dean Foster, who has also written novelizations for Star Wars, Alien, and Transformers. As far as novelizations go, Foster is the cream of the crop and his long list of science fiction titles is most impressive. He manages to take a film that relies on it’s fast-paced, non-stop action sequences and turn it into a dramatic story — one in which you’d love to read even if it wasn’t based on a blockbuster popcorn flick.

Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes: The Official Prequel Novelization
Author: Timothy Zahn
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Titan Books

Most of the Terminator Salvation companion works that we’ve been seeing are prequels: the video game is set a couple of years prior, and now here we have a prequel novelization.

I’m not 100% sure of the ages of the characters in Salvation, or when this book takes place exactly, but it follows three intertwining storylines. From the Ashes takes place in a post-apocalyptic LA and will tell about John Connor and his wife Kate while they put together their team of Resistance fighters to prepare for battle. While their efforts are going on, we’ll also read about two lost children — 8-year-old Star and 16-year-old Kyle Reese — who are keeping a watch out for Terminators. Lastly, there’s the story of a Marine who is struggling to keep his fragile community and its people up and running.

From the Ashes is authored by Timothy Zahn, a winner of the Hugo award who has written many popular Star Wars novels including the Thrawn Trilogy, as well as The Conquerors Saga and Dragonback. As with Alan Dean Forster, Zahn is up there with the top science fiction writers and everything he does is worth a read. This prequel has turned out to be quite popular, selling out so quickly that our review copy is on backorder!

The Art of Terminator Salvation (Hardcover)
Author: Tara Bennett
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Titan Books

Many movies have books produced for them which showcase all of the great artwork that went into the production, whether it be concept art, costume designs, trial and error sketches, location drawings, or whatever else might go down on paper first. I personally own one of these companion books for Watchmen, so I know how cool it is to see all of these things collected and put in one place.

This particular book, obviously, showcases the art that went into the making of Terminator Salvation. Featured is a look at some of the storyboard art, production art designs, a ton of colored illustrations, and the aforementioned concept drawings and sketches that you can handle. Prior to the movie’s release, people were skeptical as to whether this fourth Terminator film could live up to the first two movies, but most people agreed that the concept art that’s been posted to the film’s production blog has been impressive.

The woman behind the book is Tara Bennett, who has also put together companion books for 300 and 24, while also contributing articles to publications such as Lost: The Official Magazine and SciFi.com.

Terminator Salvation: The Movie Companion
Author: Tara Bennett
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Titan Books

Another companion book to add to your shelf collection. This time, instead of drawings and artwork, you’ll see a collection of things that went into the physical making of Terminator Salvation.

When a big movie is coming, as many of you know, studios release loads of set photos and production photos. You’ll see a lot of photographs like that in this companion book as well as images of all of the crazy work that goes into things like cinematography, special effects, the stunts they pulled off, the building of the Terminators, and a lot more.

Also in here, they have features on all of the characters, and you’ll read quotes and interviews with the cast and crew members on their experiences making the movie.

This, the book above this one, and other companion books like it are great little coffee-table books to have in the home of a movie lover. Anyone can pick them up at any time and find something cool to check out and start a conversation about. A great tool to have!

The author is again, Tara Bennett, master of the companion art book!

Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel (Graphic Novel)
Author: Dara Naraghi
Illustrator: Alan Robinson
Paperback: 104 pages
Publisher: Idea & Design Works LLC

Well, we have a prequel novelization above, so how about a prequel comic book for good measure? A prequel story in comic form with beautiful illustrations to lead the way: that’s what this Terminator Salvation prequel brings to the table.

This particular prequel story doesn’t take place two or six or even twenty years before, though. This story pretty much directly sets up the movie. We find ourselves in the middle of the madness, when John Connor is the voice of the Resistance, speaking out to those who are lost and uninformed to what is going on, trying to lead them to others where they can help in the fight. The story revolves around Elena Maric, a leader in the Resistance, and Bem Aworuwa, a Nigerian mining engineer. Together, they form a bond of friendship and eventually draw up a battle plan to take on Skynet and the Terminator attackers.

Author Dara Naraghi also does the comic Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales Of The Here And Now, and illustrator Alan Robinson was an author on Alliance, one of the books in the Star Wars: Legacy series.